This is the second book in a trilogy. I received both vols 1 & 2 through Early Reviewers. I enjoyed both volumes and felt that the second volume built on the ground laid in the first book and expanded the story, filling in more of the backstory of the Magicians and Penelope's life before she met them. I look forward to seeing how the story ends in volume 3. ( )

I was at a disadvantage since I hadn't read the first book and this one wasnt really interested in catching me up. I found it fairly boring actually and skimmed thru to the end because it dragged for me. There was little action and lots and lots of talk. I felt the romance between the main characters was just kind of odd, lots of talk yet no real communication. I absolutely couldn't stand the Tim character, he seemed like such an ass to me and he was treated far better than he deserved. Mostly I just got tired all of the talk about how horrible the priests were and more talk and more talk. It needed more magic (they WERE magicians after all) and less talk about it.
I won't read the first to catch up nor the second. ( )

I really enjoyed this book! It took me on a magical journey through Venice and Israel on the trail of lost items and people. There was enough information about what happened in Book 1 to catch me up with the plot. The characters are fascinating and interesting, and the book is well written. There's an intimate scene that is beautifully phrased - it gets the point across without being graphic and really illustrated the bond between the two characters. I am going to have to get a copy of Book 1 and read it so I can learn more about what I missed and find out how exactly Penelope ended up as the Archivist of Atlantis. ( )

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Full disclosure, when I requested The Sea of the Dead, I did not realize it is the second book in a series (The Immortal City is the first), and I missed A LOT in that book. I'm hoping to go back and read the first one to help fill in some of the holes.

That being said, this is a pretty cool book. I read somewhere that it is an Atlantis book...but I feel as though that is somewhat misleading. I'm not an expert on Atlantis lore, nor do I read a lot of books about it, but this book has a lot of different histories/legends/mythologies, which is very cool.

I liked the authors writing style. There were some parts that were a little heavy and slowed down the pace, but overall she does a good job of making thing easy to visualize.

The characters were just meh for me. Again, it may just be that I didn't form the connections I would have if I had read the first book. However, I feel like they were a little flat. Take Tim, for example. ***Mild Spoiler*** He is kind of a jerk and narrow minded, but since he's an academic, it's ok? Nothing wrong with obsessing and researching and being passionate, but when magic and other things are thrown in his face and he can't even consider something else? It just didn't feel real.
The plot is what really kept me reading. I love the imagination and the story of it all. It's wonderfully done and very engaging. I almost stopped reading about a quarter of the way through, but the story hooked me and I needed to know what would happen next.

Overall, this is a pretty good read. ( )

Jumping in mid-series is never the best way to get to grips with a story, but even so the beginning of this is not as good as the eventual finish. There's a lot of telling, especially of people's emotions and thoughts. Later on this changes into a more readable showing, although marred by a few character POV switches.

Apparently in the previous book a normal women Penelope, had discovered the secret magicians of Atlantis, and she had inherited the powers of the librarian Archivist as well as a powerful attraction to their leader. This was in the course of repelling some demon attack. Now the group are planning to defeat this demon and need more information on their locations. Somewhat coincidentally one of Penelope's friends has been investigating the Dead Sea scrolls in Israel and discovered a new lead. He posts this discovery to Penelope, but the magicians notice it has a powerful curse on it before she opens it. It also seems to contain a prophecy. Penelope is concerned for Tim's health given the nature of the curse, and persuades some of them to travel their and look for him. Tim has become embroiled with the demon's Priests who were seeking the nature of his prophecy.

Nearly all of the book is involved with the hunt for and cure of Tim, the actual prophecy and the features of it are left for the next book. Once the characters are moving and interacting with the rest of the world everything improves. The characters interact better with occasional humour, everything makes a bit more sense, the magic is more restrained (although there's no explanation for any limits on how or why it's used). Penelope grows quite well being able to make her own decisions and take responsibility for them, unlike at the start where she's more just focusing on the Leader which rapidly becomes dull.

Although Atlantis fantasy is not one of my favourite genres, this seems to work better than average, and there's hope that the series has more scope than just adventures and battles against the demon. ( )