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68th out of 802 books
—
2,126 voters
The Changeling Sea
Since the day her father's fishing boat returned without him, Peri and her mother have mourned his loss. Her mother sinks into a deep depression and spends her days gazing out at the sea. Unable to control her anger and sadness any longer, Peri uses the small magic she knows to hex the sea. And suddenly into her drab life come the King's sons-changelings with strange ties...more
Paperback, 144 pages
Published
April 14th 2003
by Firebird
(first published October 1st 1988)
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This short, standalone novel (a novella really) written in McKillip's usual beautiful yet elliptical style is exactly the sort of thing that I come to expect from her work.
A lowly scullery maid, who's fisher father died at sea and who's mother is psychologically lost to the sea, hates the ocean and tries to put a hex on it but ends up becoming embroiled in powerful magic and the King's family who's one time tryst with the sea queen is coming back to haunt him.
Those who have read McKillip before...more
A lowly scullery maid, who's fisher father died at sea and who's mother is psychologically lost to the sea, hates the ocean and tries to put a hex on it but ends up becoming embroiled in powerful magic and the King's family who's one time tryst with the sea queen is coming back to haunt him.
Those who have read McKillip before...more
6 likes · like · see review
view all 3 comments
Aug 25, 2011
Isa
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
young-adult,
fantasy,
read-2010,
favorites,
owned,
cozy,
children,
mystery,
political-intrigue,
worth-re-reading,
otp
Originally posted at Bookmarks.
Sometimes people ask me to recommend a book and it usually goes a bit like this:
Hipster girl: Hey do you know which book I shoul--
Me: The Changeling Sea!
~*~
Metalhead dude: Hey, I've been thinking about readi--
Me: The Changeling Sea!
~*~
Mum: Any books you--
Me: The Changeling Sea!
~*~
Some friend: Got any books yo--
Me: The Changeling Sea!
Some friend. You always say that! I've already read it!
Me: READ IT AGAIN.
Anyone who's lived their whole life by the sea will tell you...more
Sometimes people ask me to recommend a book and it usually goes a bit like this:
Hipster girl: Hey do you know which book I shoul--
Me: The Changeling Sea!
~*~
Metalhead dude: Hey, I've been thinking about readi--
Me: The Changeling Sea!
~*~
Mum: Any books you--
Me: The Changeling Sea!
~*~
Some friend: Got any books yo--
Me: The Changeling Sea!
Some friend. You always say that! I've already read it!
Me: READ IT AGAIN.
Anyone who's lived their whole life by the sea will tell you...more
5 likes · like · see review
This book came highly recommended, and I was prepared to really like it. When I started reading it, it reminded me of The Last Unicorn. As the story progressed, though, I found that it seemed to lack the depth that I was hoping it would have. It could have been really good, but I found myself unable to connect with any of the characters. I liked that Kir was so desperate to get into the sea, but he was also aloof and unreachable, and I found his relationship with Peri rather forced. What reason...more
I really enjoyed this creative fantasy. I especially loved the main character, Peri (short for periwinkle). She was strong, loyal, and did not give up on life, although all those she loved had been lost to the sea in one way or the other. The only thing that I didn't like as much was the romance in it - although Peri was believable, it was harder for me to buy the Prince's performance. And although his reactions were understandable given the story, it didn't stop me from wanting him to show her...more
This was a nice little dip into the fairytale pool. I was looking for a quick and light read and, while The Changeling Sea offered more depth than I was expecting, it was still a nice surprise.
The book opens with Peri, the main character, dealing with the loss of her fisherman father at sea, and her mother's subsequent check out from reality. Though only 15, Peri works as a maid at the local inn, and while she continues to show up for work every day, her evenings are spent in her own type of ret...more
The book opens with Peri, the main character, dealing with the loss of her fisherman father at sea, and her mother's subsequent check out from reality. Though only 15, Peri works as a maid at the local inn, and while she continues to show up for work every day, her evenings are spent in her own type of ret...more
Peri, a young woman whose fisherman father drowned, casts a spell
against the sea, calling forth a monster… and a Prince.
A magical, moving, and completely original story, peopled with quirkily
charming characters. Unlike most fantasy novels, this isn’t about
wielding swords and spells to save the world, but about the power and
wonder of both magic and human relationships. Peri is a likable,
offbeat heroine, and the choice she makes regarding the three men who
come into her life, the magician, the prin...more
against the sea, calling forth a monster… and a Prince.
