Given to the Sea by Mindy McGinnis is a book I have been anticipating since I heard about it. I loved McGinnis’ other books and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one since it falls into my favorite genre, Fantasy.

This story has multiple POVs and I admit, at first the book felt really choppy as we were jumping from one POV to the next and the chapters were fairly short. The Witt chapters were the ones that made things feel off for me and I suppose it is because the other characters are with each other. With that said, once the story picked up for me, it didn’t seem as distracting.

The world that McGinnis has created is interesting. The Kingdom of Stille has always had a Given who dances into the sea and the belief is that she is what prevents a wave from destroying the kingdom like it did before. Khosa is the Given and was expected to be ready to go by now but before she can, she has to have an heir. The problem for her is that she can’t stand the touch of any other human and now things are at a point where she may not get a choice about what happens. Even though she struggles with human touch, there is one person she is drawn to.

Vince is the third in line for the throne and when Khosa shows up at the castle, he can’t help but be drawn to her even if she is destined to die. As time progresses, Vince does what he can to protect her but his father has made it very difficult for him. He is willing to give up everything to protect Khosa but when the plan goes awry, things change for both of them.

Donil and Dara grew up with Vince but they are considered outsiders by most of Stille. They are Indiri, a race connected to the earth, and they possess magic. While Donil aligns to life, Dara aligns to death and while these attributes help them, they also cause some problems. When Vince and Khosa learn more about them and their magic, things change for all of them.Vince (and his mother) has always considered Donil and Dara family and they are all pretty close but when Khosa arrives, things shift a bit for them.

Let’s talk about feelings for a moment. Dara has always felt something for Vince and now she sees that Khosa has drawn Vince’s attention. This has created some definite tension between Dara and Khosa and it eventually comes to a head. Remember when I said that Khosa is drawn to someone…well that happens to be Donil. There is something about Donil that allows Khosa to touch him without flinching or drawing back. So…now we have Dara loves Vince, Vince loves Khosa, and Khosa has feelings for Donil. We do get to see how things end up for this group by the end of the book but I am curious to see where McGinnis will take this in the next book.

Outside of these relationships, there is another vein to this story and that ties back to Witt’s chapters. He leads the Pietra and they are driven to get more land so that his people can survive. Because of this, a war is coming to Stille and they are in no way prepared to fight such a strong army. Add to that, the agreement Witt makes with Ank, the leader of the Feneen, and they really have no chance considering how much they lost the last time they faced the Feneen. I’m looking forward to how this agreement plays out in the next book as things didn’t necessarily work out as planned for the group in this book.

Overall I found this one interesting. It felt like a departure from everything else McGinnis has written (which I have loved) but that isn’t a bad thing. My best recommendation is to not go into this with any pre-conceived notions about what this book will be about. As with her other books, McGinnis does a wonderful job of creating the world and developing the characters, but that is where the comparisons end. While this wasn’t my favorite book by McGinnis, I still thought the story was solid and am looking forward to the next book to see what happens next for these characters.

Given To The Sea by Mindy McGinnis is one of those books that just IMMEDIATELY appealed to me. The cover is so gorgeous. I am a big fan of the color palette used as well as the font. I’ve read Mindy McGinnis’s Not A Drop To Drink duology and very much enjoyed it. Plus, I like books that are set by the sea. As you can imagine, my expectations were set a little bit high for this book. Alas, it was not my favorite and honestly was kind of a drag to read.

Mindy McGinnis’s Given To The Sea follows four point of view characters – Khosa, Vincent, Dara, and Witt. Essentially the characters live in a world where the things that live in the sea are to be feared. In this world, the sea will rise and the creatures in it will destroy everything unless a sacrifice is made. That’s where Khosa comes in. She is what’s called the Given. Khosa will be sacrificed in order to appease the sea, but first she must bear a daughter to be the next Given.

As for Vincent, he is the prince in the kingdom that’s going to sacrifice Khosa. He doesn’t expect to rule though, given that people live an obnoxiously long time in his kingdom and his grandfather still sits on the throne. Dara and her twin brother have been adopted by Vincent’s mother. They are the last of the freckled people called the Indiri. Finally, Witt’s storyline is that he leads these people who are planning to attack and invade against Vincent’s kingdom.

Khosa is hard to really connect with as a character. I mean, she reads as kind of distant. I understood her motivations and why she was so repulsed by her fate and could not choose someone. Plus we get an actual explanation for why she is the way that she is. As for Vincent, he reads as weak and I just do not feel sure about his leadership abilities. Dara is a character where I would rather this whole book be about her because she is very interesting and active. Her character actually does things. Witt, while about to commit terrible acts, at least has a military strategy mind. He kept my interest more than Vincent.

