The Perilous Sea
Written by Sherry Thomas
Narrated by Philip Battley
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Iolanthe and Titus continue their mission to defeat the Bane in this striking sequel to The Burning Sky—perfect for fans of Cinda Williams Chima and Kristin Cashore—which Publishers Weekly called ""a wonderfully satisfying magical saga"" in a starred review and Kirkus Reviews said ""bids fair to be the next big epic fantasy success.""
After spending the summer away from each other, Titus and Iolanthe (still disguised as Archer Fairfax) are eager to return to Eton College to resume their training to fight the Bane. Although no longer bound to Titus by blood oath, Iolanthe is more committed than ever to fulfilling her destiny—especially with the agents of Atlantis quickly closing in.
Soon after arriving at school, though, Titus makes a shocking discovery, one that throws into question everything he believed about their mission. Faced with this revelation, Iolanthe struggles to come to terms with her new role, while Titus must choose between following his mother's prophecies—or forging a divergent path to an unknowable future.
Sherry Thomas
Sherry Thomas is the author of The Burning Sky and The Perilous Sea, the first two books in the Elemental Trilogy. Sherry immigrated to the United States from China when she was thirteen and taught herself English in part by devouring science fiction and romance novels. She is the author of several acclaimed romance novels and is the recipient of two RITA Awards. Sherry lives with her family in Austin, Texas.
More audiobooks from Sherry Thomas
Not Quite a Husband Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Delicious Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Luckiest Lady in London Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5His at Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Private Arrangements Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ravishing the Heiress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tempting the Bride Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beguiling the Beauty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Perilous Sea
Titles in the series (3)
The Burning Sky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perilous Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Immortal Heights Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related audiobooks
The Immortal Heights Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Burning Sky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grave Mercy: His Fair Assassin, Book I Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Triumph Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Girl of Fire and Thorns Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Queen of the Tearling: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Star-Touched Queen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughter of Dusk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mortal Heart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hero at the Fall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebel of the Sands Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Crown of Wishes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Traitor to the Throne Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girl of Fire and Thorns Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nocturna Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Caged Queen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Monstrous Citadel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sin Eater's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bitter Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iron Raven Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invasion of the Tearling: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flamecaster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Markswoman Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Trial by Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mage's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iron Knight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Young Adult For You
Ender's Game Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Insurgent Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Divergent Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Firekeeper's Daughter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hate U Give Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If He Had Been with Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mortal Engines: Mortal Engines, Book 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grace Year: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crave Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Selection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elite Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Butterfly Assassin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anatomy: A Love Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5These Violent Delights Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Concrete Rose: A Printz Honor Winner Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Downstairs Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sadie: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Weight of Blood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stepsister Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Life With The Walter Boys Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poet X Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Covet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hummingbird Killer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Me (Moth): (National Book Award Finalist) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wee Free Men Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fairies' Path (Fate: The Winx Saga Tie-in Novel) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Perilous Sea
29 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/53.5/5 stars
