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Jan. 9th, 2013 05:05 pmBarbara Michaels' The Sea King's Daughter was my test-run of the Brooklyn Public Library's digital e-book download system! (Which works AMAZINGLY, for the record.)
When I started reading this book, I thought it was a Gothic. I still . . . maybe think it's a Gothic? But I'm not one hundred percent sure, because, as we all know, the standard ingredients of a Gothic novel are:
- a Young Lady in Peril
- an Epic Ton of Atmosphere
- some Vaguely Supernatural Stuff (That Is Probably Not Actually All That Supernatural)
- a BIG OLD IMPORTANT HOUSE WITH LOTS OF ARCHITECTURE
The Sea King's Daughter is aces on the first three, but instead of a BIG OLD IMPORTANT HOUSE it has . . . the ocean . . .?
It also includes some ARCHAEOLOGY and DEEP SEA DIVING and ROMANCE and NAZI SPIES and EARTHQUAKES and WACKY SEX CULTS, which are not required ingredients for a Gothic novel, but, you know, they don't hurt either. And, I mean, given that hefty dose of plotting, I enjoyed it exactly the same way I enjoy Gothics, so I guess the formal classification doesn't really matter all that much.
Our heroine is Sandy, a cheerful, ordinary jock teenager who enjoys soccer, swimming, and occasional recreational diving. One day, her father -- a weird obsessive archaeologist whom she's never actually met -- drops in and is like, "hey! I hear you grew up to be good at sport and are looking for a summer job! How about I hire you to do some highly unsafe and illegal diving for me on a Greek island while I try to discover the lost ruins of Atlantis?"
Sandy's like, "Well, on the one hand, dude seems like kind of an asshole. On the other hand, it beats retail."
Sinister hijinks ensue, dramatic backstory is revealed, Sandy's father resolutely fails to reveal a heart of gold, Sandy herself might or might not be the reincarnation of Ariadne, and a good time is had by all, except the people who die. Or turn out to be former Nazis. Or are set upon by sex cults. So actually by no one mostly, except the reader, but that's all that really matters!
When I started reading this book, I thought it was a Gothic. I still . . . maybe think it's a Gothic? But I'm not one hundred percent sure, because, as we all know, the standard ingredients of a Gothic novel are:
- a Young Lady in Peril
- an Epic Ton of Atmosphere
- some Vaguely Supernatural Stuff (That Is Probably Not Actually All That Supernatural)
- a BIG OLD IMPORTANT HOUSE WITH LOTS OF ARCHITECTURE
The Sea King's Daughter is aces on the first three, but instead of a BIG OLD IMPORTANT HOUSE it has . . . the ocean . . .?
It also includes some ARCHAEOLOGY and DEEP SEA DIVING and ROMANCE and NAZI SPIES and EARTHQUAKES and WACKY SEX CULTS, which are not required ingredients for a Gothic novel, but, you know, they don't hurt either. And, I mean, given that hefty dose of plotting, I enjoyed it exactly the same way I enjoy Gothics, so I guess the formal classification doesn't really matter all that much.
Our heroine is Sandy, a cheerful, ordinary jock teenager who enjoys soccer, swimming, and occasional recreational diving. One day, her father -- a weird obsessive archaeologist whom she's never actually met -- drops in and is like, "hey! I hear you grew up to be good at sport and are looking for a summer job! How about I hire you to do some highly unsafe and illegal diving for me on a Greek island while I try to discover the lost ruins of Atlantis?"
Sandy's like, "Well, on the one hand, dude seems like kind of an asshole. On the other hand, it beats retail."
Sinister hijinks ensue, dramatic backstory is revealed, Sandy's father resolutely fails to reveal a heart of gold, Sandy herself might or might not be the reincarnation of Ariadne, and a good time is had by all, except the people who die. Or turn out to be former Nazis. Or are set upon by sex cults. So actually by no one mostly, except the reader, but that's all that really matters!
