The Sea of the Dead

This is Amy Kuivalainen’s second book in The Magicians of Venice series and I was not disappointed. When I saw this book was up to request I knew I needed to get it in my hands right then. This book continues Penelope and Alexis’s journey after saving Venice in the Immortal city.

After being sent something surprising from a colleague and trusted friend Penelope along with Alexis, and a few of the other Magicians, and Penelope’s best friend Carolyn head out to Israel to find Penelope’s missing friend. Along the way the uncover more information in the war again Thevetat and his followers.

This book gave me everything I look for in a book. It has romance (Alexis Donato, need I say more), mystery, friendship, humor, adventure, great story telling, and legends brought to life. Thought this book we get to know a little bit more about the other Magicians as well as how Penelope and Alexis’s relationship deepens and grows. These memorable characters have quickly grown into some of my favorites.

The world building is beautiful and I want to live in the libraries and archives. One thing I love about this author is that you can tell she put the time and research into the historical aspects of her stories. Not only does she build the modern world wonderfully but you can also picture the past when brought forth when characters are reminiscing.

The book wraps up nicely while still giving you just enough mystery and leaving just enough open to give you a since of rightness while still keeping you excited and entranced enough to be ready for the exit installment.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dr. Peneople Bryne and the Magicians are back in a splendid follow up to The Immortal City. After near death experiences with ancient enemies Penelope barely has time to settle into her new role as the Archivist before another threat emerges. Her fellow scholar and old friend Tim goes missing after finding a scroll. This scroll could be the key to unraveling the mysterious disappearance of an ancient civilization thousands of years ago. Can Penelope and the fellow Magicians find Tim before a demonic priesthood can use him and the scroll to bring forth an evil like the world has never seen?

I cannot sing my praise of this series enough! Book 1 lead us on a great adventure that left very little for me to criticize besides the typical "love and infatuation at first sight/most beautiful man I've ever laid eyes on" trope we often see in this genre of book. But that didn't deter me when the story proved to be so well thought out and executed, I quite literally couldn't sleep wondering what was going to happen next. The Sea of the Dead was an even better dose of this world, and with an already established relationship between Penelope and Alexis I have nothing left to complain about. The romance was still plenty present, but it didn't overpower the equisite world the author weaved.

The new characters offer the author an expanded sandbox to continue construction on this series I honestly wish would never end. I have heard rumor that it will be a trilogy and I will be pleased as punch to be allowed atleast one more run around with ALL of these characters. The Magicians all have depth and don't read as
supporting characters, often times outshining Penelope on the page and I'm certainly not complaining. The villians are like ogres in that they have layers....layers for days.

Overall, I highly recommend BOTH of these novels. I gave The Immortal City a four star rating and The Sea of the Dead an extremely bright five star rating. There is very little adult content so I would say the age range could be from 13 and up as there is some violence in the first one that could be seen as inappropriate for younger readers.

To put it simply, I love this series and was completely psyched to receive a galley copy of The Sea of the Dead. If I wasn't already obsessed with the Magicians of Venice after the first book, I sure am now. It's basically my life-long sorrow that I am not a member of their 10,000 year old family. This is a solid middle-of-series book. The pacing of the action was well balanced with the emotional growth of the characters. The ending left me hanging, but in the best way. Bring on book 3!

This was a really great sequel to the series started in The Immortal City. This series reminds me so much of A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (one of my favorite series!) and I loved the parallels between the two series. The characters themselves and their relationships were also very similar to the characters in A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas.

I highly recommend this series to anyone who had an obsession with Atlantis as a child, as well as anyone who liked the books I mentioned above.

This book continues the story of Penelope’s involvement with the Atlantis survivors, with appearances from her friends Tim and Carolyn. I can’t really go into detail without spoiling the book, but I really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the next book in the series!

A debatable belief I have when it comes to sequels is that they should be able to read as standalone books even though they use their predecessors as foundations. I shouldn't feel like a chicken with its head cut off. It's why games like Uncharted work. Why you can read most of Harry Potter out of order. A sequel has to be a good book no matter what came before it. It's also imperative that if there are things you need to know that they are revealed organically and not thrown at you without giving you a chance to breathe.

