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Given To The Sea

Given To The Sea by Mindy McGinnis


Synopsis
Khosa has the dancing sickness that will one day carry her into the sea as a sacrifice, but first she must produce an heir. However, human contact makes her sick. Vincent is the prince of a kingdom Khosa must save, but can he save her instead? And from the other side of the land, an enemy marches on the kingdom.


Review
I received this book in the April FairyLoot box.

I really wanted to like this one because I LOVED McGinnis' book last year, The Female of the Species. But I think her forte is in contemporary and not fantasy.

I just don't even know where to begin... The world was super confusing. I had no idea what was going on half the time with the various peoples on this... Island? Continent? There's this race or species of people whose skin changes color and there's only two of them left. Then there's another people who send their citizens out to sea to die, then a group of people who are all disabled in someway that have banded together, then a kingdom where most of the events take place, whose people fear the sea and send a girl as a sacrifice every generation.

There were lots of different viewpoints and a few storylines moving. There was also a super weird love... tangle? with lots of teen angst. I also don't like the way McGinnis writes men. The male characters all sleep around with no consequences whatsoever, but virginity is a big thing for the girls and I'm so tired of that. Plus creepy sexual harassment from an older male character (who you always hate anyway).

I felt like there were so many themes to be explored that none really got the depth needed.

The premise is so interesting, and there were moments of the book I really felt like it came back to that original true intention, but then it would slip away. I want to know the mystery of the sea and the dancing urge. I may read the sequel if I can get it from the library to find out these answers.

The book had lots of potential, and just didn't quite get there.


Rating
I give this book 1.5 stars.


Details
Genre: YA, Fantasy.
Language: Some.
Sex: Yes, though never explicit. Scenes of sexual harassment.
Violence: Not graphic but it's there.
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