Actual Rating: 3.5★
I received an eARC of this book via the author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.
Of Threads and Oceans by Camilla Tracy is the first book in a YA fantasy series featuring the daughter of merchants and her magic. Thali is reeling from the loss of her older brother, her other half as she puts it, when her parents send her to a trade school where they believe she will be safe from the dangers lurking on the waters. Thali goes along with it, anything to make her parents happy after the tragedy, but quickly finds herself bored and lonely. As she slowly integrates herself with her fellow merchant students, Thali finds more to life than ships and animals.
I enjoyed this book for the most part. Thali is an interesting character to follow. She isn’t used to being around people her age as she has spent her life on the deck of a ship with sailors. Being thrown into a school setting gives her a chance to learn new skills, but she is lightyears ahead of her classmates. Despite this, she slowly learns to trust some of her fellow students and open up a little. Her magic is my favorite part of the story. Thali can talk to animals and somewhat see through their eyes. This is something she has been taught to keep secret, so we only get a few glimpses of it. But I LOVE her relationship with her horse and snake (and I hate snakes 😂).
While I enjoyed the set up of the book, the beginning of the story was drawn out and a bit slow to read. This did pick up about half way through. I also enjoyed her relationship with Garen, a thief in the town the school is in, but felt it moved quickly from friendship to more.
Overall, Of Threads and Oceans is an okay read. There were some issues with the flow of the story, but those worked itself out by the end of the book. Thali is a fun character to follow as the majority of the story comes from her perspective. I’d be interested to see how her story continues in the rest of the series. If you are a fan of YA fantasy adventure with a side dose of romance, I think you’d enjoy this one.