There was a lot of see-sawing with the development of the story. The prologue with Tim in the cave had me hooked and I thought this might be the book to pull me out of the three-star funk I've found myself in lately. Once you meet the thousands of years old magicians things become muddled. Six characters are introduced, as are the enemy organization and the Villain. It's rushed at you. Part of it was to let us know where we are in the story after the events of book one which I haven't read but for new readers, it's too much information. This happens again the next time we have an Alexis point of view chapter. More names, more groups of people. It doesn't give me a chance to ease into the world.

For what it is worth, this book is well written despite what I would call the requirement for you to have read book one. Kuivalainen's detail with locations came across as meticulously researched and reminded me of the effort that Ubisoft puts into their Assassins Creed games. I haven't looked into it so I am unaware if this was supposed to skew towards a younger audience or not but it does. That also caught me off guard because the prologue was leading me to believe it could have been a very specific type of book and what I ended up with feels like something I could grab off of any bookstore shelf right now.

Another delightful story from Amy Kuivalainen. For the life of me, I don't understand why this series isn't trending like wildfire among the urban fantasy / paranormal romance / historical fiction crowd.

Penelope is settling into her new life as the Archivist for the magicians of Venice, learning about her new abilities and getting to know the collection that she stewards (and her new handsome beau, Alexis). Unexpectedly, she receives a strange piece of mail from Tim, a close friend and fellow archaeologist, that suggests that not only has he stumbled into a strange magical artifact, but that he is now being chased by the same evil cultists that have been troubling the magicians.

Penelope and her new family must find Tim before his pursuers, solve the mystery behind his great find, and reckon with a new and disturbing prophecy that ties them all together.

An exciting read, and I eagerly await book three.

The magicians are at it again! The dangers have increased, Penelope finds herself in a world of trouble when one of her best friends snd her a scroll with a prophecy having to do with her magicians. As the hunt for Abbadon and Thevetat continues, she finds that the dangers are involving her loved ones, which she never intended to happen.

Penelope and her relationship, with the Magicians, has become less turbulent and definitely more family-like. Now that Tim and Carolyn are involved her relationship with them becomes harder to cope with. Carolyn is having issues with Penelope's behavior and Tim is becoming possessive about both of them. Overall the book was as amazing as the first. I felt the action was very well placed and it absolutely had everything I love in a good book. Magic, love, relationships, funny moments (usually at someone's expense.), and never-ending action. It doesn't hurt that the characters are all very mature as well as childlike and are extremely understanding. Kuivalainen is a wonderful author and that ending was very good. I need book 3 now.

I did that thing where I requested this book without realizing it was the second in a series, but to be fair, the title does not include the fact that it's a sequel. Regardless, I found the book very well-written, and very rich in setting and mood, and I'm eager to read the first one!

thє ѕєα σf thє dєαd rєvíєw⁣
⁣
🧳🦂🌔🗺🧳🦂🌔🗺🧳🦂🌔🗺🧳🦂🌔⁣
⁣
To put it simply, Amy Kuivalainen has hit it out of the park again with Book 2 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥 of the Magicians of Venice series! ⁣
4.5 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫stars!⁣
⁣
🪐🌙⭐️🪐🌙⭐️🪐🌙⭐️🪐🌙⭐️🪐🌙⭐️⁣
⁣
If you haven’t heard of this series and are a fantasy/paranormal genre fanatic then you are missing out and NEED to run and get this series ASAP! ⁣
Book 1 of the series is 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺.⁣
⁣
🌞🌛🌍🌝🌛🌏🌞🌜🌓🌒🌞🌕🌖🌗🌜⁣
⁣
The world building and historical aspects that Amy creates around the fictional priesthood of Atlantis into modern times is amazing. I love Penelope’s character; she is a strong intellectual woman with a vulnerable side, but she’s no push over; and it works! ⁣
⁣
Book 2 focuses on Penelope’s role as Archivist for the magicians library of Atlantis and their continuing war with the demon Thevetat’s priests. This story takes you on an adventure to learn the secret of a scroll that shouldn’t exist found at the Dead Sea! This book has everything I live: Adventure, Mystery, Some Romance, a Kick Butt Heroine, Magic, Some Historical Fiction..it’s great! ⁣
⁣
Thank you @bhc.press and @akuivalainen for this Netgalley ARC for an honest review. ⁣
⁣
Get your copy out September 17, 2020 and..⁣
⁣
Happy Reading Everyone!⁣
⁣

