This short McKillip novel is definitely one of her better ones. In the afterword to the story collection "Dreams of Distant Shores", McKillip explains that she tries to avoid writing the kind of fantasy that features a Dark Lord, on the grounds that it's more interesting to locate the source of the evil that the main characters are fighting somewhere else. This is a perfectly reasonable choice, although I would argue that these are not as incompatible as she thinks. However, the problem is that she often writes the kind of fantasy story where a Dark Lord is necessary to drive the conflict. The revelation that there wasn't really a Dark Lord after all tends to undermine the story, rather than make it more interesting. In this book, though, there's no problem, as no Dark Lord is necessary: instead, the central conflict arises from the collision of two incommensurate worlds, that of the people of the small island kingdom where the book takes place, and the land under the sea. Or rather, of people from those two worlds, as the stakes of the plot are intensely personal. As it happens, these stakes don't include the incident that opens the book, the death of our heroine Peri's father -- a fisherman, like almost everybody in her home village -- at sea. This is a clever move on McKillip's part: Peri's fate is not directly tied to whether she can escape to or from the sea, and is instead under her own control in a way that makes her much more interesting. In some ways, the book simply chronicles Peri's grieving process, in which she comes to terms with her loss, in part by finding new friends and new interests. It's just that the process happens when she gets swept up, seemingly accidentally, into the story of the island's king, his sons, and the Queen of the Sea. The second-most-important character in the book is not any of them, though, but rather the wizard Lyo. Peri is, understandably, feeling rather down for most of the book, as are the princes: Lyo's cheerful insouciance provides a welcome balance. Still, the story is undoubtedly Peri's, and the reader's sympathy for her, a sympathy which never feels forced or unearned, is, together with McKillip's evocative prose -- sometimes cloying at high doses, but perfect in a relatively short work like this -- what makes this book work as well as it does.

This short, standalone novel (a novella really) written in McKillip's usual beautiful yet elliptical style is exactly the sort of thing that I come to expect from her work.

A lowly scullery maid, who's fisher father died at sea and who's mother is psychologically lost to the sea, hates the ocean and tries to put a hex on it but ends up becoming embroiled in powerful magic and the King's family who's one time tryst with the sea queen is coming back to haunt him.

Those who have read McKillip before will find the evocative prose and the opaque dialogue, in which the characters seem to talk around each other, quite familiar. Once again the emphasis is not on action but rather the emotional conflict and tension.

Not quite up to the standard of The Forgotten Beasts of Eld but a very good book nonetheless.

Katie's Book Report - Contains Spoilers - For my own failing memory...

I had never before read a Patricia McKillip novel prior to The Changeling Sea, and I have to say that I was not disappointed and in fact rather pleased. After sitting on my TBR for quite some time, this book became another selection in my "summer of old school" list (my concerted effort to read some choice 70's - 90's books this summer). I have to say that everything I've heard, everyone's adoration of McKillip's work, is most definitely justified.

The book is set on an island in a vast Kingdom amid the sea. The FMC, Peri, is struggling with the loss of her father to the sea when she meets a forlorn Prince, obsessed with the very thing Peri hates, and who believes his rightful place is in the sea. At the same time, a sea creature emerges, bound to the sea by a massive gold chain; where did he come from and why is he trapped? Peri embarks on a journey to help both the Prince and the sea creature return to their rightful places with the help of the plucky magician Lyo.

There are so many things to love about this book. First and foremost, for me, was a tone that engendered a sense of cozy comfort. This book felt like wrapping myself in a warm blanket while I felt sea-spray off the ocean and smelled the salt air. It is the type of coming-of-age story I actually enjoy; a journey from loss and loneliness into light and love, where the emotions were amplified through the setting and the prose.

I adored all of the side characters, especially the group of girls that worked with Peri at the Inn. They provided an almost comic relief, focusing on attaining the gold from the sea creature's chain so they could realize their hopes and dreams of being more than scullery maids at the Inn. Their focus and maturity was so different from Peri's and that juxtaposition amplified Peri's character and it's development.

McKillip is adept at conveying strong emotion. Prince Kir's pain is palpable, contributing to the tone of the book by mirroring Peri's struggle; while Peri's pain is a result of what the sea has taken from her, Prince Kir's pain originates from being taken from the sea and the yearning to return to his true home. The magician Lyo was delightful and created a nice balance to the raw pain and emotion exuded by Peri and Prince Kir.

Finally, I found Peri's struggles and resulting character development real and compelling. She was faced with tremendous loss throughout this book - first her father's shipwreck, immediately followed by her mother's depression, and then ultimately the loss of her first true love - Prince Kir - to the same sea that had taken her father's life and then her mother's attention. Peri comes-of-age as a result of all of this loss, emerging as a stronger, happier woman who has come to terms with her losses, putting them behind her to forge a new life with the new prince and the magician. Loss and loneliness are replaced with love and hope, and that transformation was masterfully crafted.

