Sea of the Dead

Sea of the Dead (Magicians of Venice 2)- Amy Kuivalainen
BHC Press
Release Date: September 17,  2020

Rating: 
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: The battle for Venice might be over, but the war is just beginning… Penelope’s and Alexis’s adventure continues in the second installment of The Magicians of Venice series. 

Penelope has accepted her role as the new Archivist for the magicians, but with war brewing with the priests of Thevetat and the tide of magic on the rise, she’s going to have to learn her way around her new and dangerous world if she has any hope of outsmarting their enemies. 

When Penelope’s friend and fellow archaeologist, Tim, uncovers a scroll containing a magical secret lost in the Dead Sea for two thousand years, Penelope and Alexis must travel to Israel to find him before Abaddon and Kreios get there first.

To defeat Thevetat and his followers, they’ll need to find a weapon capable of ending him for good, and as her old life collides with her new, Penelope will pay the ultimate price to keep the secrets of the magicians safe.

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The Sea of the Dead follows through on the promise of the intricate new magical world started in last year's The Immortal City.  It picks up after the events of Immortal City as Alexis, Penelope, the delightful Marco Dandolo, and the rest of the Magicians of Atlantis are trying to come to grips with entering a new war against the demon Thevetat.  But it's Penelope's world that brings them the next clue, in the shape of her friend Tim Sanders.  An archaeologist focusing on the Dead Sea, Tim finds a scroll with a curse on it, but stays sane long enough to send the scroll to Penelope to keep from Thevetat's acolytes, who are hunting him for it.  Penelope and her best friend Carolyn go to Israel to find Tim and become caught up in the race to find prophecies from the Dead Sea Scrolls before the demon's followers can bring about more destruction.

Part of what I enjoyed about The Immortal City was the almost non-stop action and danger.  Penelope gets thrown into the deep end and has to sink or swim- and in the process of following her heart she becomes a part of an amazing new world of magic and mysteries.  There's almost no time to think, its all about action and instinct.  The Sea of the Dead takes a different approach with slower pacing, less instant and violent danger at every corner, and the chance for the characters to think through their actions and choices in ways they couldn't in The Immortal City.  Here, they aren't trying to stop a serial killer on a deadline but are trying to unravel a prophecy Tim has found in order to take the next steps in the war against Thevetat.  And the change of pace and mindset works surprisingly well.  As instantly explosive as Penelope and Alexis were in The Immortal City, in Sea of the Dead, we get to see both of them trying to figure out what their relationship is when there is no life or death threat hanging over them.  They have plenty to learn about each other, and how a relationship between them could work- and both are charmingly awkward and afraid to take the steps necessary to figure it out.   

Penelope's old world and new collide here as she brings her two best friends into the circle, with mixed success.  Carolyn and Tim react very differently to the knowledge that magic is real and a lot of the emotional punch the book gives us is in how they handle that knowledge- and with how Penelope has changed because of that knowledge.  I also loved getting to see the magicians in different settings, to learn more about their pasts- either in throw away lines or in deeper memories.  They've each got thousands of years of experiences that made them who they are and we get to peel through the layers with Penelope to discover them.  The improving relationship between Phaidros and Aleia is lovely to watch, and we get to see a new a protective side of both Lyca and Zo that is great.

The Sea of the Dead is wonderfully written, with masterfully detailed world-building and plenty of suspenseful action and emotion.  A new reader could start here and not be overly lost, but I would still recommend starting the series with The Immortal City.  Although not exactly a cliffhanger, the end is clearly ramping everyone up for an epic Book 3.  Hopefully in Book 3 we'll get lots more of Marco and the story of the Dandolo family and the Magicians, as well as the wonderful relationship between Penelope and Alexis and Phaidros and Aliea.  Between sea monsters and secrets, deserts and the waters of Venice, heartbreak and the beautiful discovery of love, The Sea of the Dead has it all, and will thrill fantasy lovers everywhere.    

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review