Here’s a tip for evil overlords in general – if you want to mess with a kid, don’t do it by making her mind meld with a giant predator. Major spoiler alert for those among us who will lose sleep unless they know if the kid and/or kraken is OK: The kid is fine. A teenager with a tiger shark is going to steal the scene no matter what is happening on the deck of a ship, especially when the shark is trying to alternately escape from and eat the kraken, which is powered by a young girl who has no intention of being a plot moppet. The stuff with the kraken is both cool (it’s a kraken, after all) and horrifying (child abuse and animal abuse triggers galore).Įven though I loved the main characters in this book, the side characters were more interesting to read about simply because they had more to do. So Juell is assisted by a teenager with a tiger shark and threatened by a kid who is bossed around by pirates and mind melds with a kraken. They usually can’t control them completely, but they can control them to a large degree. In this series ( Farthest Ocean is Book 3) some people have the ability to form a psychic bond with animals.

To explain the last, I have to fill in more of the premise. Lo and behold, he has a stowaway – a smart woman with a big secret to whom he is madly attracted! What are the odds? Seriously, do ships come with a built-in secret compartment space for stowaways? Because they should.Īnyway, Juell and the stowaway, Miri, have tons of sexual tension but of course the Dark Secret causes problems between them, although the problems it poses are miniscule compared to race competition, pirates, and a kraken submarine. He’s trying to win a race with his new steamship.

Let’s face it: you all know she had me at kraken.Ĭaptain Alyster Juell, last seen irritating his brother in The Deepest Ocean, has his own command at last. Marian Perera wrote another book, The Farthest Shore, which is a stand alone in the same universe with much more relatable characters, and a kraken. I liked it, but I didn’t love it, because I had a hard time connecting to the characters. Back in May 2014 I reviewed The Deepest Ocean by Marian Perera.

The Farthest Shore by Marian Perera