A magical, moving, and completely original story, peopled with quirkily
charming characters. Unlike most fantasy novels, this isn’t about
wielding swords and spells to save the world, but about the power and
wonder of both magic and human relationships. Peri is a likable,
offbeat heroine, and the choice she makes regarding the three men who
come into her life, the magician, the prin...more
The Changeling Sea is the third of Patricia McKillip's books that I have read and the most disappointing, if not an overall bad book. It's all right - written in McKillip's lovely fashion, well-crafted with characters that range in personality and style, and short enough that it does not bog down in too much unnecessary detail. But it is far from perfect, and even ranges on the mediocre scale.
The Changeling Sea falls mostly on the fact that it does not go into much detail regarding its world. A...more
The Changeling Sea falls mostly on the fact that it does not go into much detail regarding its world. A...more
this was a great story. i love this author, she just has a certain style that brings whatever she says to another level. this said, the story isn’t perfect. the major relationships between the main character and those around her aren’t very strong, not strong enough anyways. at the end, not to spoil it, but she asks someone to come back for her, but the relationship between them wasn’t strong enough for her to ask that of him… or at least we the readers weren’t privy to it. they don’t have to b...more
It's no secret that Patricia McKillip is a most beloved author for so many fantasy readers. I discovered her late in the game, when I ran across a beautiful reissued omnibus edition of The Riddle-master Trilogy in a Barnes & Noble several years ago. After finishing that excellent trilogy, I went looking for any other McKillip books I could get my hands on. The result was a binge, of sorts, in which I blew through six or seven titles without a by-your-leave. And it was an immensely good time....more
Originally reviewed on The Book Smugglers
In a small fishing village on the coast of the wide, stormy sea, a bright-eyed young woman named Periwinkle makes her home. After her father, a fisherman, rows out his ship and never returns, Peri's mother lapses into quiet despair, forgetting to talk and always staring out at the roiling sea and fantasizing about the people that live in its depths. Without her parents to watch over her or remind her to do things like brush her hair or hem her clothes, Pe...more
In a small fishing village on the coast of the wide, stormy sea, a bright-eyed young woman named Periwinkle makes her home. After her father, a fisherman, rows out his ship and never returns, Peri's mother lapses into quiet despair, forgetting to talk and always staring out at the roiling sea and fantasizing about the people that live in its depths. Without her parents to watch over her or remind her to do things like brush her hair or hem her clothes, Pe...more
3 likes · like · see review
I have read a number of books by McKillip in the past and enjoyed them. This book was no exception; the writing is beautiful and creates wonderful imagery, the story has a fairy tale feel to it. I absolutely loved reading it.
Peri's father was lost to the sea last year and her mother is in a deep depression. Peri has taken to living in an old woman's abandoned house so that she doesn't have to face her mother's depression every day. One day Peri is so overcome by anger at the sea that she throws...more
Peri's father was lost to the sea last year and her mother is in a deep depression. Peri has taken to living in an old woman's abandoned house so that she doesn't have to face her mother's depression every day. One day Peri is so overcome by anger at the sea that she throws...more
Beautifully, breathtakingly woven, as one would expect from Ms. McKillip. The characters are exquisitely fleshed-out and complex, mysterious and lovely, infused with emotions and heart expected of an everyday person, yet with just the barest hint of magic running its current beneath. The prose is absolutely spellbinding, and the conversations compelling, riddled with that simple, effortless, alluring ease that flows so naturally from the author's hand.
May expand more on character thoughts later,...more
May expand more on character thoughts later,...more
Periwinkle's father drowned at sea. Her mother is lost in her grief, staring out to see. Periwinkle herself works at the inn -- which is very busy when the king stays in his summer home, and still has to be kept neat by winter -- and lives in the hut of an old woman who vanished not long after her mother died. She starts to hex the sea in revenge, which is where the king's son, Kir, happens on her.
He gives her a message to give to the sea when she hexes it, and more consequences ripple outward....more
He gives her a message to give to the sea when she hexes it, and more consequences ripple outward....more
I was surprised by this book. I suppose its thinness and it's being billed as young adult made me lower my expectations a bit. But I'm on a mission to read all of McKillip's work, so I bought it this spring. This is a book of multiple troubled romances, including the romance of the sea. And this the first book of McKillips I've read in which I think she does romance well. As is common in McKillip's books (and fantasy in general), the young woman at the center of the book has magical power withou...more
Il romanzo è molto datato — del 1988 — ma io adoro la penna elegantemente "vecchio stile" della McKillip. Come suggerito dal titolo originale — The Changeling Sea — la storia ruota intorno allo scambio di due bambini, uno dei quali venuto dalle profondità del mare e a questo legato indissolubilmente. È una vicenda semplice, in fin dei conti, pensata per un pubblico giovane, ma piena di belle suggestioni e scritta in modo talmente scorrevole che la si legge tutta d'un fiato. C'è una ragazza un po...more
Some books fail to live up to nostalgia-tinged memories. Some books remain solid years later. And some books are even better than you remember. This one's definitely in the latter category.
