The Sea King by C.L. Wilson
- Pub. Date: October 31, 2017
- Publisher: Avon Books
- Pages: 608
- Series: Weathermages of Mystral #2
- Rating:3/5
- Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Winter King comes a breathtaking new tale of love and adventure set in the mystical land of Mystral...
He wasn't supposed to choose her...
Seafaring prince Dilys Merimydion has been invited to court the three magical princesses of Summerlea. To eradicate the pirates threatening Calberna and to secure the power of the Sea Throne, Dilys vows to return home with a fierce warrior-queen as his bride. But politics has nothing to do with unexpected temptation.
She didn't dare wed him...
A weathermage like her sisters, Gabriella Coruscate's gentleness exemplifies the qualities of her season name, Summer. Yet her quiet poise conceals dangerous powers she cannot begin to wield. Better to live without excitement, she reasons, than risk her heart and lose control— until an irresistible Sealord jolts her awake with a thunderclap of raw desire.
Until evil threatens everything they hold dear...
When pirates kidnap Summer and her sisters, Dilys is in a desperate quest to save the woman he loves. Only by combining his command of the seas with the unleashed fury of Summer's formidable gifts can they defeat their brutal enemies and claim the most priceless victory of all: true love.
Review: I waited three years for this release, The Sea King is the second book in the Weathermages of Mystral series. I loved The Winter King it was and still is one of my favorite Fantasy reads to date, but sadly The Sea King could not compare to the first book in the series. Don't get me wrong I still liked it but there were a few things that happened and certain character traits that really took away my enjoyment of it.
First, the things I did like, C.L. Wilson is an incredible world builder, she knows how to pull a reader into a world where you feel as if you are there living and breathing every moment with the characters. I was thrilled to see Wynter and Storm again and it shows how strong of a character those two were because every single time they made an appearance Dilys and Summer became an afterthought. I did enjoy getting to know the other summer sisters, Autumn and Spring I have a feeling they will make for an interesting read. I also loved learning about Calberna, the place where Dilys is from it is definitely a wonderful addition to Mystral, their mating rituals were really interesting and I loved learning about the history of their people.
Now on to our two main characters Summer a.k.a. Gabriella and Dily's Prince of Calberna. I had a love-hate relationship with the two through the entire book, more so with Summer than Dily's. First off the romance was too much, WHAT! I know what the heck am I talking about it, this is a Fantasy/Romance read but just hear me out, The Wynter King had a perfect balance of action and romance while The Sea King spent too much time on Summer and Dilys and their repetitive inner monologues. Majority of the book was spent Dilys chasing Summer and Summer rejecting him in the rudest of ways and it became incredibly boring and made for a slower read than I liked. A part of me actually became very annoyed with Summer because Dilys is a great guy, he is loyal, sweet, caring but all he got from Summer was mistreatment. I understand Summer had her reasons for pushing him away but her actions still made it hard for me to really like her and she just gave off the vibe of a spoiled princess.
I was glad when the action finally kicked up, the Summer sisters get kidnapped by some incredibly horrible people. There should be a trigger warning for rape ( there was no actual sexual intercourse but there was penetration with the monster of a man using his fingers which falls under the definition of rape.) I felt the addition of rape was so unnecessary I'm still trying to figure out why even add that to an otherwise mostly lighthearted romance. Then something else happened that would normally devastate a character, hell it completely caught me off guard.
SPOILER HIGHLIGHT TO READ ( Summers sisters are killed, or so we are led to believe) END OF SPOILER
I was pretty much done with Summer after this, she should have been grief-stricken but to get over it in a matter of hours if even that and then jump in the bed with Dilys soon after made absolutely no sense. Nothing justified that and it was the most unrealistic response ever.
For a book I waited three years for The Sea King sadly did not live up to my expectations, but I am still invested in the series as long as the next book doesn't take as long to release. I did like Autumn and Spring and am excited to see where their story leads to especially after that cliffhanger at the end.
But somehow Summer who should be so grief-stricken got over it in a matter of hours and then decided to have sex with Dily's and she was pretty much over it. I was so infuriated with her at that point and I went from tolerating her to just not liking her at all.
