Review - Boundless Sea

Boundless Sea is the third of the four-book Sacred Breath series by Nadia Scrieva.

The Sacred Breath books deal with a race of sea-breathing humans. Unlike traditional mermaids, they have legs. The also have an extra set of lungs, increased endurance, and a resistance to cold. They have extraordinary long lives as long as they stay underwater but they age normally in the air.

This series has been growing increasingly darker and darker. The first book was fairly light. A few characters died along the way but we barely knew them. The second book was much darker with a major character being killed and sent back in pieces. Much of the book involved the capture and torture of Visola by her estranged husband. By the end of the book, the two are reconciled but Queen Aazuria has been kidnapped.

While the first two books were a continuous narrative, there is a gap of several months between those and the third book. In the interim, the undersea kingdom of Adlivun has revealed itself to the outside world.

Most of the book deals with the fallout of this revelation and the abduction and likely death of Aazuria.

As with the other books, the characters are well-defined and there are no gaping holes in the plot. At the same time, watching the main characters falling apart because of Aazuria's disappearance is not pleasant nor are the details of Aazuria's imprisonment. This book does not take any shortcuts or easy outs.

I'm not sure how this series is marketed but it is definitely not a teen romance series.

Hopefully things will come to a happier resolution by the end of the fourth book.