My first review gave a solid 5 stars. With the caveat that I did expect a bit more mayhem and mirth…perhaps mirth and mischief could be the title? However in the 2 set of 4 books, this one definitely included much more mayhem (though still not as much as the other entries for the black ocean). Still, absolutely loved the progression of the story!
But my 1 exception is this and docked 1 star (for now)…Morin has oft straddled the edge on inserting quite a bit of “progressive” aspects into his stories…more and more as his books and writing progressed (no pun intended). Sadly this entry has moved beyond the straddling (no Freudian slip intended)…the preachyness of embracing a 7 year old transitioning (albeit without the surgery, which would have been a bridge too far to continue with the story) and making it out to be everyone else that has a major issue with kids choosing their gender on a whim…has me questioning (take it as a pun if you want) whether to continue the series.
Adults transitioning and choosing their gender and doing surgery? ok, fine if that floats your ADULT boat (biologically speaking as a scientist the DNA determines biological gender, but everyone has a self identity which I totally understand)…everyone has to choose how they want to live their life. But 7 year old KIDS!? gag. uncool. and honestly quite regressive in terms of humanity and protecting children. there is a reason 18 years old is the age for adulthood (and lots of both biological and psychological data to show that we truly don’t reach maturity until around 25 or so, the brain keeps developing etc). but 7? come on! I might have even been accepting of a young teen, 13 or 14 maybe…theyre going thru puberty afterall. But this pushed the boundaries a little too far and came off preachy about it. So if we get more of that in the books to still come out, I’ll be refunding all of Mr. Morin’s books. I don’t feel like being preached at by either extreme but rather an escape from the ridiculous world around us.
ps. I have bought ALL of his books thus far. I love the worlds he creates and love Naramore as a highly talented author. But won’t patronize stuff that bashes their views over my head.