Up An enchanting fantasy that is tinged with realism and romance, set in an ordinary, pre-industrial fishing village, with a heroine seen by herself and everyone else as even less than ordinaryan unkempt and uncared for child turning woman in spite of herself. Peri's fifteenth year has been a difficult one. First her fisherman father was lost at sea, then her mother became so haunted by the loss that she stopped caring for and communicating with Peri, and finally even the old woman whom Peri relied on for comfort disappeared. Peri spends her days scrubbing floors at the local inn and trying to hex the sea for causing her losses. When the King and his retinue come to the island, unhappy Prince Kir comes to Peri's lonely beach and begs her help in delivering his message to the sea. Strange things begin happening in the sea, including the appearance of a huge sea dragon held captive by a golden chain, and the villagers ask a magician for help. With Peri's help, he unravels the tangle of events and results that began more than 17 years ago, when the king loved a sea-woman but married a human queen. Peri's coming of age and coming to terms with herself and her surroundings are an important part of the story. Lyo, the magician, is a human sort of magician, wise but skeptical, powerful but also vulnerable. What begins with isolated and occasionally jarring events and appearances gradually enfolds the village and the story in a fog of mystery and magic that clears only when the situation is resolved via Lyo's wisdom and Peri's love. Rewarding and engaging.
