I enjoyed the process of reading this one, even though I felt a bit disappointed once I’d finished. It’s beautifully written, but suffers from trying to incorporate too many elements. I might feel differently if I had read any of the author’s short stories in this setting, as that might have made sense of some of the details that just felt thrown into this story.

The tale begins with Miren, the last true O’Malley. Her family used to be powerful (merchants? pirates? both, I think, but it’s unclear) due to a tradition of giving one child in each generation to the sea (and one to the Church, although that doesn’t ever become important— one of those extraneous details). At first, it seems like a story about taking on the family legacy from her grandmother, both good and bad, but don’t get too comfortable— halfway through, Miren leaves the crumbling ancestral castle at the sea’s edge to wander through villages and woods to find her (not dead!) parents. The switch threw me for a loop, and really knocked me out of the exciting gothic novel experience all the reviews talked about. The story finishes by wrapping up the family mysteries, but mostly by resolving things Miren’s mother did or carried on— not super satisfying as a story arc, given that her mother is assumed dead at the beginning of the novel.

Other intriguing details are introduced, but not used well (or sometimes at all)— a magical singing doll, a salt-water pond miles from the sea, ill-defined magical talents that can be inherited OR taught (and are alternately widely accepted or persecuted at various mentions), and shape-shifters, to name the main ones that bugged me. Again, these might make sense in the context of the author’s other stories, but they were confusing and frustrating to a first-time reader. Ultimately, though, as I said, these are interesting elements, so I do want to go and read those other stories now! Maybe once I’ve done that, my feelings about this book will change. 3.5/5