I highly recommend this book; it is a quick and comforting read. I am looking forward to reading more of McKillip's work.

A lovely sea-fable, and my first venture into Patricia A. McKillip’s works--somehow I never got around to reading her as a youngster.

Thankfully, The Changeling Sea can still be appreciated as an adult, so I’m not so regretful: although, the thinness of it and sudden ending might go over better with younger readers. On the other hand, I think I can appreciate the language more now; the way the book is infused with the essence of the sea: tide, waves, salt water, movement, colors.

I do wish the characters had been more fleshed out. Kir and his otherworldly attraction to the sea was poignant for me and his journey will probably stay with me. Peri is nice enough in the feisty-YA-heroine way--but I liked her distantly, not personally. However the other characters seemed too thin, probably due to a lack of time spent with them. It’s particularly regretful with regards to the magician Lyo--McKillip’s created an intriguing silhouette with his magic book and interesting outlook on life, but not enough was explored to make him flesh, and he was definitely not well enough defined to be cast as the make-up love interest at the last minute!

To be honest, the ending made me a little mad  I for one wasn’t over Peri/Kir and here we were already with Lyo!. It’s a marring that might not have bothered me if I read this younger.

Overall though, I was enchanted by this book. It feels like this story hits so many of my sweet spots: fable-like novellas; the sea; enchantments and curses; bittersweet endings.

The heroine, Peri, hates the sea that has drowned her father; Kir, the prince, is strangely drawn to the same sea. When Peri tries to hex the sea's magic, a sea-dragon appears, whose fate is inextricably bound with Peri, Kir, and the mysterious magician Lyo. Peri is a refreshingly different heroine - unkempt and often sullen, but clever and direct - and McKillip's writing is elegant as always.

Another winning tale by Patricia McKillip. This is only the second book I've read by her, but I'm convinced she can do no wrong. There's something delightful and magical about the way she writes that pulls me into her stories, and I don't surface until the last page is turned.

It doesn't happen often to me, but once in awhile I come across a book and wish I was young again to enjoy it with an open, less burdened mind, and to enjoy it in the spirit it was written and, just for a moment, be its target audience again. This is one of those rare books in which the magic is real; I just can't feel it anymore.

Even though I enjoy it now and really like the writing, it's a cold, intellectual kind of enjoyment. Lovely prose, lovely story. I love the way it reads on the page and can methodically deconstruct all the things that I like about it and appreciate the parts as much as the whole story, but it doesn't hit me right in the feels like The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. Yet I'm certain I would have loved this book more when I was younger, when I would have been eager to be fully immersed in the mystique of the sea and its mysterious magical pull. I think, back then, I would have been able to hear it calling as clearly as Peri.

"Be happy now," she whispered, aware of all the shining waves behind him reaching toward him, withdrawing, beckoning again. She added, feeling the pain again in her throat, "When I'm old--older than the old women who taught me to make the hexes--come for me then."

"I will."

"Promise me. That you will bring me black pearls and sing me into the sea when I am old."

"I promise."

[...]

"Your heart sang to the sea. I heard it, deep in my coral tower, and followed the singing. Humans say the sea sings to them and traps them, but sometimes it is the human song that traps the sea. Who knows where the land ends and the sea begins?"

"The land begins where time begins."

[...]

"It's an odd thing, happiness. Some people take happiness from gold. Or black pearls. And some of us, far more fortunate, take their happiness from periwinkles."

Cross-posted at https://covers2covers.wordpress.com/2...

distinctly odd

I read one of Patricia McKillip's books when I was in my mid-teens, and it left enough of an impression that I still remember it a little today, mostly a general sense of imaginative lushness. I find picking up this slim book confirms my impression of McKillip's style and tone. She ranges from rather pedestrian dialogue to images of striking prettiness, and one must credit her especially for the absence of that cynicism about beauty and goodness which infects much modern literature. Her characters long for the sea, for family, for one another, and as they work through their confusion McKillip treats them seriously, never mocking them or providing false satisfaction; instead, she allows these earnest, transcendent passions to ennoble them. If this book falls short of literary greatness, if the sentimentality is sometimes more than the writing can comfortably bear up, it at least tells a tale confident in its own telling and capable of affecting an imagination not clouded by worldly disenchantment.

If there is one word I’d use to describe the sea, that word would be enchanting . The sea has magic. A strange kind of pull is felt by anyone who wishes to feel this magic. When most people visit the seaside, the first fear that strikes them is that the sea water and the harsh sun will tan their skins. Very few people really understand the beauty of the sea. The different moods it experiences. The rage of the sea when expressed by giant waves crashing at the shore. And then, the calm. The serene flow of the water when the sea is at peace. We take water for granted, don’t we? No one pays attention to the sea until finally, the sea demands attention in a way that terrorises us humans who are at her mercy. The sea, it’s water and everything in it, is beautiful. If only one opens their eyes.