not a bad second instalment, but a little confusing at times, i liked how the story ended up unfolding and the two time perspectives were woven together. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What a great sequel! I love the two intertwining storylines. It was so entertaining to watch Titus and Iolanthe get to know each other all over again - their banter is hilarious. I also enjoyed their growth, both as individuals and as a couple. As far as the mysteries are concerned, I guessed some of them, but others managed to surprise me. Even though there's a lot of exposition towards the end, the story never felt boring. And, like the first book, the worldbuilding is intriguing, despite its holes.The one thing this series has never clearly established is why the rebels want to overthrow the Bane. Granted, it has been demonstrated on multiple occasions that Atlantis is relentless and merciless in its mission to eradicate all dissent and challenges to the Bane’s authority. That, in itself, could be enough to spark rebellion, but I always wanted more - a concrete reason why the Bane is a bad guy. In The Perilous Sea, we get that reason.Still, I find it interesting that the rebellion doesn’t hang on evidence of the Bane’s evil ways - it was going to happen (and had happened in the past) regardless of this new discovery. To me, the message can be summed up in a quote from the first book: “‘An occupier should always consider itself despised,’ she said. ‘Is there ever a population that is happy to be subjugated?’” The implication being, of course, that it doesn’t matter if the Bane is evil or not - people will always fight for the freedom to rule themselves, no matter how benevolent their overlord.Overall, The Perilous Sea is a really fun sequel. The two storylines kept me on the edge of my seat and made the relationship between Titus and Iolanthe feel fresh and new again. It was also interesting to learn more about the Bane and finally get a reason to hate him. But, ultimately, these revelations served to drive home a larger point: that instead of focusing on Atlantis’ atrocities or oppression, the author chose to go a subtler route and show that the characters are fighting for freedom, simply for freedom’s sake. At least, that’s my interpretation. I can’t wait to see how the story ends in the conclusion to this exciting trilogy.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5For more reviews, Cover Snark and more, visit A Reader of Fictions.Honestly, I was a bit nervous to start The Perilous Sea or at least I was until the reviews started rolling in from friends. Though I loved The Burning Sky, I got into a Twitter conversation with some of its detractors and I started to worry I was wrong. What if The Elemental Trilogy fell apart at book two as series so often do? Such worries were completely unfounded. The Perilous Sea is, if anything, an improvement upon The Burning Sky. It’s a fantasy novel with a ship of gold, epic banter, and oodles of world building.You guys, this is such a Christina book. So much. The sarcastic banter completes my life and makes it whole. Titus can be a bit of a stick-in-the-mud, much as I love him. Iolanthe, however, brings out the best in him, aka the sarcastic banter. I ship this ship like little else. They really do make an amazing team. They work together and protect each other and improve one another. It’s so beautiful. Normally I hate the “I’ll protect you” shtick in books, but that’s because it’s generally one-sided penises-must-protect-vaginas business, but Iolanthe also says that to Titus and the cute. Also, the two make dick jokes while traveling around the desert. If you don’t ship that, we’ll probably never ever see eye to eye on a ship, let’s be real.I’ll admit that I was a bit confused as The Perilous Sea opened, and you probably will be too. It didn’t help that it had been ages since I read The Burning Sky and there have been hundreds of books in between. Plus, this world has a LOT going on. The Perilous Sea starts with Titus and Iolanthe in the Sahara Desert, both with no memory of anything before; the only thing they know is that they need to escape Atlantis. Whuuuuut.This will make sense, though, I promise. The Perilous Sea runs along two timelines, the desert and the time before the desert. I know this technique annoys some people who don’t like flashbacks, but it totally worked for me. Because of this, we get to be carried through some relationship problems between Titus and Iolanthe by them bantering and falling in love again despite not knowing each other. MY FEELS. I mean, I also love that they have relationship problems to work through, because hello realistic.One of the main criticisms I’ve seen of The Burning Sky is that people are so sick of the whole Chosen One thing. That’s not my favorite trope either, to be honest; I actually just reamed a book I finished yesterday for this trope. However, with The Perilous Sea, you’ll discover that Sherry Thomas also has some thoughts on the chosen one trope and they are beautiful. Things are not as simple as just following a prophecy, okay.I’m sort of undecided on the world building. Sometimes I’m completely in love with it. I mean, the elemental powers are so cool, but I am admittedly a total sucker for such things. The Bane is creepy as fuck, possibly because he recalls Voldemort pretty strongly in how hard he is to kill. I feel like they may have to go find his horcruxes aka body parts in the next book. There are magic carpets and dragons and wands and basically every cool fantasy thing ever.On the other hand, that’s a lot of stuff. The fact that the Elemental Trilogy is also set in the 1800s in an alternative history with magic is something I don’t know what to do with. I think the world building would be way easier to swallow if it were just in a fantasy world. However, half of the book is set in Eton. I don’t understand at all the divisions between the magical world and the nonmage world. Is the Sahara in the mage world or is it just unpopulated enough they feel safe doing tons of magic there? I could not begin to tell you. Then there’s the Crucible, the book that Titus and company can travel into for training. Mostly, it’s a safe space but in some areas you can die for real and there have been showdowns there in both books and that also is weird and wut.What it boils down to though is that I really don’t care, honestly. I love the characters and the writing and the banter and the plot so much that I am completely willing to let some of the world building slide. The ending was intense and totally hurt my feels. The twist actually surprised me. The ROMANCE. The fact that Kashkari got to have a large role in this one, because I love him so much. Basically, this series is boss, unless you’re more of a world building reader than a character reader. You’ve been warned.If you like your fantasy filled with romance that will make you squee from the amazing bantery connection, then you need Sherry Thomas’ Elemental Trilogy in your life. ASAP.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5liked the way it was written. two different story lines and two different places.