Sea (The Huntress Trilogy)
£6.20£6.60 (-6%)
The first book in a stunning new fantasy adventure trilogy, perfect for readers aged 9+ and fans of Philip Pullman, Piers Torday, Abi Elphinstone, Katherine Rundell and Frances Hardinge.
In the sky, the fire spirits dance and ripple. Grandma says they showed our Tribe that I’d be a captain, before I was even born.
Ever since Ma died, Mouse has looked after her little brother, Sparrow, dreaming of her destiny as captain of the Huntress. But now Da’s missing, Sparrow is in danger, and a deathly cold is creeping across Trianukka …
Sea-churning, beast-chattering, dream-dancing, whale-riding, terrodyl-flying, world-saving adventure.
‘Moonsprites. Terrodyls. Beastchatter. The Huntress: Sea is a heart-thumpingly brilliant adventure. Paver meets Pullman. A real gem’ – Abi Elphinstone, author of The Dreamsnatcher and The Shadow Keeper
‘A glorious world, a wild adventure and a fierce heroine. I can’t stop thinking about this book!’ – Robin Stevens, author of Murder Most Unladylike
If you like Northern Lights, The Lie Tree, The Last Wild and Rooftoppers, you’ll love Sea.
Don’t miss the second book in The Huntress Trilogy, Sky.
Sarah Driver is a graduate of the Bath Spa MA in Writing for Young People, during which she won the United Agents Most Promising Writer prize in 2014. She is also a qualified nurse and midwife. Sarah started writing stories as a small child and lists her influences as Spellhorn by Berlie Doherty, A Necklace Of Raindrops by Joan Aiken and the Carbonel books by Barbara Sleigh – those gorgeous, magical stories that create and nurture readers.
When she’s not writing, she can be found walking by the sea, visiting exhibitions, reading or travelling, often in the name of research. She has seen humpback whales from an oak boat in the northern seas of Iceland, eaten cubes of six-month fermented Greenland shark, and journeyed by train beyond the arctic circle to the far north of Swedish Lapland, where she rode a slightly obstinate horse through a forest, under the northern lights, in temperatures of -32 degrees. She has learned that even horrifying bouts of sea-sickness make excellent research material.
Sea is Sarah’s debut novel, the first in The Huntress trilogy. Sarah lives in Sussex, close to the sea, with Lily, a street-wise ginger cat and an excitable mini-lop bunny named Peter.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Farshore (6 April 2017) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 336 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1405284676 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1405284677 |
| Reading age | 9 – 13 years |
| Dimensions | 12.9 x 2.5 x 19.8 cm |
by Ian Eagleton
A thrilling, non-stop action packed adventure full of heart, warmth, magic and mystery. I really enjoyed this book and have bought the next two in the series!
by Rebecca Wall
Great world building
by curgin
I would recommend this book to ages 9-12. It made me scared happy and brave all at once. Sarah Driver has a superb limitless imagination I can’t wait to see what she writes next.
by Andy Shepherd
Wow this was fantastic! I loved everything about this book. Brilliant characters in a setting and story that just jump off the page. I love the language (makes me heart-glad) and I couldn’t wait to pass it on to my son. I knew it would be right up his street. So glad the next one is out in September so we don’t have too long to wait!
by Clare
Sarah Driver’s The Huntress is a prime example of a book that straddles genre. Marketed as a fantasy, it definitely fits into the ‘adventure’ story box, as well as being distinctly unique, thanks to its quirky, evocative and inventive language.
Thirteen-year old Mouse lives aboard the ship The Huntress, which is captained by her one-eyed grandma, a captaincy Mouse is due to inherit according to the destiny bestowed upon her. She promised, upon her mother’s death in childbirth, to look after her younger brother Sparrow, who is both sickly and also imbued with strange powers. But when her father doesn’t return to the ship when they dock, and instead a stranger boards, Mouse must fight to ensure her destiny and family remain intact.
Driver’s world-building is immersive and dark – a time of deathly cold and swirling seas, in which strange dinosaur-like creatures called terrodyls plague the skies, and beneath the depths of the sea lurk vicious gulpers and mystical merwraiths. People, named for the most part after animals, journey in tribes on sea, land or in the sky. Mouse’s tribe stays at sea and survive by bartering. Mouse, for example, searches for pearls under the sea, to trade on land.
Driver shows particular flair with her knowledge of ships (a topic mysterious to this landlubber reader), and this is enhanced by the wonderful map at the beginning, illustrated by Joe McLaren and Janene Spencer. This is the first of the trilogy, and it seems logical that the second two titles will dwell in the other landscapes, and complete Mouse’s quest – which is not concluded in this first book.
There is a murky and stormy atmosphere to the novel, which adds to the mystery of the mysticism that surrounds the tribes. The sea tribe worships the whales, who in turn steer the ship through the sea and respond to Sparrow’s haunting songs, but further religion/magic is merely hinted at rather than fully explained. Moon-gathering for example, with pet moonsprites.
But despite some unfamiliarities in the set-up, Driver adds in enough storytelling tropes to keep any reader happy – a mystery surrounding a missing father, a riddle to solve, a quest, a feisty female protagonist and questions surrounding loyalty, family, love and jealousy. There is good vs evil, and plenty of rumbustious action.
Mouse is an exasperating if loveable protagonist. She is in constant movement, never stops to plan or think through the consequences, but she shows enormous pluck and heart.
And it’s this heart, exemplified mainly by the language (for the novel is told in first person), that distinguishes this book and holds it above the crowd. The language is dense, yet highly readable. It contains many new compound words, which Driver has thrown together to exemplify the simple way of life of the tribes, and the expression of their thoughts and emotions. For example, Mouse travels while asleep in a ‘dream-dance’, she can ‘beast-chatter’ with animals, and gives ‘heart-thanks’ to people who help her. She is, above all, ‘heart-strong’. The language lends a lyricism and rhythm to the book, mimicking the rhythm of the waves. It reflects her abode, being the simplistic language of survival, whilst being poetic at the same time. And because the made-up terminology rings bells for the reader – merwraiths like mermaid, terrodyls like pterodactyls, land-lurkers for land-dwellers, it’s easy to translate.
The harshness of the landscape and the ferocity of the violence will thrill many, but it is not for the faint-hearted. Far beyond the ordinary realm of feisty pirates, this fantasy adventure bears out the adage that home is where the heart is – not always the physical place we think it is. See more of my reviews at MinervaReads dot com
by Amazon Customer
This book takes strength and love and courage and spins them into a wondrous tale. The sheer originality and purity of this story prevented me from even putting this book down. I love most of all the name of the characters.
by Bookish Wanderer
An incredible adventure in a rich, beautifully realised world; a brave protagonist with a hugely original, captivating voice; The Huntress Sea is simply wonderful!
by Amazon Customer
I really enjoyed the Huntress: Sea because it is all about a daring girl who goes through several disappointments and mourning. She fights hard to save herself and her brother Sparrow. At the end of the book I felt quite tense because things are not even close to being fixed. After turning a few more pages it turned out that there are 1 or 2 more books following this one. I would quite like to read the other ones because I liked this book and would like to read more.