Upon finishing Amy Kuivalainen’s The Immortal City last year and discovering it was the first in an intended series, I decided it was promising enough to keep an eye out for the second book. With most of the world building out of the way, that second book, the upcoming The Sea of the Dead moves a lot smoother. While the plot does advance the larger arc of the series a few steps, the main focus is on Penelope’s adjusting to the life she’s chosen as the Archivist and the repercussions that decision (and the war the magicians are fighting) has on her existing friends.

One of Penelope’s friends from college, Tim, is an archaeologist as determined to find more fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls as Penelope was to find the rest of her Atlantis tablet. But what he finds sets dangerous people after him and he does the only thing he can think of – he mails his discovery to Penelope for safe keeping. Soon, Penelope learns that Tim is missing and that means flying their mutual friend Carolyn in from Australia to help with the search… and figuring out what – if anything – to tell both of them about her new life and magician friends.

The characters and their friendships remain my favorite thing about this series (and I think they’re the most compelling and consistent element as well). Seeing how Penelope interacts with the other magicians as opposed to how she interacts with Carolyn and Tim illuminate just how much her character grew and changed from the early pages of the first book. So much of the emotional side of the story focuses on the dilemma she faces as she wrestles with how much of the truth to share with them. The battle with the priests of Thevetat is something she wants to protect them from. She also needs to protect the magicians from the larger world. It’s a test of friendship that includes a great deal of philosophizing on what healthy friendships look like, how those relationships need to grow and evolve along with the people in them.

While the plotting of the action is pretty tight, the action itself remains a little underwhelming, particularly at the climax. Not that it’s necessarily better or more powerful to see some of the violence that takes place, but compared to how the previous book ended, I was expecting a little more to this next step in the larger story. It packs an emotional punch but so much of it feels like it happens “off-screen” and almost like a cop out. Luckily, the characters are so well developed that their reactions help to make up for the odd way the climax unfolds.

As with the first book, every time the detective, Marco Dandolo, appeared, I wished that he was given a more prominent role in the story. The fact that he still has a role in the story and that he’s one of the few who knows the whole truth about the magicians and their war, gives me hope that there is still a chance he’ll play a larger role yet in the series. The final pages of The Sea of the Dead create a clear cliffhanger (though one that I didn’t find as compelling as the conclusion to The Immortal City) and I’m still invested enough to keep going, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for book three, hopefully sometime next year.

The Sea of the Dead will be available September 17, 2020.

Loved this continuation of The Immortal City! What a great series so far. Full of magic, adventure, and intrigue. Not to mention the magic, and the kick-ass heroine! The world building is phenomenal and I love the bits of historical fiction thrown in as well.

Penelope’s adventures with Alexis and the magicians continues in the second book of The Magicians of Venice books by Amy Kuivalainen. And my adventures too because I was with her when she wandered the palazzo by herself, discovered the Archives further and courted Alexis.

The story picks up mostly where the first book left off. Penelope and the magicians still try to chase down Thevetat and his followers. This time though one of Penelope’s friends is in deep trouble. Tim finds an ancient scroll which contains a secret that was buried for thousands of years. Penelope and Alexis must travel Israel to find Tim before Thevetat’s followers do.

I was so very excited when I received an ARC for The Sea of the Dead because I absolutely loved the previous book and wanted to get back to the story. The story flows nicely and I couldn’t put the book down, I needed to know what happens next.
The love between Penelope and Alexis is magical, I could practically feel their love for each other radiating from the pages.

