Access Today The Changeling Sea Envisioned By Patricia A. McKillip In Text

first read a book by Patricia McKillip about three years ago and decided I must read more of her work, This has proven to be an excellent life choice since it's introduced me to books like The Changeling Sea, a beautifully written and short stand alone! fantasy story with themes of love and loss.
The combination of legendary occurrences and everyday life by the sea is handled masterfully, and I added this memorable book to my favorites shelf immediately after finishing it.


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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 sitelinkThe 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 oldolder than the old women who taught me to make the hexescome 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, "

Crossposted at sitelink wordpress. com/ It's no secret that sitelinkPatricia McKillip is a most beloved author for so many fantasy readers, I discovered her late in the game, when I ran across a beautiful reissued omnibus edition of sitelinkThe Riddlemaster Trilogy in a Barnes amp Noble several years ago.
After finishing that excellent trilogy, I went looking for any other McKillip books I could get my hands on, The result was a binge, of sorts, in which I blew through six or seven titles without a byyourleave, And it was an immensely good time, But it did result in a little bit of fatigue, as her writing style is very specific and lyrical and I wound up needing to cleanse my palate a little after.
Since then I've reread a few of my favorites here and there, particularly the RiddleMaster and sitelinkThe Book of Atrix Wolfe, but not since sitelinkThe Tower at Stony Wood's release have I picked up one of her new ones.
While I was perusing the McKillip section on my shelves the other night, the slender little volume THE CHANGELING SEA caught my eye and I got to thinking it might be time to get back on the McKillip wagon.
Originally published in, this young adult fantasy has stood the test of time, Firebird put out the pretty little edition pictured on the right inand, having worked hard to find my own used copy, I was happy to see new life breathed into it.
I also think it's the most accurate artistic representation of Peri herself and the spiraling, mesmerizing tone of the novel,

Nobody ever really noticed Periwinkle, She and her small family have always been a bit on their own, quietly living out their lives in their sleepy fishing village, And then the year she turns fifteen, Peri is suddenly really and truly alone for the first time in her young life, It seems the sea has taken everything that she loves, First her father who drowned and now her mother who failed to get over her father's death to the point where she no longer talks to Peri at all.
And so Peri spends her days working as a chamber maid, scrubbing floors at the local inn, and her nights trying desperately to curse the sea that's been the source of all her sorrow.
Magic has always been a part of Peri's world, though it's never made itself known with quite such a presence as it does the day the King arrives in town with his son Prince Kir.
The unhappy prince has a problem that plagues him, a problem he hopes Peri may be able to help him with, If she will just include something of his in her latest curse, perhaps the longing that rides him will abate, Neither of them expect the sea monster who rises as a result, A sea monster bound by a golden chain and from that point on, nothing is the same in Peri's life, and it is with gratitude she accepts the help of the wizard Lyoa sort of local wise man.
Between the four of themthe girl, the prince, the wizard, and the dragonthey piece together the mystery of what happened in that same place so many years ago and why it's rearing its ugly head now.


I loved Peri instantly and without reserve, From the very first page, she is not your classic fairy tale heroine, The opening lines:

No one really knew where Peri lived the year after the sea took her father and cast his boat, shrouded in a tangle of fishing net, like an empty shell back onto the beach.
She came home when she chose to, sat at her mother's hearth without talking, brooding sullenly at the small, quiet house with the glass floats her father had found, colored bubbles of light, still lying on the dusty windowsill, and the same crazy quilt he had slept under still on the bed, and the door open on quiet evenings to the same view of the village and the harbor with the fishing boats homing in on the incoming tide.
Sometimes her mother would rouse herself and cook sometimes Peri would eat, sometimes she wouldn't, She hated the vague, lost expression on her mother's face, her weary movements, Her hair had begun to gray she never smiled, she never sang, The sea, it seemed to Peri, had taken her mother as well as her father, and left some stranger wandering despairingly among her cooking pots,