It's a fairy tale first and foremost, so don't read it if you're looking for detailed worldbuilding or rules of magic. It works by fairy-tale logic. Metaphor is important. Things come in threes. Your heart's desire pays for itself, if only you can figure out what it is.
Mostly, it's the language I love it for....more
It's a fairy tale first and foremost, so don't read it if you're looking for detailed worldbuilding or rules of magic. It works by fairy-tale logic. Metaphor is important. Things come in threes. Your heart's desire pays for itself, if only you can figure out what it is.
Mostly, it's the language I love it for....more
1 like · like · see review
Reading Changeling Sea, I felt rewarded. Like someone walked up to me and handed me a glass of cold milk and a fresh warm cookie every once in a while. Just enough so you never got stuffed with cookies or gorged with milk. Sounds good, right?
The story focuses on the plight of Peri. What I like about Peri is she is despondent so you know she isn't here to sell you anything in chipper tones. She's a realist and a doer. She starts out the book by waging war on the sea. Remember when I just said tha...more
The story focuses on the plight of Peri. What I like about Peri is she is despondent so you know she isn't here to sell you anything in chipper tones. She's a realist and a doer. She starts out the book by waging war on the sea. Remember when I just said tha...more
I grew up next to the ocean. I was in love with it myself; I cried leaving, when I thought it was the last time, as I moved inland to mountains and desert--which are lovely, but. It is very hard to capture in words the feel of the sea--powerful and wild, familiar and strange, always changing and always the same, peaceful and lively and joyous and desperately sad, all at the same time. How you feel after a good, long beach day, hours playing in the water and sand, searching for seashells, dancing...more
From this book I learned that water dudes are totally HAWT! To hell with vampires!
2 likes · like · see review
The more I read Mckillip, the more I like her. Not as fantastic as Winter Rose, Or in the Forests of Serre, The Changeling Sea is simple, lucid and magical. The name of the character Periwinkle is just awesome.It is amazing to think of that name, name of a flower, name of a snail. There are a few lovely almost cinematic moments in The Changeling Sea.Gold turning in to flowers, a mage, a floor scrubbing heroine and a hero who almost was a hero. Full of surprises, and touching moments, this is a s...more
I've read this book tons of times, and I enjoy it just as much as the first time. Periwinkle is a girl who lost her father to the sea and ever since, her mother has been lost in grief. Periwinkle works at an inn and finds no excitement in her life until one night, she angrily throws a hex into the sea. As a result, old spells start to come undone, and strange occurances happen in the little fishing village that Periwinkle lives in. Periwinkle's life is changed forever when she meets a sea monste...more
Jan 02, 2011
Jane
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
ages 10+, anyone needing a good fairy tale
Recommended to Jane by:
my father
This is one of my favorites of McKillip's work. The story is aimed more towards a young adult audience, but the fairy tale feel is amazing and the twists in untangling all the pieces of the plot are beautiful. I've read this many, many times, and I keep coming back to it whenever things are looking grim and I need to be "storied" back to believing that the world can be a magical place after all. Her setting is entirely fictional, but somehow McKillip builds enough of a background to the world th...more
Originally posted at A Novel Idea Reviews
Rating: 3/5
When Peri’s fisherman father was lost at sea, she found herself bereaved of both parents. Now her mother does nothing but stare out the window at the breaking waves, and Peri goes to her work at the local inn to scrub floors, blaming the sea for everything that has gone wrong in her life. Having learned some small magic from an old woman who once lived not far from her own cottage, Peri puts together a few awkward hexes and hurls them into the...more
Rating: 3/5
When Peri’s fisherman father was lost at sea, she found herself bereaved of both parents. Now her mother does nothing but stare out the window at the breaking waves, and Peri goes to her work at the local inn to scrub floors, blaming the sea for everything that has gone wrong in her life. Having learned some small magic from an old woman who once lived not far from her own cottage, Peri puts together a few awkward hexes and hurls them into the...more
This book is so gorgeous it hurts.
I’m serious. The prose is so beautiful you can’t help but foam in envy. Her writing has such luscious descriptions you just want to gather them all up and devour them like precious edible gold. It’s just amazing how she manages to spill her wonderful imagination out into the pages and spin a story with the skills to back it up.
