Raging Sea by Michael Buckley

Series: Undertow (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi/Fantasy

Subjects: merfolk, mermaids, romance

Setting: Texas & Coney Island, New York

POV/Tense: 1st person, present tense: Lyric Walker

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 357 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $18.99

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary/ product description: “In the first book of Michael Buckley’s Undertow trilogy, the Alpha arrived and the world was never the same. At the start of the second book, most of south Brooklyn is in ruins and the nation is terrified. Nearly everyone that Lyric Walker loves is either missing or presumed dead, including the mesmerizing prince Fathom. It’s up to Lyric to unite the Alpha before the second wave of a cataclysmic invasion wipes out mankind for good. The Undertow trilogy is an unforgettable reading experience that author E. Lockhart calls, "Allegorical and romantic, the book nevertheless reads like an action movie with especially awesome CGI.”

My Review:  Raging Sea is the sequel to Undertow. In Undertow Alpha children were given a chance to attend school for the first time in the 2 years since the appeared on Coney Island. Lyric meet Fathom, a Triton and Alpha prince. Fathom was strange and exotic, but Lyric fell for despite his odd Alpha customs and the fact that he was engaged to Arcade.

Lyric, Bex, and Arcade are in Texas looking for the place where Lyric’s parents were taken. This place is called Tempest and it’s like a death camp for Alphas. When shop lifting at a Piggly Wiggly, Lyric has a run in with the cops and they recognize her. She makes the decision to use her glove to control the water around her and help Bex and herself get away.

They make a couple close calls with Doyle and the White Tower a couple of times along the way. When Lyric finally makes it to Tempest, she’s treated like a prisoner. They try to break her, but Lyric way too stubborn to be broken. They tell her she has to train other Alpha-Human hybrids to do what she does while wearing the glove.

I did enjoy this sequel. I felt like there wasn’t much romance in it though. Fathom doesn’t show up till later on. I do like the fighting stuff and the cool abilities that the glove gives Lyric. The gloves are kind of like the Green Lantern ring because Lyric can use her imagination shape anything out of water. It was pretty awesome.

I recommend this series to fans of Anna Bank’s Syrena Legacy series and other mermaid related series like Lies Beneath. Also dystopian series like Inhuman by Kat Falls.

Cover Art Review: Cool cover illustration. Fits with previous cover. Eye catching. Love it.