This is my first book by Patricia A. McKillip. I had never heard of this particular authoress but the cover of my copy has mentioned her as one of the masters of Fantasy in America. That led to some pretty high expectations. The story is about a young girl by the name of Periwinkle, Peri for short. She has lost her father to the sea and her little family consisting of her mother and herself is in a state of mourning. Peri’s mother is much aggrieved and she stops communicating with her daughter and gazes out to the sea in hopes of seeing her husband again. Peri loses both her parents in that tragedy. She is all alone and she feels resentment towards the sea that took her father so she, in a fit of rage, hexes the sea. She doesn’t believe that her hex would have worked since she knows very little magic, so she resumes her life as a floor-scrubber in the inn she works at.

Little did she know that her simple hex would bring so many changes into her life. Suddenly she meets the two sons of the King. Princes by birth, both are very different from each other. Peri wonders how men of royal blood would look twice at a humble maid such as herself. What Peri doesn’t know is that she has magic as well. Not only the kind of magic we read in books and hear about in fables. There’s magic in her heart. The kind of magic that attracts people simply because it is irresistible. This magic in Peri is what attracts a magician named Lyo towards her. He takes interest in Peri’s life because her sorrow speaks to him. Her selfless heart makes him want to know more about her. Peri and Lyo help both princes while they await their fate and eventually achieve their destiny.

The novella is about so many different things, love, hope, friendship, coming of age and even sorrow. Some books can never express so many different topics in 500+ pages and then there are books like this one, that makes you sit up and take notice. It overwhelms you in many ways. While the words are sheer poetry and makes you yearn for the sea, the plot makes you root for the characters and hope that they can achieve all the things they want in their lives. Many thanks to Manju for this wonderful recommendation and apologies for taking so long. But I really needed to savour this one.

Short novel that I did not read quickly because it seemed to pull me into it's world where I wanted to linger and look and stay with the things that were occurring. It seemed to need me to reflect.

This is a story about a girl and her mother who are lost to memories,
a prince, a king, a mage, a sea dragon
and the sea herself.

If you love fantasy and magic and the sea and you have experienced the loss of someone you love and have felt the heart's desire to seek revenge on that which took the thing you love away, then you will find the magic in this story, and yes, even the truth.

2/28/22
The fact that Studio Ghibli hasn't adapted this yet?? Unacceptable.

12/15/19
One of my favorites. I still wish it were longer, but McKillip manages to pack a lot into a little book, so it's a satisfying read.
Also, Lyo is a DELIGHT.
Also also, this is a great book for winter or early spring, so now is the perfect time for it!


8/9/16
It's too short for my liking, so it probably doesn't quite deserve 5 stars, but I don't care. It was lovely.

I'd give this all the starfish in the sea if I could! It's the perfect introduction for anyone new to McKillip's work: it's short but absolutely amazing, it's in print, and it's inexpensive!

"The old woman had made her living weaving. When Peri was younger, she would come to sit at the woman's side and watch the shuttle dart in and out of the loom. The old woman told stories then, strange, wonderful tales of a land beneath the sea where houses were built of pearls, and a constant, powdery shower of gold fell like light through the deep water from the sunken wrecks of mortals' ships." (3)

"Come out of the sea and into my heart
My dark, my shining love.
Promise we shall never part,
My dark, my singing love..." (italics and ellipsis original, 6)

This slim little book - a mere 137 pages! - is a masterwork of storytelling. For years, I'd mistakenly thought that this was a children's story, but it's perfect for any age and I'm so glad I finally bought a copy! I'm a huge McKillip fan, and I collect her work. Unfortunately, so much of it is out of print these days.

Periwinkle, whimsically named for the way she'd pluck winkles from her father's drying fishing nets as a child, is grieving. Her father has been lost at sea, and her mother's heart and mind have followed him. Peri is 15, and works as a maid at the local inn. Left to her own devices, she dwells mostly in the shack by the sea owned by the local wise woman, who fancied herself a witch. She was like a second mother to Peri, and she too has recently disappeared, yet another loss.

Peri is incredibly angry at the sea, and in her hurt, she crafts willow hexes and throws them into the waves. Little does she know that the curses she learned from the wise woman are far more powerful than she ever could have imagined!

They bring a gold-chained sea dragon and the King's dark, handsomely brooding son to her door, along with an old mystery. The townsfolk forget their fear of the dragon, dazzled by greed for its chain and the freedom that much gold would bring. They constantly speculate on the best way to take the chain, and the rumour of their desire reaches a young magician, Lyo, who is very good at listening and senses a deeper story in the captivity of the sea dragon.

Together, Peri and Lyo unravel the secrets of the kingdom, and of the land beneath the sea.

For anyone who loves the ocean as I do, this is a treat! You can almost smell the salt sea air and hear the waves break on the shore.

A truly touching story to treasure, of love, loss and letting go.