When The Sea is Rising Red by Cat Hellison

This cover is creepy, is it not? Arranged marriages, faked deaths, and vampires? Oooo...intrique.

Here's the summary from Goodreads: After seventeen-year-old Felicita’s dearest friend, Ilven, kills herself to escape an arranged marriage, Felicita chooses freedom over privilege. She fakes her own death and leaves her sheltered life as one of Pelimburg’s magical elite behind. Living in the slums, scrubbing dishes for a living, she falls for charismatic Dash while also becoming fascinated with vampire Jannik. Then something shocking washes up on the beach: Ilven's death has called out of the sea a dangerous, wild magic. Felicita must decide whether her loyalties lie with the family she abandoned . . . or with those who would twist this dark power to destroy Pelimburg's caste system, and the whole city along with it.

What I Liked: 1) I liked the mysterious magic that is swirling around in this world. It's unlike any magical type of theme that I've read before, so that definitely intrigued me. 2) The details. The world of Pelimburg was explained very thoroughly, so with just a little imagination you can easily conjure up images of each and every scene as it unfolds. You could definitely tell that a lot of creativity and imagination went into this story. 3) I liked the cover. That's what drew me into the book at first, though it also gave me the wrong impression of what I was reading. 4) Jannik. Vampire guy. Which, the other people in Pelimburg call Bats. I thought that was interesting.

What I Didn't Like: 1) I've read the whole book now, and I have no idea who the good guys are. Where are all the good people? Okay, Jannik. He was a good guy. But no one else was. Everyone was bad. I even didn't like Felicita very much. She has kind of an impossible decision to make, but still. And in the end, she ends up making what I personally think was the worse of the two options. *punches all the things* This book kind of made me angry. Like something evil crept out of it and into my soul. *as a side note, books that can pull strong emotions, be they bad or good, should all be commended.* I just want more good people. 2) For as detailed as the descriptions were of places, and what things LOOKED LIKE, there was little as far as explanations go of history and the back story of this magic, and the craziness that comes from everything. Sad. I'm sad at the end of this book. Sad and angry. *punches things again*

Overall Thoughts: Eh. Sad and angry. Lots of people are going to think this book was great. I can tell that, because the writing style is succinct and the story is very dark with unexpected twists and a unique plot. As far as for me...it wasn't my cup of tea. More good people.

*wanders off to find happiness*

My Rating: 2 shots

This book was read as a part of the Debut Author Challenge 2012!