Sea of Shadows (Age of Legends Trilogy Book 1)

Armstrong begins this new series with an intriguing opening, Sea of Shadows. We are introduced to a mixed bag of curious people, all of whom have special abilities though not all are supernaturally oriented. Primarily we meet our two main characters, strawberry blonde twin girls Moria and Ashyn are the Keeper and Seeker of the town of Edgewood (the Keeper has a huge Cat and the Seeker has a large Hound). Trained in fighting and in the secret rites of the spirits, they lead an annual trip into the Forest of the Dead. There, the veil between the living world and the beyond is thinnest, and the girls pay respect to the spirits who have passed. Until this year. And all hell breaks loose.No spoilers here, but I will say that it is a good opening of a new YA series. Remember these are 16yr olds. And the adults around them do tend to speak down a bit. The romance seems very coy and stilted. One sister is very naïve and the other is rather too savvy for me.What I like is we are introduced to some creatures of Legend. Hence the "age of legends." I can't tell you what kind or it will destroy the story but if your childhood demons from Grimm tales could come to life, then you understand what the girls are facing. The difference is it is from their world, their creatures, their perspective. And originally done, too. I enjoyed that part very much.The action scenes are nicely done but the tale begins a bit too slowly for me. The animals who protect the Seeker and Keeper are still too much of an enigma for me and I felt needed more definition.If you like young YA fantasy, then you may enjoy this. I liked it but was a bit too young for me and seemed a little lacking of the classic Armstrong style which even an older adult like me usually gravitates to.

I enjoyed reading Sea of Shadows. A spellbinding Fantasy with a great story and memorable characters. The Forest of the Dead is a scary place and these two twin sisters that are the keeper and the seeker have to enter and deal with the souls of the damned. I liked Moria and Ashyn, the twin sisters. they have a very special relationship. I also enjoyed Ronan and Gavril. Their are some serious scary things they fight and the book has plenty of action. The ending is surprising and I must read book #2.I give Sea Of Shadows 4 stars for its thrilling read.I would recommend this book to Fantasy Fans.

I've only read a few books by Kelley Armstrong, but this high fantasy seemed right up my alley.Sea of Shadows stars two twin girls, Moria and Ashyn who have been destined since birth to be Keeper and Seeker of their town. They each have an animal companion as well. The story alternates between their perspectives in third person. Something horrible happens that separates them near the beginning of the story, after Ashyn's trek into the Forest of the Dead, and during their journey back together, sinister and fantastical things continue to happen. Will they find their way back together and piece together what has happened to their town?I thought this book was well written, and honestly, I've liked it better than the other books I've read by Armstrong. Her craft has definitely improved. Of the two girls, I liked Moria more, because Ashyn comes off a little too dainty and hesitant, and just plain naive. I guess I was a bit surprised at that because you'd think that Moria would have educated her a bit better! I liked their animal companions, and the two love interests were passable. The pace was a bit slow for me, but the writing and plot were solid and kept me going. I'm definitely going to pick up the next installment as I'd like to see where she's taking this.Overall, a solid start to a fantasy with some intriguing characters and plot points.

I'm a huge fan of most things from Kelley Armstrong. This is one that I'm not crazy about. Usually her books are great at capturing an audience's attention right away and her books are fast paced and thrilling. From the beginning, it was a struggle to pay attention, and more than once I thought about abandoning it without finishing the story. There are some clear reasons why: First, I think that some of the issue with capturing my attention came from the fact that there are two heroines' personalities that need to be developed and explored, and even with a solid groundwork laid, there's always going to be more attention on one rather than the other. It's a challenge for any author to develop one solid protagonist, let alone two, especially without making the book completely devoid of action or making it 700 pages.Second, Ashyn is the more timid of the twins, and her adventures with Ronan aren't nearly as exciting. I feel like she's the more likable of the two, and I don't think Armstrong focuses enough on her and her development in this book. Moira is hotheaded, yet cold and calculating, and it's hard for me to like her.And third, I think that the choice not to have each girl narrate their own adventures and thoughts and feelings detracted from the effectiveness of the story telling. I will read the other books and see if I change my mind.

I love Kelly Armstrong's books so much that I hate to give this one a negative review. Some of her books which appear to be targeted to the Young Adult Audience are just missing the pizzazz that I expect. It's taking 1/3 of the book to really explain the world, the characters and introduce everyone. I am not going to finish it.

I'm an avid Kelley Armstrong fan. I've read almost every one of her books and devour them as soon as they come out. This one is a complete change of pace and genre for her and it took me a while to get into it. Things were just starting to pick up and get really interesting when it came to a sudden end! I feel kind of up in the air. Kelley is a prolific writer so I'm hoping the sequel comes out soon. I'd like to give it more stars but I can't.Having said all that, this has got to be one of the most difficult things an author tries to do; make up a whole new world out of their mind. I think she did a pretty good job of that. I really can't wait for the sequel because the plot is so unresolved. I took one star off for that.

Moria and Ashyn are the Keeper and the Seeker of the Forest of the Dead. Criminals get sent into the Forest and if they survive, they're told they get to be placed back in society - no one ever survives. The Seeker and the Keeper are tasked with dealing with the souls of the dead so they don't become evil spirits. This is Ashyn's first solo journey as the Seeker and it doesn't go to plan - turns out there's more in the forest than the souls of the dead. After their town gets attacked, Ashyn and Moria are separated and in finding one another discover something is very wrong.With Kelley's Otherworld series at an end, she's introducing some new stuff. No new adult series as yet but this is her new YA/New Adult series (I don't know the difference between the two - genres aren't my strong point). Moria and Ashyn are both very different and likeable in their own ways.Moria is strong and kick ass, she's not afraid to stand her ground and will fight anything to protect her family and her town. Ashyn is quiet and calm, the complete opposite of Moria and that's why they work so well together. They counter each other and are better for it.I love Kelley's writing as anyone who has read my reviews before will know but sadly this one fell a bit short with me, I still liked it and will continue with the series but it was quite slow going and hard to pick up once it was put down - which is very unlike all Kelley books for me. I usually find them unputdownable. I would still recommend this to any YA Fantasy fans but if you're a Kelley fan it is quite unlike her other books so don't go into this expecting another Darkest Powers or Darkness Rising.

I've read and enjoyed quite a lot of Ms Armstrong's books and so I was keen to read a new series. However, this tale of gloom and despondency is just too black, and is not redeemed by anything particularly special in the characterisation or writing etc. I contrast it with The Wounded Land, for example - the first book in the second chronicles of Thomas Covenant. That's as bleak and depressing a book as you'll find in fantasy, but the quality of the writing is there. I'm not going to carry on with this series although I will continue to buy other books of hers.

Even though this series is aimed at a YA audience I had no hesitation in giving it a go - there's not a Kelley Armstrong book I've not enjoyed yet - and this was no exception, what a brilliant start. I love that Ms Armstrong has created a whole new world for her characters, one that I found to be reminiscent of ancient Japan, to exist in. It's a pleasant change from the norm. With a couple of neat plot twists at the end that I, admittedly, did not see coming I already know who I'm rooting for! The female leads are strong yet honourable and, even when things get a little messy, they jump on in. The guys? Well that remains to be seen.

I really enjoyed the start of this series by Kelley Armstrong. I own almost every book she's published and I can say this one is vastly unique to her other works. The format itself took a little time to get used to, she's used it before in storytelling switching between two characters POV and it can be frustrating at time. (We all want to go back and find out what happened next immediately!) I'm looking forward to the next book coming out this April.

Great series