Review – Sweet Black Waves (Sweet Black Waves, Book 1) by Kristina Pérez (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: fantasy
Length: 448 pages
Publisher: Imprint
Release Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1250132857
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Sweet Black waves Trilogy
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Two proud kingdoms stand on opposite shores, with only a bloody history between them.

As best friend and lady-in-waiting to the princess, Branwen is guided by two principles: devotion to her homeland and hatred for the raiders who killed her parents. When she unknowingly saves the life of her enemy, he awakens her ancient healing magic and opens her heart. Branwen begins to dream of peace, but the princess she serves is not so easily convinced. Fighting for what’s right, even as her powers grow beyond her control, will set Branwen against both her closest confidant and the only man she’s ever loved.”

This is the first book in the Sweet Black Waves series. I know a lot of people really loved this book but it just moved too slow for me. It is a lush historical fantasy with incredible detail and heartbreakingly real characters. However it moves really really slow.

Branwen is handmaiden to the Princess and a healer in training. When the enemy of her people washes up on the beach near the castle where she lives she is left with a choice. Branwen chooses to heal him and her choice starts a chain reaction of events including the maturation of her own healing magic.

This story is very slow and very predictable. I felt like you didn’t get a lot of story for all the pages of writing you had to slog through. I also felt like the ending was rushed and a bit disappointing (even though I had an inkling of how things were going to end). The ending just didn’t match the pace of the rest of the book and was very twisted and abrupt.

The writing is lush and beautifully done. You can tell a lot of time was spent on historical detail and generating a believable world. The writing was technically high quality. The book focuses very much on character relationships and not on action or intrigue; it seemed a bit simple for all the background detail provided.

Overall this is a beautifully detailed historical fantasy that moves at a very deliberate pace. There is a lot of emphasis on the characters’ relationships to each other and very little intrigue or action. In the end this book just wasn’t for me and I don’t plan on reading any more books in this series.