However, where Given To The Sea really lost me was with the writing style. I guess I expected it to read as quickly with the pacing as the previous books by McGinnis that I have read. Unfortunately, this book was super slow for me to get through. I ran into difficulty with the world building. It was hard to get an image in my head of what it looked like. I also did not entirely understand the inner workings of the world or the different factions of society. Results are definitely going to vary with this book. You may like it though, so give it a shot I guess.

I wanted to love Given to the Sea SO so much. I mean an all-consuming love for a book that I knew was going to be magical and original and all things right with the world. And I think my expectations were a bit too high.

Let's start with the basics: the multiple points of view. It's common enough in fantasy, not a shocker. But when you do that, ALL the characters need to be strong and I just don't think the members of this cast pulled their weight equally. You have Khosa and Vincent, both told in first person PoV, who seem to be the major players while the other two appear in third PoV and are more designated as secondary. Was that the intention? I don't know, but I didn't care about the characters equally and, in fact, I didn't really about any of the characters at all.

This is a struggle because I've read another book by this author (The Female of the Species) where the characters were SO strong and yes, I can't compare books especially in different genres but it's hard having read both to not see the differences. I felt like the author focused so much on this unique idea of the Given and these different cultures and her unique way of telling the story because, yes, this book was not like any fantasy I've read before. But in all that, I felt the characters suffered, and even the world-building.

Given to the Sea has such a rich, beautiful world it's situated in but you barely get a glimpse. You see more of the people and I've established that I wasn't a fan of that so that doesn't bode well. But the world had issues too. We talk about problematic books and I was a bit surprised that an entire group of people had disabilities and were seen as lesser for it. The Indiri are seen as uncultured and their entire race save for two people wiped out. The Pietra send any who are remotely weak, body or mind, to die at sea. The Stillean are the "perfect" people. Though the book addresses some of these characteristics, I can't say it sat well with me.

Also, if you are triggered by rape, there is both discussion and a pretty detailed scene so fair warning.

Now back to those characters. This book featured romance that seemed to wind its way through most of the characters which was crazy but alright. Let's see how that goes. Well... we got a love triangle-square thing. I don't even know. It was a mess and felt completely unnecessary. And in the middle is Khosa who can't bear human touch because of her genes but has to get pregnant to fulfill her destiny and I'm just sitting here like WTF is actually happening.

Honestly the whole plot was like that. You have Khosa, Vincent, and Dara (3 of the 4 PoVs) at the castle along with Dara's twin Donil. And they're just chillin' there dealing with their angsty emotions. And then there's Witt who's supposed to be heartless but isn't completely leading an army in the fringes but they don't really accomplish anything in the end so his character and most of the others didn't hold much weight for me.

This book was all over the place. I was never grounded in the world and never connected with the characters. And for a fantasy, that's really important to me. Perhaps I'm harsher about this genre than others because I read it more frequently than most but my expectations were high and this Sea couldn't rise to meet them.

Given to the Sea by Mindy McGinnis is a book I have been anticipating since I heard about it. I loved McGinnis’ other books and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one since it falls into my favorite genre, Fantasy.

This story has multiple POVs and I admit, at first the book felt really choppy as we were jumping from one POV to the next and the chapters were fairly short. The Witt chapters were the ones that made things feel off for me and I suppose it is because the other characters are with each other. With that said, once the story picked up for me, it didn’t seem as distracting.

The world that McGinnis has created is interesting. The Kingdom of Stille has always had a Given who dances into the sea and the belief is that she is what prevents a wave from destroying the kingdom like it did before. Khosa is the Given and was expected to be ready to go by now but before she can, she has to have an heir. The problem for her is that she can’t stand the touch of any other human and now things are at a point where she may not get a choice about what happens. Even though she struggles with human touch, there is one person she is drawn to.

Vince is the third in line for the throne and when Khosa shows up at the castle, he can’t help but be drawn to her even if she is destined to die. As time progresses, Vince does what he can to protect her but his father has made it very difficult for him. He is willing to give up everything to protect Khosa but when the plan goes awry, things change for both of them.

Donil and Dara grew up with Vince but they are considered outsiders by most of Stille. They are Indiri, a race connected to the earth, and they possess magic. While Donil aligns to life, Dara aligns to death and while these attributes help them, they also cause some problems. When Vince and Khosa learn more about them and their magic, things change for all of them.Vince (and his mother) has always considered Donil and Dara family and they are all pretty close but when Khosa arrives, things shift a bit for them.

