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A review by kerrycat
The Cursed Sea by Lauren DeStefano
5.0
each new book of DeStefano's is better than the last, and this is no exception. above all else, there's a lot of beautiful writing here - and quite the body count.
I think I've read all of her YA books, and I've reviewed some of her middle grade work for School Library Journal, and it's safe to say that grief is central to them all. she isn't afraid to lay out the truth of it, either - there's none of that 'time heals' business going on, just the facts. the reality of the ferocity grief bears, the unpredictability, the hopelessness, as well as characters who find their way through it, but not without a fight, and not with the idea that it is gone completely. I think I appreciate this more than anything else in her stories, and what young readers as well as older ones need to see to validate their own experience.
I think I've read all of her YA books, and I've reviewed some of her middle grade work for School Library Journal, and it's safe to say that grief is central to them all. she isn't afraid to lay out the truth of it, either - there's none of that 'time heals' business going on, just the facts. the reality of the ferocity grief bears, the unpredictability, the hopelessness, as well as characters who find their way through it, but not without a fight, and not with the idea that it is gone completely. I think I appreciate this more than anything else in her stories, and what young readers as well as older ones need to see to validate their own experience.