This story masterfully weaves together multiple timelines and perspectives, creating a rich and immersive narrative. Inspired by Chinese mythology, it is a beautifully crafted story filled with unique elements that make for a compelling read. I was fortunate to receive approval for both the audiobook and the e-ARC. The beginning was a bit confusing due to the multiple POVs, but being able to read along as I listened really helped. As I got through a few chapters and became more familiar with the characters, following the narrative became much easier. Occasionally, I found myself referring back to the e-ARC for clarity, but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook—Natalie Naudus, you were amazing and I love you!!! The blend of Chinese mythology, intricate world-building, and a well-developed magic system was absolutely captivating. This story wasn’t just engaging—it was beautifully written and left a lasting impression. I’m definitely eager to read more from this author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC copy of this book.

4.5 ⭐️

I really enjoyed this! The writing style was different, the story takes you on the journey of several different characters in different time periods but their stories are connected and woven to create one big picture.

The magical system was really cool and well explained throughout the book so it was easy to understand.

The mix of character chapters helped create a good understanding of each key person and I really enjoyed getting to know more of each individual story.

I will definitely be reading the next book! 🩶

Honestly, I put this down basically as soon as I picked it up. It didn’t grip me in the first chapter, and I just wasn’t feeling this book. I don’t have any desire to pick it up again. -3 stars

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Victory Editing for this arc!

Unfortunately this one simply wasn't for me. I fought through it but I would be lying if I said I finished it because I actually cared about any of these characters and not because I don't like to be a quitter (I know it's toxic).

The first time I wanted to anf this book was around 50 pages already. This book is fucking slow moving, after 250 pages the pace finally picked up only for the book to end 50 pages later.

And with that comes that I did not at any point care for any of these characters and their backstories. I usually like having different pov's, I find that it can really add so much to a book to see the story progressing through the eyes of different character's, in this case the many different pov's made it kinda hard to follow. And the characters really quickly started to be indistinguishable.

There was one character that I found had the potential to be a somewhat interesting character, but alas he was left at the curb the second the other pov's started taking over.

I did find the magic system intriguing but yet again it wasn't really explored enough.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC of this book.

This was such an interesting story. I really enjoyed the blending of mythology that is done as it is not something I’ve seen or read much of in fantasy books.

There is a lot of unique storytelling with its blending of different timelines and character point of views. The pacing and switching of POVs and timelines is something I haven’t seen a lot of in books. While it was different, it did get a little difficult to fully engage in the story and distinguish what was happening and connect with the story. However, once I got about halfway through the book and got a grasp at the format it did get a lot better and I was able to be more engrossed with story.

If you’re looking for a story with a unique magic system that blends in different timelines, characters and perspectives with aspects of mythology this is the story for you!

I picked up this book purely because of its gorgeous cover, and I appreciated the nod in the title to The Classic of Mountains and Seas, the famous book of Chinese mythology. Unfortunately, the content didn’t live up to the aesthetics.

One of my biggest struggles with this book was the constant jumping between multiple timelines and perspectives. It was difficult to keep track of who was who, and I found myself needing to take notes just to follow along. For some reason, I kept confusing Iris’ and Nivi’s mother, which didn’t help. The pacing was also odd—while the story moved quickly, it somehow still felt like it dragged, and by the time things finally picked up, the resolution was rushed. In this case, I didn’t mind much because, honestly, I just wanted the book to be over.

Another major issue was the writing style. The internal monologues felt overly simplistic, and the way information was dumped onto the reader without much cohesion made it hard to stay engaged. The book constantly jumped between points of view, throwing fact after fact at you, but without any real connection or emotional depth. Despite being a mystery, there was little actual suspense—I felt like I already knew everything that was going to happen.

And then there were the characters. I didn’t connect with a single one. They all felt flat, and I never really cared what happened to them. For a book that should have been filled with intrigue and depth, it was just… dull.

Overall, this book was mid at best. Not terrible, but not great either. I give it 3.5 stars

"Of Mountains and Seas"* had an intriguing premise, drawing inspiration from Chinese mythology and folklore, which initially piqued my interest. The atmospheric writing painted vivid landscapes, and the story carried a dreamlike quality that suited its mythic elements well.

However, the execution fell short in several areas. The pacing felt uneven—at times, the plot meandered, making it difficult to stay engaged. The different viewpoints and shifting timelines made the narrative confusing, and it took me nearly three-quarters of the book to fully grasp what the story was actually about. The characters, while conceptually interesting, lacked the depth needed to make their journeys feel compelling. I also wished for more clarity in the worldbuilding; the mystical elements, while beautiful, often felt underexplained, leaving me more confused than immersed.

