Boundless Sea

Sacred Breath #3

by Nadia Scrieva

An underwater kingdom. A missing queen. A modern man plunged into an ancient war... Trevain Murphy's new wife has been forcibly taken. He must do all he can to search for her without falling apart. To complicate matters, his love was Queen Aazuria, ruler of the undersea kingdom of Adlivun, and he has been burdened with all of her responsibilities. The Alaskan man is unable to cope with the political unrest of his new nation, and turns to his wife's younger sister for help. Princess Elandria is expected to assume important administrative duties, but she is overwhelmed with depression and completely useless to her endangered people.With Adlivun facing a growing threat from the foreign submarine superpower known as the Clan of Zalcan, headstrong General Visola Ramaris is focused on seeking advanced military protection. Going against the ancient mermaid tradition to remain hidden from land-dwelling societies, Visola decides to reveal herself to the American public and make an eloquent appeal for assistance. But nothing comes for free. The countries of the Pacific Rim invite Adlivun to an APEC conference where American and Russia list their conditions. The price for survival is outrageous and unexpected; if Adlivun agrees, they will play a crucial role in changing the infrastructure and economy of the world forever. But will the proud citizens of Adlivun agree to sacrifice freedom and dignity for security?Meanwhile, on a dark and desolate continent, a displaced queen has been captured and imprisoned by enemy forces. Her only concern is concealing the child she is carrying from her deranged captor. Thousands of miles from any sign of humanity, Aazuria must battle the coldest temperatures on earth in order to find her way back to her husband--but even if she lives, will she be in time to save her beloved Adlivun from itself?This is Book 3 of 6 in the Sacred Breath Series.

Genres: Fantasy, Mermaids, Fiction, Romance

230 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 15, 2012

About the author

Nadia Scrieva lives in Toronto, Canada with no husband, no kids, and no pets. She does own a very attractive houseplant which she occasionally remembers to water between her all-consuming writing marathons.

http://www.facebook.com/NadiaFans

Reviews

[Nadia Scrieva]

Just a note of clarification to my readers: Boundless Sea is not the final book in the Sacred Breath series. There will be a total of seven books, many of which will be completed this year. Trilogies are much too short for my liking! I have listed Book #4, Abyssal Zone, to hopefully clear up this misunderstanding:

I thought that after spending six months writing three books one after another, I should step back and take a breather. I wanted to view the series from a different angle before immediately attacking another three books and the finale. The ending for Boundless Sea was chosen because I believed it was the most emotionally powerful moment on which I could close this segment. It is also most essential to future events, and therefore it must be memorable.

[Melody Mol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I really need more stars. The series is only getting more intricate and fascinating; the author does not disappoint. If you haven't read books one and two, get cracking, because this book was so so good! The prospect of building a bridge, in exchange for protection is a clever and interesting one; and the implications are far grander than I had even considered. Our favorite characters are all tested in their own ways over the loss of the Queen. We are introduced into some cute sea creatures and I will always enjoy that. The author does not spare our feelings in this novel; you're going to be sad -- you've been warned.

I find that third novels in series's are always really good, and this one does not disappoint. I have to mention the Prisoner of Azkaban here. It's probably my favorite of the Potter novels. I just love how it brings together Harry's past and Harry's future. Well, back to the Sacred Breath series, this bridge thing gives vast new possibilities for the future of Adlivun, that I cannot wait to explore and this simply was a perfect read for where we are at in the story here.

Don't ask me to choose between book two and three! Book two is my baby and I love, love, love Viso, but what was nice about book three compared to book two is that we pull out from the story of mainly V Squared to view everybody's individual stories and Adlivun's story in this one. I definitely enjoyed Boundless Sea at least as much as ; I'm not ready to say more, only because I loved FoF SO much!

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the end of book 2 we find Aazuria pregnant with Trevains child and kidnapped by Prince Zalcan Hamnil, heir to the Clan Zalcan. The same man who killed Corallyn and tried to rape Visola. The same man that Vachlan thought he killed.

Book 3 begins with the world being made aware of the sea-dwellers and the war with the Clan Zalcan. In exchange for protection the government wants the people of Adlivun to build a bridge across the ocean connecting Alaska to the Chukotka Peninsula. Elandria is needed as next in line to lead her people, but she is too grief stricken to be of any good. She would rather stay with her beloved sea cows than be around people. What Trevain did to snap her out of her grief actually made me hate him just a little.

This book did not disappoint me in any way. Nadia has a way to bring out so many emotions in her readers. She even made me feel sorry for Prince Hamnil and he is the bad guy. When I read Aazuria's story it just made me tear up and when I got to the end of the book I was crying, it was so sad. It is definitely a more emotional book than the first two, but this series just keeps getting better and better. My one question to Nadia would be when is book 4 coming out because I simply must have more.

I was honored to receive this book from Nadia to read and review.

[Bradley Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get ready for shock and awe in this, the third book of The Sacred Breath series. Queen Aazuria is missing! Hanging on to the belief that the queen is still alive the very powerful and sexy General Visola Ramaris will take you on an unforgettable trek through Shiretoko, Japan in search of the matriarch. Visola’s plight is short lived as she is plagued with some kind of mental breakdown. Will she recover? Will she find the inner strength to continue the search for her beloved friend or will Queen Aazuria find a way to escape her captor?

I find it impressive the length a person will go when put in a diffucult situation. I find it equally impressive what a person will do for love; wheather it be a sister, brother, grandmother or even a child people will do some pretty amazing things for the ones they love. You’ll see…

As with all of Nadia Scrieva’s work this is a unique story. I’ll guarantee you haven’t read anything quite like it. The author holds nothing back in this unforgettable tale. Put your seatbelt on because you’re in for a bumpy ride. (An emotional roller coaster if you will.)
I look forward to reading the 4th book in this wonderful series.

Did I mention humor? Lots of Humor!

[Stevie Seber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excuse me while I dry my eyes, Boundless Sea was an emotional roller coaster for me, being excited for the weddings of Brynne and Calder and Aazuria and Trevain, then everything that happens before the wedding and Trevain losing his cool with Elandria, wow; I knew what to expect having read the first four books before but, it still brought tears to my eyes and a fire to my heart to read it again and go through everything that they all went through, I can only hope that things get better. I know some think that Trevain and Elandria are good together but I'm sorry, I still hold that Aazuria and Trevain are the better couple and truly love each other and I hold onto the hope that they can work past everything that's happened and be together again and be happy. I also really hope that Trevain gets to spend time with sweet little Varia and that he gets to know his little girl; she's such a sweet, bright little girl and I hope to read more about her. You have to read these books in order to understand everything that happens and to follow along with their stories but if you do start, be prepared for an emotional roller coaster ride.

[Jennifer Prescott · Rating 5 out of 5]

The amazing strength and fortitude demonstrated by Aazuria throughout this book is astounding. Her incredible struggle in captivity to stat strong and more importantly, have her baby completely unassisted just shows how tough this Princess is! And the threads of the ones she loves that she's stolen from tie together in a way that while a tad unconventional, make sense. The fact that those that love & miss Zuri try everything they can think of to find her, but find themselves stepping forward in life while still trying to keep faith against the odds is so truly *life*.

[Megan Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't remember this series being so heavy!! My heart keeps breaking for these characters and I am SO invested, and in need of a happy ending. I remember not liking Trevain at this point, but I'm extremely disappointed in him in this book. These books are not a colorful flare of underworld magic... It's war, it's loss, it's colonialism and the the deep, dark ugly of people.  I'm immersed in this series. 

[Blue Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not for the faint of heart.

This series is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of anguish and trauma. It is very well written, and well worth a read if you are strong enough, but just know that you will be torn apart emotionally.

[Nicolas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that you read and simply leaves you wanting more, even more so than Fathoms of Forgiveness, which I loved. It is fast paced, full of action, and just seems to keep moving along at a blazing pace. While I enjoyed FoF slightly more, this was still a great book and I can't wait for the fourth and final installment of the series.

This book certainly felt different from the others in the series so far. This of course is not a bad thing and just reveals the flexibility and diversity of Ms. Scrieva as a writer. It just feels like moving and important events seem to occur without end, until the end of course. In fact pacing may be my only complaint for the story. It is so fast that I nearly felt as exhausted as the characters with trying to wrap my head around each new plot point, development, and event. I think the pacing would have been a bit better if the story of Aazuria had been mixed in a bit more at the beginning of the book with the other's stories. Also, how could Ms. Scrieva keep us waiting for so long to find out what happened to Aazuria after FoF? That was simply cruel in my opinion.

Speaking of Aazuria, what an amazing amount of character development over the last half of the book. I had always thought Visola out shined Aazuria (Visola continues to shine, but at this point that deserves little mention), but now they seem to be wrestling for control for my favorite heroine. Her strength, resolve, and determination to escape her prison and protect her daughter are all moving, and frankly inspiring. She shines in her character as the way a true queen should shine. Strong, prideful, just, and kind even to those who don't deserve it. I absolutely loved Clavaria as well. She is everything I think any father would want their daughter to be: smart, strong, curious, loving, kind, and loyal. Sadly, it is these things that also what makes the ending all the more tragic.

I cannot state how much I want to simply deck Trevian and Elandria across the jaw. Trevian especially annoyed me with his constant moping, whining, and complaining. I have wanted to hit him several times in the past, but this time it was especially bad. It just never felt like he truly tried giving his all in looking for Aazuria. He was too logical, too reasoning, and too accepting of losing her. It is not that he is a bad character, bad person, or poorly written. I would argue for quite the contrary in fact. It is simply that he was too good and not bad enough. Trevian was simply not unreasonable enough. Ms. Scrieva makes you like him, care about him, and generally grow frustrated and annoyed with him. None of these are bad things.

Elandria is much more interesting I think. While I enjoyed her finally opening up and developing (I had always thought she had the potential to be an amazing character even from the first book), I was slightly disappointed by the woman she became. She is elegant, gracious, kind, and intelligent, but seems to have reverted in a different way. Now instead of being overly closed, she feels overly open. I suppose that is a good balance for her character and reflects just how shut in she had been. It is still a bit sad and disappointing though to see just how easily she seems to give in to others still.

It is difficult to do this review without revealing the ending and some of the bigger plot points, but that just shows how much fun this story was. It is a great set up for the final book, and I am hungry for more of the story.

[Matchesrulezu · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the wonderful writing style, details, and plots, I can't not give this book five stars. I would have given it four stars except for those things.

I was disappointed in Trevain and Elandria. While Trevain did step up to the plate and tried to do as much as he could, Elandria ran away from everything and left all of the responsibilities for everyone else to handle. And her excuse was that she "wasn't strong". I wanted to shake her and tell her that she'll never be strong if she doesn't give herself the chance to be! I really feel like someone should have looked at her and said "Aazuria needs you to step up" because I feel like that would have put it in perspective for her. Trevain did manage to break her out of her shell, but he did it in a way that I absolutely disagree with. At that moment, I knew we would be seeing shades of his personality that had yet to see the light. But despite these things, I loved the character development. It is frustrating when characters do things or say things that make me want to throttle them (and often times gives me a headache), but I love it as well. It's a love-hate relationship.

But I would hate to see Trevain and Aazuria get back together, honestly. I would punch Trevain if I were her. Trevain and Elandria have both become wimpy and whiny people and are very suited for each other. Aazuria is strong physically, emotionally, and mentally. Trevain doesn't deserve her at all and I would have loved to see her develop a relationship with Bain or someone else, even. Anyone but Trevain. Though my desire to punch Trevain mostly comes from his lack of effort to find Aazuria. When the Seer told him she was in Antarctica, I could have understood his disbelief initially. He wouldn't want to seem like he believes the magic stuff. But if he truly wanted to find her and truly cared, he would have later on thought "You know...we haven't checked Antarctica and it would be the last place Zalcan would expect us to check..." and sent someone to check it out. What could it hurt? That's what he should have been thinking. I don't care if he was afraid of hoping that maybe they would actually find her and then finding nothing, he should have gone out on a limb and put that effort into finding Aazuria. He owed her that much.

