I really liked this one, in fact, I liked it so much that I immediately picked up a copy of the second book (something I almost never do!). There’s something to be said about a narrator that has their world tipped upside down, where everything they believed to be true is a lie and everything that is true would be easier to swallow if it was a lie.

It’s hard to imagine a greed so powerful that it shapes the world, but then again I suppose we see it every day. The flip side of this greed is curse magic, was it really fair for generations to be affected by one person’s poor choice? To have magic that has the power to be beautiful trapped and tainted in a bloodline seems as cruel as the person who it was meant to punish.

We didn’t read the second one together, but it’s worth a read because continues an interesting and fun story. In book two, Amora has to cope with being cursed twice while determining what running a kingdom should be. I liked it because it wasn’t trying to tie up too many loose ends, just wanted to further build out the world that Grace had created in the first book.

All the Stars and Teeth (and All the Tides of Fate) stumbled across my path at the right moment, when my attention span required easy reading and my heart desired a story full of hope. If I had to complain about the book, it would be that Amora mistakes strength for being caustic and that I really feel like she should have gotten together with Vataea in the end (or no one at all, it would have been fine without the romances).

One more month of sea-themed books (not sure if that’s a lie or not, we’ll see next month!), for October we’ll read The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh. Recommended to me by GoodReads because of another fantasy book I consumed, it will be fun to visit the ocean in a world without pirates (or at least where they’re not one of the main characters).

Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.

Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.

Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.

But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…