Let’s talk about feelings for a moment. Dara has always felt something for Vince and now she sees that Khosa has drawn Vince’s attention. This has created some definite tension between Dara and Khosa and it eventually comes to a head. Remember when I said that Khosa is drawn to someone…well that happens to be Donil. There is something about Donil that allows Khosa to touch him without flinching or drawing back. So…now we have Dara loves Vince, Vince loves Khosa, and Khosa has feelings for Donil. We do get to see how things end up for this group by the end of the book but I am curious to see where McGinnis will take this in the next book.

Outside of these relationships, there is another vein to this story and that ties back to Witt’s chapters. He leads the Pietra and they are driven to get more land so that his people can survive. Because of this, a war is coming to Stille and they are in no way prepared to fight such a strong army. Add to that, the agreement Witt makes with Ank, the leader of the Feneen, and they really have no chance considering how much they lost the last time they faced the Feneen. I’m looking forward to how this agreement plays out in the next book as things didn’t necessarily work out as planned for the group in this book.

Overall I found this one interesting. It felt like a departure from everything else McGinnis has written (which I have loved) but that isn’t a bad thing. My best recommendation is to not go into this with any pre-conceived notions about what this book will be about. As with her other books, McGinnis does a wonderful job of creating the world and developing the characters, but that is where the comparisons end. While this wasn’t my favorite book by McGinnis, I still thought the story was solid and am looking forward to the next book to see what happens next for these characters.

A fascinating surprise. Given to the Sea is not at all what I thought it would be. It's a fantasy rich in world building, and given plenty of unpredictable twists, and turns. Even during the times I didn't quite connect with the story, I couldn't stop reading it either.

I absolutely loved this book's setting. McGinnis has created a vivid, beautifully haunting world. It's merciless, and brutal, yet there's something about it that pulls you into it, and has you rooting for those who are trying to change the course of their fate. Given to the Sea is book that centers on the sea, and the land that surrounds it's borders. It's a story about the people who live within the borders, all of whom will do what ever it takes to protect their people, and those chosen by the sea, called The Given.

Character wise, I liked that this book was told from 4 different points of views. Each of their stories are deeply embedded with each other's. Each character has a pivotal role in the story. I enjoyed reading each of their points of views. My favorite characters in the story however, were Donil and Dara, the misfits of the story. I also liked Vincent, the reluctant heir to the throne, and then there's Witt, the brutal leader of the Pietran people. Next is Khosa, the Given. While I didn't connect to one particular character, I liked that this story was written in such a way that not having a character connection didn't effect it.

There are so many elements to this book that I enjoyed. Those outweighed some of the smaller issues I had with the book. It wasn't hard for me to get sucked into this story. McGinnis's storytelling and world building are my favorite elements to this story. However, toward the middle of the book I found myself not being as interested with story, and I'm not really sure why that was. However, McGinnis threw in a few surprises and a strong finish that has me anxiously awaiting the next book's release. I need some more answers.

Given To The Sea is a fascinating fantasy. I loved how the element of the sea is a character all it's own, controlling and ruling all that Khosa and those who live around it's borders do. I really enjoyed the way this story was told. I love the world building, the unpredictable story line, and the book's strong finish. This is unlike anything I've read before. Along with the story, this cover is one I absolutely love!

I'm always excited to check out new work from Mindy McGinnis. This story blends four narratives to tell the story of a girl doomed to be "given to the sea," as a sacrifice for her kingdom. While I enjoyed hearing from the various characters, I don't know that I got to know any of them very well. I'm interested in seeing what happens in the next book, so will probably continue the series. But I felt a disconnect from the characters, some disinterest in certain events (though there were some surprising twists and turns!), and some dissatisfaction with how this particular book wrapped up. But it has a gorgeous cover and some creative world-building and I think the second book has potential to be even better!

This was a solid 3 stars. It was neither the best nor the worst single book fantasy I've ever read. I will quote my friend Tim's mother and say that this book is "interesting" and that it's "not for everyone."

The good:
Characters were exquisitely drawn. You could discern their motivations and histories quite well.
Because the characters were so well drawn, there was just enough tension to motivate me through the less exciting parts.
The lore of the land, while taking a while in exposition, was very unique.
Told from multiple, disparate points of view (4 POV), I wasn't taken in by any one particular character. I had a favorite and a least favorite.

The bad:
The pacing was very uneven. The very slow storytelling of the first 20 chapters is book ended by a very rushed resolutions in the final 10% of the book. I'm wondering, since I received an ARC from the publisher, if this was smoothed over a bit more in the final book.
There was a HUGE preoccupation with continuing bloodlines. It seemed a little dated. I would be really interesting to see where McGinnis drew her inspiration.
The "less exciting parts" referenced above.