Title: Sweet Black Waves
(Sweet Black Waves #1)
Author: Kristina Perez
Genre: YA Fantasy
Format: Hardback
Length: 448 pages
Publisher: Imprint
Publish Date: June 5, 2018
Rating: ★★★
Recommend: Yes
Content Warnings: Violence, Death, Beheading,
War, Anxiety Attacks, Underage Drinking,
Attempted & Actual Suicide, Magical Realism

What the hell was that ending though?! I’m so pissed off!

Lady Branwen is the main character of this novel, and the cousin of Princess Essy. She lost her mother and father in a Kernyvak raid, and it only makes sense that she has some hatred for this warring kingdom across the sea. She is fiercely loyal to her cousin and her aunt – Queen Eseult – and would do anything for them.

Princess Essy is the heir to the Ivernic Kingdom and a huge ass brat honestly. She doesn’t want to be a princess, doesn’t want to be a future queen, and just wants to find love on her own. She doesn’t want to be forced to marry someone she doesn’t know, but since it’s the life of royalty, what else would she expect?

Prince Tristan is the heir to the Kernyvak Kingdom and almost died on the Ivernic shores if it wasn’t for Branwen. She ended up saving his life. When they first met, they both lied about their true identities, but throughout the majority of the book, we see that Tristan is extremely loyal to his Kingdom and a great guy. Until the ENDING.

Iveriu and Kernyv are at war with one another for as long as anyone can remember. Rather than war, there is a plan to bring both of these kingdoms together, by having Princess Essy marry King Marc of Kernyv. Branwen ends up falling in love with Tristan, and he with her, but since he is the emissary of Kernyv and since they both put their kingdoms above everything, they have to keep it on the low.

Also Branwen has magic. It’s pretty cool but doesn’t manifest very often. It’s cool though, because she has the power to heal and kill. Well rounded, you know? It’s actually pretty significant because nobody since the original Queen has ever had these powers at once before. Something’s definitely going to happen in the sequel. I’m curious.

Branwen was so loyal that it hurt. She would ALWAYS put her cousin before anything, and it showed. I was just so proud of her for standing her ground and becoming so strong and sure of herself. She really is a queen in her own right. I think she should have been Queen honestly, because she took her duties and Essy’s duties way more seriously than her cousin ever did.

I also liked her powers. I liked that it didn’t take up too much of the story honestly, because I mean nobody is teaching her how to use her powers. She has to learn how on her own since she’s not even going to be with Queen Eseult anymore. Plus, that power to kill is highly intriguing and has come in handy throughout this story.

PRINCESS ESSY. She’s a brat. She’s 17 and acts like a child. I just can’t stand her. And she treats Branwen like trash when she doesn’t get what she wants. Yes, Branwen is technically her lady-in-waiting, but she’s also her cousin and she will use her station as a power play when she wants to show Branwen who’s in charge. I hated that so much.

THE ENDING PISSED ME OFF SO MUCH! How could you end it like that? Ugh I wish I got approved for the ARC of the sequel because what the flying crap. I’m so PISSED.

I can’t talk to anyone abut this right now. The ending really messed me up, because I was so rooting for Branwen to be happy for once and then this thought was RIPPED AWAY FROM THE BOTH OF US.

But I liked it enough that I’d read the rest of the trilogy. So, yeah.