Book Title: The Weeping Tide
Author: Amanda Foody
Release Date: February 1st, 2022
Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Adventure
My rating: 4/5 Stars
Summary:
Barclay and his friends must save an island city from the Legendary Beast of the Sea in this exciting second book in the Wilderlore series, perfect for fans of Nevermoor and How to Train Your Dragon.
Something is wrong at the Sea. The weeping tide, a carnivorous algae bloom, is eating up all the fish. Beasts are terrorizing the nearby Elsewheres. And Lochmordra, the Legendary Beast, is rising at random and swallowing ships whole.
Barclay’s teacher, the famous Guardian Keeper Runa Rasgar, has been summoned to investigate, and as her apprentice, Barclay gets to join too. But Runa’s nemesis has also been called to the Sea, and he’s brought apprentices of his own. When the not-so friendly competition between them grows fierce, it’s Barclay—the only one from the Elsewheres—who can’t seem to keep up.
The key to stopping Lochmordra lies in his mythical home, but as the flood of the weeping tide encroaches, time is running out to find it. If the rival groups can’t cast aside old grudges and learn to work together, soon the Sea will be destroyed completely. And all the while Barclay must ask himself: is there truly a place for him in the Wilderlands?
My Review:
Once I finished The Accidental Apprentice last year, then learned there would be a sequel, I immediately began looking forward to this one. I absolutely loved the concept of Keepers and their bonds with beasts. It reminded me of a heavily fantasized version of Pokemon, which I thought was so cool. While I did prefer book one in this series, I did still greatly enjoy the Weeping Tide, and I truly can’t wait to see what other adventures Barclay, Viola, and Tadg get up to in the future. And hopefully we’ll get to cross paths with some of the new apprentices as well, because I would love to learn more about them.
The Weeping Tide was full of adventure and non-stop action. Not only that, but there was also a mystery aspect to the book as well, and a shocking reveal at the end that I simply had not seen coming. There was one character I had thought to be suspicious, but the other reveal took me by surprise. Knowing what I do now, I’ll be interested to reread this before the next one comes out and figure out where hints and clues were dropped that I clearly missed while reading. It was pretty exciting, because there was clearly something more going on that nobody knew about, which caused a lot of the action, but I thought it was all balanced really well.
My only wish is that we’d gotten to know the new characters a little better. Since there were several new ones introduced, and at the same time no less, I felt that we didn’t get a good feel for who each character was. I especially wanted to know more about Yasha, but unfortunately, we didn’t get to know him all that well. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing him in future books, though, so here’s to hoping there’s more development on that front.
This book, while full of excitement and adventure, was also a self-discovery journey for Barclay. During the first book, he’d been kicked out of his home and thrust into a new world with hardly a moment to come to terms with all of it, so it made sense that he hadn’t really processed what it meant to leave that world behind. In this book, however, Barclay struggled with his two identities, and he wondered whether he even deserved to be there, because he felt so behind his peers, and that he didn’t measure up. Barclay grows so much through the story as he comes to terms with being a part of both worlds, and it was really well done. I enjoyed going on this journey with Barclay, because I think it was so important to the story and to his character. While I know he wants to be a Keeper desperately, I do hope he at least considers becoming an apothecary, because he was really good at that, and I quite liked those scenes. I would’ve liked to have seen more, even.
The Weeping Tide was a fun book and a great sequel to the Accidental Apprentice, and I’m so glad I was able to read it. I can’t wait to read the rest of the books in this series, because I just know they’ll be amazing!
Thank you to Turn the Page Tours, NetGalley, and the publisher for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Make sure you head to https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/1e4a114d61/? to Enter to win one (1) of three (3) sets of the first two books in the WILDERLORE series! The first two books include WILDERLORE: THE ACCIDENTAL APPRENTICE and WILDERLORE: THE WEEPING TIDE. Open USA only. There will be 3 winners.
Giveaway starts: Monday, January 31, 2022
Giveaway ends: Monday, February 7, 2022 at 12:00 a.m. CST
Amanda Foody has always considered imagination to be our best attempt at magic. After a double life as an accountant preparing taxes for multinational corporations, she now spends her free time brewing and fermenting foods much more easily obtained at her local grocery store. She lives in Boston, MA with a hoard of books guarded by the most vicious of feline companions, Jelly Bean.
She is the author of THE SHADOW GAME series and more. Her middle grade debut, WILDERLORE: THE ACCIDENTAL APPRENTICE, is available now and ALL OF US VILLAINS, co-written with Christine Lynn Herman, releases in November 9, 2021.
Author Links:
Website: https://www.amandafoody.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandafoody/ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15269309.Amanda_Foody
Purchase The Weeping Tide at: Simon and Schuster
Check out my last ARC Review: The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea