A sweet compact little story, though more brisk then I am used to from this author.
Still worth the read. =)

I love how tangible the setting is.

Beautiful, wonderful McKillip. I did not mean to read the whole thing in one sitting, I really didn't. This story was brief, but deep, and was much more about what was not said than about what was. McKillip is always a welcome read.

A lovely little coming of age fairytale with tidbits of wisdom sprinkled throughout it. Grief, loss, growth, yearning, healing, and change all trickle through its pages---deeply enough for you to learn something should you wish to, but not so pervasive that the story is lost. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Dreamy and lyrical, as always.

Short, sparse narrative as I recall (it's been a long time), but I really loved it as a girl. Disappointed that her other books didn't seem to have the same sweetness to the love story.

His lips brushed hers, cold, yet she knew he gave her all the warmth he had. “If I could love, I would love you,” he said softly. After a moment she smiled. “Why is that strange?”

“If you could love,” she said simply, feeling as if she had taken an enormous step away from herself, and into the complex world, “you would not choose me to love.”

Sometimes I’m scared to reread old favorites, in case they don’t live up to my memories and lose their place in my heart. But The Changeling Sea holds up and then some, I might even love it more now. Just a beautifully written story of wild magic, the restless sea, and heartbreak.

Confession: I didn't finish this book. Does that make me unqualified to write a review...maybe. But at least I can tell people why I didn't finish it, and hopefully it will be helpful. The length was definitely not an issue; The Changeling Sea was very short.
There were actually two reasons I didn't really like this book.

1. The main character, Peri, came off as whiny and morose; I guess maybe the point is she hasn't been happy since her father left, and her mother isn't very present in her life. But Peri never really tried to cheer up or be happier. She just went about being unhappy and depressing. Maybe she cheered up later, I don't know, but I don't want to read about a character who is so negative, it's just not very fun.

2. The setting/magical creatures. So originally I thought the story was set in a nonmagical world. But then Peri tries to lay a hex on the sea (??) and I was having second thoughts, but the hex didn't exactly do anything, so then I thought, 'Oh, the hex and the old witch woman were a scam?' Then, a huge red sea monster suddenly shows up in the ocean, with an enormous gold chain around its neck. Nobody is very scared or concerned about a terrifying sea monster in their fishing waters! All the locals care about is how to go about getting the gold chain off so they can melt it down and get rich. They even call in a magician to try and magic it off...well, I won't say any more in case you want to read this.

Sufficeth it to say, this book had an interesting enough premise and readable length, but a strange plotline and depressing characters. Oh well! Plenty of other good books. May I recommend Harry Potter or The Chronicles of Narnia, or if you're not so much into magic, The Phantom Tollbooth or the Book Scavenger series?