The characters are all well-developed, I just love that Kuivalainen reveals more and more from their past lives which makes me love them all the more.
They are funny, always poke fun at each other and have each other’s backs all the time. I can imagine living with them, fighting with them, laughing with them…

Thank you to NetGalley and BHC Press for my copy.

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

Actual rating: 3.5 stars
"The Sea of the Dead" by Amy Kuivalainen picks up a few weeks after "The Immortal City" left off, but this time in Israel. The story begins once Penelope takes off with the other Atlanteans and her friend Caroline.

Kuivalainen's cast of characters continues to be entertaining. This book allows the Atlanteans to come together as a family since there are more scenes of them interacting beyond the needs of the plot.
Penelope remains headstrong but she does take a few steps back to evaluate her actions and come up with a plan that involves the others. Meanwhile, Alexis is less reserved as his drive to protect Penelope increases. As such, I find they balance each other out well as a couple.

There are a couple of things with the characters that I wasn't a fan of. The first was Tim's whole character. When Tim is described by others, he's always an excellent archaeologist who follows the rules, and who's passion for his subject is borderline obsessive. However, this isn't what comes through in practice. Rather he's reckless and little better than a treasure hunter who's been handed an academic pass.
The second was how Penelope's pre-existing friendships were handled. Within a few weeks, Penelope's oldest friends become irrelevant in her story. Surrounding herself with just the Atlanteans isolates her character and leaves her with little outside support.

The world continues to be fascinating, though. Kuivalainen weaves the Atlanteans through our history, through flashbacks, stories and historical items that show up throughout the text. She gives the group a solid backstory without it being info-dumped onto the reader.

In terms of plot, "The Sea of the Dead" is fast paced, with plenty of action as well as quieter moments. It's never overwhelming and I enjoyed my reading of it. I was especially surprised by one of the plot twists. I didn't see it coming but, in retrospect, it fits into the story very well. However, the plot structure lacks certain elements that would allow the book to stand on its own. "The Sea of the Dead" constantly builds towards big moments without having one overarching climax so it felt like the book was cut short. Even though this is the middle book in a trilogy, I believe it could have had its own big final scene, the way the first book did.

Overall, I enjoyed Amy Kuivalainen's "The Sea of the Dead". Despite its flaws, it's a good sequel as well as a good set up for the final book.

A great continuation of the Immortal city, a book filled with history, wonder and characters who despite being immortal are distinctly human in their pain and joy.

I really enjoyed this book, though it felt it was missing a little something towards the end. I kept expecting a big bang ending like in the first book, with Kreios and Abaddon finally showing if only to escape again, but this happened a bit differently and while it made sense, it wasn’t as satisfying as a big showdown might have been.

It was great to learn more about Penelope’s human friends – I really appreciated Carolyn’s character and the fact that we as humans think we know and understand something (magic) but once we’re faced with it, we react in an expected way (horror, disbelief).

Alexis was a wonderfully understanding lover, in more ways than one, and seeing a good, working, consensual relationship on the page was great. I don’t know why more authors don’t do it – hunks can be hot, powerful AND understanding. All other side relationships were developed well too, making every couple distinct because of the people taking part in it.

The Sea of the Dead was definitely an enjoyable read and I remain a strong fan of the series and Amy’s writing – it’s clean, with flowing prose and obvious research hours put in. I can’t wait for book 3, where I’m sure I will get my big showdown and sate my thirst for paranormal bloodshed.

Thank you netgalley for a review copy. I really enjoyed this sequel. I would definitely recommend to read the first book "The Immortal City" to set the tone. But separating the first book from the second, the sequel had a solid plot that built on from the first book and more interesting characters.. The main character, Penelope was very likable and smart. If you like reading about an academic main character that goes on an adventure and meets magicians from an ancient, thought to be fictional civilization, this book is a great option. The author's writing is very good and I really liked my time reading her books

this was a really enjoyable read, the characters were great and I really enjoyed going through this journey. I liked the way the author writes.