Overall, while the book had some striking imagery and a unique premise, it didn’t fully deliver on its potential. It might work better for readers who enjoy lyrical, slow-burn fantasy with a more abstract narrative style and don’t mind piecing things together along the way.

I was hooked originally by the cover, which is absolutely gorgeous. I thought the representation of Chinese mythology was really well done and had such great stories interspersed in the characters.

For me, I think the multi-POV along with all of the time jumps was super disorienting for the first part of the novel. I don’t think it gave ample opportunity for enough character building with this many POVs, and a character arc at the end doesn’t make sense because of this.

I did think a lot of the dialogue was very impersonal. There would be parts where someone was like, “well, I should just let them die because they killed so and so”, which just seemed weird at the passiveness of the dialogue.

I think if this is improved on for the sequel, I would definitely rate it higher. I do love the idea for this novel.

“Of Mountain and Seas,” by Emily Renk Hawthorne

I have an e-book and audiobook version, so I decided to read the e-book first and write a review and then listen to the audiobook and revise my review after that. So as far as e-book goes this book was so confusing. The amount of POV’s and time jumps made it hard to figure out what was going on in the book. The cover is so beautiful, it was initially why I picked the book up. The Chinese lore was absolutely amazing especially mixed with the shifter, magic aspect of the book. I liked the idea of the plot with it political intrigue but I wasn’t expecting it to be so confusing. I wish going in that this book would be great for readers who love to annotate so I could’ve done it from the start and had an easier time making sense of what happened. So, e-book version first read thru is a 3 out of 5 stars.

-Shifter
-Magic
-Chinese Lore
-Political Intrigue

Thank you for the free copy, Netgalley.

Wow this was such an amazing read alla the way.
I didn't expect it.
Engaging characters and plot.
Highly recommend.

Didn't understand the plot...at all dnf'd a little bit throught the book. The story hopped from place to place and time period to time period. i didn't understand like at all.

31/01/2025
3.75 ⭐

> For some, the only way to possess magic is to steal it from others.

Of Mountains and Seas is a YA fantasy that is based on Chinese Culture. Something I have less knowledge about myself but am all too keen to delve into by book.

Normally you should not judge a book by its cover but wow, what a beautiful cover this book has! The fact that the special edition is also so gorgeous convinced me to physically add this book to my bookshelf as well.

It is mostly about the bonds people have across generations and the way events are intertwined through time. In this magical story, we follow the PoVs of different character which makes you discover bit by bit more about what is really reality. In addition, you also see the views of several characters that showed what power and family really is. In addition, it ensures that the characters are dynamic and also each of them draws you into this story.

Although I was a little confused at first with the years and PoVs in this story, I enjoyed how every detail is related and how slowly but surely the puzzle pieces are falling together.

I hugely love the political power plays that were woven into this book.

This is a YA fantasy that jumps between different points of view and eras to tell a politico-magical story with Chinese mythology inspiration.
Sadly, this didn't really hook me in and I gave up trying to finish it.
This doesn't mean others won't like it, as the plot seemed quite interesting - but the characters and magic system wasn't very developed.
While I love multiple points- of-view books, I usually expect each section to have a different "feel". It wasn't the case here. The style is overall very clear and simple, which makes it easy to read, but not particularly captivating. I've noticed more and more that I can read just about anything if I like the voice. And this book stayed too neutral for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for allowing me a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Of Mountains and Seas introduces us to the story of Davis, a child without powers born in a family of Shifters, people who can shift into magical creatures and have the ability to use other powers related to the creature they can turn to. Davis's parents are involved in Shifter's politics, which will bring the whole family catastrophic consequences. We also read from different perspectives, Iris is a LA girl with a strange medical condition whose parents claim the cure will be found soon, and Nivi is a girl living in one of the smallest towns in California who excels in her studies and in violin practice, but who's tired of trying to meet all expectations.

Overall I liked the book. Not gonna lie, the cover caught my eye (it's so so pretty) and I read a bit of the description and requested it without realising it was YA, and when I found out I was a little bit skeptical, but after all the book didn't end up having some of the YA tropes that bother me, so it was fine.

What I liked about the book is how it all ties together little by little. I felt a bit stupid because it was right there and I didn't realise until the author literally told us. I also really liked the integration of Chinese mithology and culture and the ambientations. Some of the creatures and the landscapes were so cool it would make for really good illustrations. I liked the images the book created in my mind.

