Book Review: The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

*Jen received a free copy of The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay via Netgalley.com. The opinions expressed are her own and were not influenced by the method in which she received the book.

Every word in this book is a thing of beauty. There isn’t a single piece of fluff to be found. It all pulls together. It all means something. It’s an exquisite story that deserves the hype surrounding it. I avoided finishing the last 2 chapters because I didn’t want it to end. My only complaint is that I waited so long to read it. I could kick myself for not listening when people told me how good it was. Don’t make the same mistake I did. If you haven’t read The Sea of Tranquility (TSoT) yet, you are missing out on a beautiful book that captures you from Prologue to the very last words.

“I hate my left hand. I hate to look at it. I hate it when it stutters and trembles and reminds me that my identity is gone. But I look at it anyway; because it also reminds me that I’m going to find the boy who took everything from me. I’m going to kill the boy who killed me, and when I kill him, I’m going to do it with my left hand.”

Goosebumps. The hair on my arms stood up and I got the chills when I read that opening paragraph. I was hooked, instantly obsessed with figuring out what trauma 17 year old Nastya Kashnikov had endured. What happened to her? Why is she so broken? Her thoughts are so dark and heavy they weighed on my soul. The story is told in first person, which allows you to live inside the damaged thoughts in her brain. This will likely cause you to shed some tears and chuckle at her dark sense of humor. How she can be funny and so broken amazes me. It gave me hope that there was hope for her to get her second chance.

Josh Bennett’s life didn’t start off crappy. Happy kid, happy family. It didn’t take the turn to “lets beat Josh Bennett with the crap stick” road until he was 8 years old. And the damn stick kept coming back to beat him again and again. Josh is alone. He’s a 17 year old kid with no family. Everyone is gone. Now he just wants to be alone because it’s easier for him. TSoT is also told from Josh’s point of view. It’s not a happy place to be.

Nastya feels a connection to Josh. A connection Josh doesn’t want or need. But Nastya won’t go away. She just shows up where she’s not wanted and makes herself at home. She basically inserts herself into Josh’s life and he has no say in the matter. As their friendship evolves, Josh realizes the secrets that Nastya keeps are so deep and scary, he’s not sure he wants to know what they are.

“I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.”

I don’t know what I was expecting from this book but it definitely wasn’t what I got. It’s a beautiful, tragic, emotional, eloquent piece of work that you don’t want to miss. The Sea of Tranquility is easily one of the best books of 2013.

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About the Author:

Jen loves to read. She can’t stop herself. It’s become an obsession. She is in love with her husband, kids, iced coffee and books. Jen lives in beautiful Colorado but is originally from the West Coast.

jen@imperfectwomen.com