Book Review: The Seas Come Still
It's an overused term, but it applies here: This is an epic tale. Author J.P. Jamin has woven together two disparate times and cultures with two strong uniting threads: magic and the sea. The One Ocean that encircles the world also twines through the lives of Luyan, a Hittite slave whom Fate has tossed among the ancient Minoans at the time of the Thera eruption, and Arima, a Basque woman entangled in the lives of an 18th-century British family. The sea is a character in itself, a primal force that molds the destiny of those who dare to engage with it.
Magic flows through the threads of this multifaceted tapestry as well: the magic of the Minoan priestesses and the Basque witches, the secrets passed from initiate to initiate in whispers, bearing the traditions down through the centuries one fragment at a time. This is the story of women of power fighting against a world in which men dominate by force and brutality, fighting to preserve the magic, the ancient ways that whisper always to those who can hear.
The Seas Come Still is fiction and the writer has the freedom to fill in the gaps as desired. But this tale is based on sound and thorough research, so the historical framework rings true. The clashing of cultures and egos, of politics and religion... love and jealousy and conflict and loss... these are human experiences we can all relate to. The characters are believable, both the sympathetic ones and those we "love to hate." The plot twists toward the end really turned my head and added an element of surprise that only deepened the story. This is, indeed, a saga, one you would do well to wrap yourself up in.