A shipwrecked prince on a foreign shore and a young princess coming into her powers battle dark forces that would destroy her kingdom and their love. Nine hundred years before Columbus, a sailor with a mystical map and a vision of a glorious destiny is shipwrecked on the far side of the world. A prince of Visigothic Spain, Iudila finds his match in Chakin, daughter of a Mayan king. Can love span … love span the gulf between them, or will they be cast apart by their different gods—or by the dark shaman who desires Chakin for himself?
more
Thank you HFVBT and the author for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Son of the Sea, Daughter of the Sun
By: Marc Graham
*REVIEW* .5
Son of the Sea, Daughter of the Sun is definitely a polarizing book. It seems, if you read the other reviews, readers either love it or hate it. I fall somewhere in the middle. This book presents good and bad historical elements with a writing style that is not for everyone.
What, then, was disagreeable about the book? Personally, I strongly disliked reading about child abuse. I found everything about this section of the book very disturbing, and I nearly stopped reading. The character’s reaction to said abuse is baffling and unbelievable. I also took issue with the heavy handed religious discourse. This fictional story, at times, read more like a doctoral thesis. I am not a theologian, and I do not enjoy reading about religion, nor do I have any desire to
do so. This density of material present throughout to different degrees was not easy to read.
What was agreeable about the book?
The author obviously researched the historical elements presented to a great degree, thus making the story informative. The brutality of this time period is not glossed over but given as it truly was. The hero and heroine have a dynamic complex relationship that was fascinating and compelling to read. Beauty, when it could be found in this historical context, was aptly and lyrically presented. The overall premise of this book is certainly unique, and I enjoyed reading something I have never read prior.
As a final note, take Son of the Sea, Daughter of the Sun with a grain of salt. There are positive attributes to the story; the difficulty lies in weeding out those tidbits. In the end, only you can decide if this book is appealing to your tastes.
This novel seemed right up my alley… historical fiction set in the 7th century, AD with a shipwrecked Visigoth prince, who makes it all the way to South America and meets a Mayan princess. So, right there (if you’re like me anyway) you’re probably thinking: ‘wait, Visigoths and Mayans? They were literally oceans apart…’ (and at the end the author helpfully explains how he ended up joining the two). Marc Graham did take quite a few (okay, a plethora) of liberties while writing this novel, hence it being a work of historical fiction, so that didn’t bother me.
Mixing the two cultures was actually one my favorite parts of the novel! So, my problem? I had a very hard time connecting with the characters. First off, there is child abuse so, if that’s a deal breaker for you I wouldn’t recommend this book. For me, even more than the disturbing abuse, was the characters’ response to it… it was perplexing. I do understand that life was much more violent in the 7th century but, I still had difficulty comprehending that part. Secondly, I found the characters to be very shallow and their development lacking. I see this is a series and would hope that this will be remedied in the following books but, I’m not sure I will continue the series to find out. My last complaint was the religious aspect. In many parts it read more like a theologian’s doctoral thesis and went far beyond what was needed to understand the plot.
Now, for the positive: the plot line is totally unique and I did love the premise of two totally separate cultures colliding; the prose was often lyrical and wonderfully descriptive; the author obviously did a ton of research on this period and I very much enjoyed reading the glossary he added to the end explaining places, characters, etc. So, not my favorite book yet not a bad book at all. I know some people who would love it and that’s just my opinion…so, if it sounds like you’re kind of book, you should definitely give it a go. I won this book in a giveaway!