What I didnt't like was how little tension I felt in the action scenes, like there was little build up and so when something dramatic happened it felt a bit anticlimatic. (view spoiler) Everything happened so quickly it was like 'oh, ok'. The story took a bit long to start developing as well. The author did a very good job with the set-up, in my opinion, but once the events started to unfold it all happened rather quickly. Also, there's this little thing that bothers me and it's that in the prologue we are told that Davis's mother was 60 and then later (view spoiler), I guess it doesn't matter much, but after that every little detail that was contradicted I was like I see you, but those were explained later in the story so that was the only mistake I noticed.

Well, the thing about this book is I liked it, but I'm not sure I will remember it that much in, say, a year.

Fascinating retelling of Chinese mythology with all characters interconnected over 70-80 years in the story. I loved the political aspects as well as the fantasy elements. This book is filled with characters to love, hate and have mixed feelings about. My one criticism would be the usage of words incorrectly in the text - I know that most people would gloss over this, but I am sadly not one of those as some phrases did not make sense unless you thought of the required word (example: use of extradite instead of extricate in Ch .54).

Of Mountains and Seas decides to do something we don't see often enough in modern literature and that is magical realism. I love connecting fantasy and for example., California and politics. How fun!
Where this book fell short for me was it just seemed to take a long time to get going. We got a good fraction through the book before we learn about shape shifters etc. However I did enjoy the overall story!

This is my first arc book review.

I really enjoyed the book for the mythology aspect of it. I am a really well written story, but some aspects of it are hard to follow initially as the timeline jumps around quite a bit. Once you get used to that aspect of the book, it is a fantastic read.

This book has magic, shape-shifting, and drama, among other things that bring this story to life. One aspect I like about it is the use of geology to harness magic, and I would definitely have loved to see more of that in this book. The other real aspect i loved about the book is the explanation and way the shifting happens within the story it happens in a way I haven't seen or read about which is a really nice change to how it's normally done.

I read it in epub format and had i not had the privilege of reading it early by Emily Renk Hawthorne if I would have seen it in the store I would have definitely picked it up based on the beautiful cover alone.

I definitely need this book to add to my shelf and collection.
I can't wait to see what happens in the second book.

Amazing job with the book Emily Renk Hawthorne. Keep up the amazing work.

While this was an interesting story I was very confused by the timeline. I understood eventually that it was a generational storyline spanning several years (centuries even?) but the amount of time it took me to figure that out was too long. I was torn between liking several of these characters and disliking them as they grew older. I don't think I ever fully connected with anyone except Anna who disappeared from the narrative after she lost her powers. The main girls Iris and Nivi weren't really my cup of tea and I didn't like Amber at all. I didn't appreciate how she would suddenly distrust her friend. I was also confused by the fact that she didn't realize she was good at school? At the end of one of her chapters it sounded like she didn't realize she was getting passing grades, like she'd blocked out the memory or something. I don't understand how or why that would have happened though. Regardless, I don't think I want to read the next book in the series.

Lets start off by saying: Wow! Of Mountains and Seas was a story woven with many threads. We follow 5+ different perspectives in this story told across multiple timelines. Hawthorne masterfully ties all of these little components together in a way that keeps the reader engaged and begging for more. This was a great introduction and set up for a series so I hope that is where this story is headed!

DNF at 31%

I am disappointed to be DNFing this book but we are not pushing through mediocre books in 2025.

I would like to preface this review by emphasising that a) my opinions are based on the first third of the book, things may or may not have improved in the latter thirds, and b) this is a YA fantasy and I am an adult.

Now, my decision to DNF does not mean, by any means, that this is a terrible book. I just didn't personally gel with the storytelling, didn't feel hooked or enamoured by the story, therefore, didn't feel any urge to continue.

Unfortunately, everything about this book felt underdeveloped - from the world building and magic system to the characters. This book follows several timelines, ranging from 1932 to 2000, with several character POVs within those timelines (I have a count of 5 POVs in the first 30%). I found these POVs to be indistinguishable - there was little to no world building or descriptions to distinguish the time settings, whilst the characters felt flat and samey. If it wasn't for the name and date heading every chapter, I would have been lost.

I wish the synopsis had been clearer about the multiple POVs and time settings to better convey what this book was about. I prefer a historical setting in fantasy and wrongly assumed (my bad) that because this is based on mythology that it would have a historical setting (and no, the 1900s do not make the cut).

However, you may enjoy this book if you are looking for a YA fantasy based on Chinese mythology that has multiple POVs and no romantic plot (as far as I know).

Thank you to NetGalley and Hawk Ridge Press for the opportunity to review this book.