What did I like about The Sea Of The Dead?
I’m extremely impressed with Amy’s writing style. It feels graceful and full-bodied but still amazingly easy to read. I enjoy her prose; the way she weaves different languages into her tale while adding the archaic Atlantean. The ancient historical and magical languages added a depth of realism which was inspiring.

The Magicians of Venice series is an unexpected find that I will treasure. I thought that the story in The Sea Of The Dead was intelligent and felt professionally researched and cleverly balanced myth and fantasy with the hard brutality of a suspense thriller.

I need my female protagonists to exhibit certain traits. She has to be intelligent, resilient and look after herself. Penelope proved to be all of these things and continued to grow and evolve during this adventure. However, this story isn’t just about Dr Penelope Bryne, there are a host of well-written characters in this book. Some we met in book 1, while others were introduced during the course of this story. However, each character played their part and helped the plot to move forward. I liked the way that Amy seemed to build upon our relationships with the entire supporting cast over the course of this book. Giving us further insights into their personalities, histories and motivation brought them alive in my imagination.

Crime thrillers aren’t my usual reading genre, especially ones involving brutal killers. However, The Sea Of The Dead captured my interest and kept me hooked. It had me so captivated and invested in our protagonists that my emotions came thick and fast. I found myself blubbering like a baby as well as giggling out loud. Some of the scenes horrified and shocked me and I didn’t want to keep reading. It also had my blood boiling with fear and rage. However, the romance and love within its pages warmed my old romantic heart while the more erotic, sexual scenes hit all the right spots passion-wise *blush*.

Was there anything I disliked about it?
As you can tell by my rating, I really enjoyed this book. My only niggle was that I had already guessed a few twists before they had been revealed. There were a few growls at my Kindle because I was frustrated that these proven intelligent characters hadn’t already realised what I had worked out myself pages earlier.

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that, as the second book in a new series, there are threads that are left to continue to book 3. However, rest assured dear reader, there’s no perilous life-or-death cliffhanger for our main characters to leave you bereft and frustrated. Woop!Woop!

Basically, what I’m saying is…
I really liked this gripping story and lost track time while reading it. The Sea Of The Dead has everything that I look for in a great read. There’s adventure, mystery, action, great characters, a little humour, and some wonderful romance.

Content Warning:
This book has graphic violence and explicit sex as well as some darker themes. Therefore, I’d only recommend this book to adults who are OK reading material of this nature.

I’d recommend The Sea Of The Dead to adults enjoy urban fantasy stories about myths and magic. Especially those who love modern crime thrillers – think Dan Brown – with the added layers of relationship drama – family, platonic and romantic.

"The Sea of the Dead" has been one of my most anticipated ARC books this year. I LOVED "The Immortal City"- urban fantasy/romance/history at its best. Which also made me very nervous for book two- but this was mostly as amazing as I hoped it would be :).

In a series, character growth is as important to me as the actual story line. I appreciate an author who can continue to write his or her characters in a way that furthers the plot. Book Two introduces Penelope's two close friends- Tim and Carolyn. As Penelope's two worlds merge, Penelope develops as a character- she has to consider to what extent she 'owes' explanations to her older friendships, but also what she needs to do to be loyal to her new ones. The author did a wonderful job with this while of course, pushing the magical plot forward.

My only complaint with this book was the romance between the two main characters. It reminded me of old teenage drama shows I loved as a teenager. Two characters nauseatingly obsessed with each other. As an adult, all I could think was, "I get it... I GET IT. Enough with describing how unbelievably sexy the man is. Yay. He looks good with clothing. YAY he looks good without clothing." If my tone didn't come through there, imagine lots of eye rolls.

The book ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger, but the episodic plot is resolved. I am very happy with this book (especially as a book 2), and look forward to what the next book has to offer. Thank you to Netgalley and BHC Press for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to author Amy Kuivalainen for an excellent follow-up. Definitely an author to keep watching!

Once again, a 5 star book from Kuivalainen! This definitely didn’t suffer from second book syndrome and I am anxious awaiting book 3!