Like I said, I can still appreciate the character growth (as much as the growth can annoy me), but I don't really want to see Aazuria and Trevain back together at this point. I say keep him with Elandria and let Aazuria find someone better suited for her.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far Boundless Sea is my least favorite of the series so far. My personal feelings about what happened with the characters in this one are more....hostile? I can't help thinking I really hate the way it ended up. But I suppose this doesn't take away from the writing ability. In fact, I would say that it is because of the writing ability that I feel so strongly. With the exception of a few errors in grammar here and there, it is excellently written.

In this one we again get to learn a little more about a different character. In the first, it was Trevain and Aazurdia. In the second it was Visola. Here now we learn more about Elandria. While the narrative bounces between multiple characters Elandria is the one we learn the most about. It is enlightening. When she breaks out of her shell all I could think was "Finally!" It damn well took long enough.

Trevain, however, is someone I will have to work hard to like at this point. I liked him in Drowning Mermaids, but after what happened in Boundless Sea I'm more than a little hostile to his character. He even asked for advice from Visola, who told him flat out what he was doing was wrong. Of course she followed that by saying she would do it anyway, but that is what I expect from Visola. Not from Trevain. But again, I think it speaks to the writing ability that I am so emotional over a character.

As for the whole thing with Zalcan and Varia...well, I suppose it was interesting. I kept getting more and more anxious as the book went on because I wanted to finally see what happened with that. I did, in part. Now I just have to read the next in the series in order to see what happens with Varia and Aazurdia.

I'm still hooked. And I'm curious who will be the focus in the next book.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost threw my phone across the room because of this book.

It makes me sad that the covers for these books come off as romance novels. Because yeah, at first it was sort of about the romance. But now, damn, it's all about wars between under water clans. Like this one didn't have very much romance at all. Which I thought was great. But damn that betrayal. That broke my heart. Varia is adorable and I love her character so far. I'm still pulling for Aazuria and Trevain. Again, Visola remains my favorite character. What happened to her and her daughter broke my heart. So much sadness and drama in this book.

I love the character development and the intricate stories from this author. I also enjoy the way the book is written and how the chapters change the POV often, keeping things fresh.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing is good. The plot is good. The action flows well. Only thing I don't like is that the books never really end...or have an open ending. I assume she does this so that one will pick up the 2nd or 3rd book to see what happens. I think that there maybe a better way to do this than to have something (I won't say what) happen to a main character and then leave it. Even though there are only 3 books listed in the series, the 3rd book again leaves things open. If I had known that, I might not have started reading the books.

[Anne Lorraine]

I loved the first and second book but I was really devestated with what happened in this book, such betrayal from Trevain and Elandra.
I felt violent while reading it, Trevain did not seem to exert more effort with finding his missing wife and hated that he fall for her sister. As for Elandra, I wanna kill her in a heartbeat (forgive my words, I'm just really pissed)
Its unacceptable, Visola was right,he doesnt deserve Aazuria.
Maybe the reader's are right they both deserve each other because they are weak.
I love Aazuria,Vachlan and especially Visola they made the story roll.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow !!! Aazuria becomes a much stronger person. Her trials and tribulations are much more than I think I could ever deal with and Poor Trevain missing Aazuria but falling in love with her sister what to do?? Read for yourself and find out !!!

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate that princess Zuri is kidnapped when all seems so perfect in adlivun, but she becomes so much stronger which I love! I could not believe that Trevain falls in love with her sister!!! I was definitely shocked by that one!!!! This is yet another fast paced page turner in which I loved!!!

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

looks and sounds awesome cant wAIT TO GET MY HANDS ON IT...

[Marti · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was far too much violence for my taste and I absolutely hated the ending. I'm sorry I spent so much time on this trilogy. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great. I wanted more romance, and the end was not satisfying. Still- I enjoyed the world she created.

[Yodamom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just did not fit for me.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the 1st two books. Found myself quite bored & stopped reading it for a while. Hoping the next one lives up to my expectations.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite book in the series thus far

[Emily Lecates · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made NY heart break but I can't wait to read the rest. I love how Nadia isn't scared to expand her writing into areas that people might not like. She's ruthless as a writer and I love it.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting love story.