She is not beautiful or poised or charming or sweet, But she is kind and determined and involved in unraveling the mystery from beginning to end, She earns the trust of the men around her before if she earns their love and we and they are frequently reminded of her flaws, from scraped knees to a nose on the large side.
Urchin from top to bottom, it is most definitely what's inside that matters with this girl, And it matters quite a lot as so many come to depend on her, including the unusual and wondrous creature from the sea who is himself not exactly what he seems.
As is always the case with a McKillip tale, the poetic language and gracefully interwoven magic lend a golden glow to the whole, At the same time, this is one of her more "real" stories, Peri is so real. Cloaked in the unreal and unbelievable elements around her, she remains focused and bright, Clocking in at a scantpages, it is also a prime and alltoo rare example of a book I don't wish longer, It's perfect just as it is, especially the ending, The briefness only accentuates the sweetness and strangeness and I never fail to finish it at ease with my world and hers, A wonderful tale of magic, love, and learning to live with the treasures and heartaches that the tide brings in,
I love the skillful way Patricia McKillip has with prose, She weaves the story around you letting you love and sorrow with the people in the story, I may need to read this story over and over again, Thank you Jeannette for recommending it, My goal for next year was to read more female fantasy authors, I started this a tad bit early, but was unable to put it down, I hope I find more authors like this while achieving my goal!

I don't normally like books with romance in them, Especially romance books that are also Young Adult, This book was way out of my comfort zone being shelved under both,

But the writing was so well done and the tale so beautiful that I enjoyed this one immensely,

Everyone who tells the tale of a sea journey, or listens to it, travels there safely and comes back again,

The story is about a girl named Periwinkle who has lost both her parents to the sea her father who disappeared while fishing and her mother who stares at the sea all day mourning his loss.
Using spells taught to her by an old lady before she too mysteriously disappears, Peri hexes the sea,

"I hex you, I hate you, I curse you, I lay a hex on you, Sea so that all your spellbindings will unravel, and all your magic is confused, and so that you never again take anything or anyone who belongs to us, and you let go of whatever you have.
"

And thus begins a whirlwind story of two princes, a King, a magician, love and the land under the sea,

I highly recommend this book, and I am looking forward to exploring this author's other works, This is a lovely little story, Theres something of the fairytale about it, the ordinary young woman caught up in a story of kings and magic and seapeople, especially when delivered in McKillips polished, timeless prose.
But theres also an essential groundedness to her writing, particularly here, that makes it all feel real: the sensory details of life at the edge of the sea, the practicalities of cleaning.


I loved the sheer ordinariness of our heroine, Peri, ayearold girl from a small fishing village, Her father was recently lost at sea and her mother sunk into depression Peri has responded by moving into an abandoned house, and rarely interacts with others except as required by her job scrubbing floors at the local inn.
Most fantasy protagonists are portrayed as better than those around them, whether through lineage or abilities or personality or some combination, which is a rather toxic worldview if imbibed too often and uncritically.
Peri is decidedly not, though some unusual things happen to her and she does discover her magical talent which is not the storys focus, Shes believable as a poor villager: she doesnt have a big dreams, she doesnt read for enjoyment, she works for a living and is often seen doing so.
Her firmer and more articulate coworker, Mare, seems perhaps the more natural heroine, But in the context of this story, Peris baffled acceptance of whatever comes works well shes endearing and easy to sympathize with, The supporting characters meanwhile are deftly drawn and engaging, and their dialogue brings them to life despite the books short length,

Though atpages this is a very short novel, it feels complete, and probably double the length of recent novelettes that are stretched through various formatting tricks to reach that same page count.
It also has that ageless quality of books written from before YA was an established genre with its own expectations and tropes, Peri is, but I think this could be enjoyed at any age and isnt written specifically to teen concerns, Indeed, Peri ultimately moves back in with her mom, rather than out as one might expect in a teen novel!

Notably for me, this is my fifth McKillip, and her writing hasnt gone sour for me yet! The climax and ending here make perfect sense, unlike some of her others, although I wasnt thrilled with the idea of Peris getting romantically involved with Lyo the age and experience gap feels very large.
Id rank those of her books Ive read as follows:

sitelinkThe Forgotten Beasts of Eld
The Changeling Sea
ampsitelinkOmbria in Shadow and sitelinkAlphabet of Thorn
sitelinkThe Bards of Bone Plain the only dud so far

While I dont expect this book to stick with me, its beautiful and bittersweet and expertly written, and I didnt want it to end.
A little gem of a story, .