Sure this novel (a novella almost, really) is short but I really loved how she takes a familiar aspect in fairy lore (the switching of ba...more
I’m serious. The prose is so beautiful you can’t help but foam in envy. Her writing has such luscious descriptions you just want to gather them all up and devour them like precious edible gold. It’s just amazing how she manages to spill her wonderful imagination out into the pages and spin a story with the skills to back it up.
Sure this novel (a novella almost, really) is short but I really loved how she takes a familiar aspect in fairy lore (the switching of ba...more
3 likes · like · see review
This is the correct edition.
The main character in this book is a rather poorly educated child, and that's only partly because of a breakdown in her family. The death of her father and what she believes to be the enchantment of her mother by her father's killer (the sea itself) do lead to a breakdown in nurturing. But there doesn't seem to be any organized schooling in the village. There are counting rhymes (used to teach speech to the sea dragon) and other learning techniques. There are even a f...more
The main character in this book is a rather poorly educated child, and that's only partly because of a breakdown in her family. The death of her father and what she believes to be the enchantment of her mother by her father's killer (the sea itself) do lead to a breakdown in nurturing. But there doesn't seem to be any organized schooling in the village. There are counting rhymes (used to teach speech to the sea dragon) and other learning techniques. There are even a f...more
the rhythm of the language evokes the ocean, pulling gently and insistently. i really like the feel of this book, the mood of it. it is hypnotic and enchanting and comforting. the world mckillip creates feels true to me, and feels like a safe place to dream in.
i like the strong female character who throws off stereotypical roles and rules; in a sense it is a reversal, the female loner and the males in need of overt rescuing. but she too, needs rescuing, its just a different kind, and she does mu...more
i like the strong female character who throws off stereotypical roles and rules; in a sense it is a reversal, the female loner and the males in need of overt rescuing. but she too, needs rescuing, its just a different kind, and she does mu...more
Didn't really like this. I couldn't get involved in the story, couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters or what might happen next. Of course it could be argued that this book is aimed at a much younger audience than me - but I've recently decided that this is NO EXCUSE. I've read scores of books for this age group in which the author grabs the reader's attention, no matter their age, from the first line, and maintains a stranglehold on it for the entire book.
But not in this one...more
But not in this one...more
I honestly don't know how many times I've read this book. It is one of the sweetest, most wonderful novels I've every read in my life.
When I had a series of very bad days this week, I turned to it to occupy my mind. Rereading this book always brings me peace; its charm and wonder remind me of my joy when I first discovered it. At the time, I was just 13, and I'd noticed McKillip's name for years, but all I'd seen was the Riddlemaster trilogy. While they looked good, they didn't look accessible t...more
When I had a series of very bad days this week, I turned to it to occupy my mind. Rereading this book always brings me peace; its charm and wonder remind me of my joy when I first discovered it. At the time, I was just 13, and I'd noticed McKillip's name for years, but all I'd seen was the Riddlemaster trilogy. While they looked good, they didn't look accessible t...more
I liked this book but have to admit it was a bit confusing at times. Patricia McKillip, in this novel at least, writes very differently than the usual "let the reader know exactly whats going on"- kind of way. Which is good, don't get me wrong, but as I am not used to reading books that are like this, a fault on my own part, I probably did not enjoy the novel as much as I could have.
Recommended to fantasy and fairy-tale lovers everywhere!
Recommended to fantasy and fairy-tale lovers everywhere!
Jun 10, 2010
Margaret
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fantasy-and-science-fiction,
authors-mn
The heroine, Peri, hates the sea that has drowned her father; Kir, the prince, is strangely drawn to the same sea. When Peri tries to hex the sea's magic, a sea-dragon appears, whose fate is inextricably bound with Peri, Kir, and the mysterious magician Lyo. Peri is a refreshingly different heroine - unkempt and often sullen, but clever and direct - and McKillip's writing is elegant as always.
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Patricia Anne McKillip is an American author of fantasy and science fiction novels, distinguished by lyrical, delicate prose and careful attention to detail and characterization. She is a past winner of the World Fantasy Award and Locus Award, and she lives in Oregon. Most of her recent novels have cover paintings by Kinuko Y. Craft. She is married to David Lunde, a poet.
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“Love and anger are like land and sea: They meet at many different places.”
—
17 people liked it
“It’s an odd thing, happiness. Some people take happiness from gold. Or black pearls. And some of us, far more fortunate, take their happiness from periwinkles.”
—
8 people liked it
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