Review: The Brittle Sea by Tom Kane

Review: The Brittle Sea by Tom Kane

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Back in 2016, right before I graduated high school, my favorite singer at the time began a project where he set historical events to instrumental music. The first event I listened to was his interpretation of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. I open with this little anecdote because that is what enticed me to give this story a try, because I already had some familiarity with the tragedy of the ship, and I was curious about what might be in store.

Concerning the actual story, I was intrigued by the incredibly strong opening and interesting characters. This made getting into the world being created very easy, and I found myself swept up by the twists and turns of the plot, interested in whatever would occur next! Kane has a knack for grabbing the reader with surprising events, while at the same time being very clear about the natures and motives of certain characters, so while the events themselves can be surprising, I felt a pit in my stomach whenever certain individuals were given the limelight. I’ll go more into this with those respective characters.

Before we do that, we should get a summary for the story.

Summary

We open to a woman named Magda Asparov arguing with a ship employee as she is about to board the Titanic. Magda is set to marry a man named Matthew Turner, who only wants her for her money. However, when the ship hits an iceberg, Magda falls from the deck, losing her memory in the process. As a result, a completely different personality called Maggie takes ahold of her. When a ship captain named Richard Blackmore rescues her, he finds himself falling for Maggie’s sweet personality.  

However, Magda’s association with Turner is out to haunt her, as he hires notorious criminal William Harker to kidnap her and bring her back to him. In doing so, Harker finds a fall guy in Blackmore. Now, the captain must prove his innocence and get back to Maggie before she comes to any harm by Harker.

Will Blackmore and Maggie be able to reunite?

Thoughts

I had a lot of fun with this! Kane has woven together a very interesting narrative, with characters that are fun to follow (even if they are not always sympathetic) and a story that leaves you wanting more! Particularly with the developments involving Magda’s husband Matthew Turner and William Harker, it was intense whenever these two so much as made a move!

Personally, I like characters that you love to hate – the ones that have few (if any) redeeming qualities. While some readers may see these individuals as one-note, I have honestly grown bored with the need for sympathetic reasons for every horrible action. It can be nice to see from time to time, but I do not believe every individual being sympathetic is reflective of our reality. I’ll discuss this more in the character section.

Let’s get into it!

Characters

Magda (Maggie) Asparov

So, I admit, Magda’s appearances in both the prologue and chapter one startled me. I did not expect her to act the way she did, and I see disturbing things about her. This is interesting to me because, while I do not see a lot to like about Magda as a person because she is strongly hinted to be power-hungry, I still find myself captivated by her actions because they make for an intriguing story! I am wondering what exactly Magda will do down the road, because she has made it clear in the narrative that she is not one to be messed with!

As for Maggie, I found myself feeling genuine sympathy for her because, to me, she is Magda with empathy and kindness. I find this personality shift interesting because it makes me wonder if that is who Magda may be deep down, and she hides it behind the front of being a tough woman who is hard to crack because she has had people in her life that treated her poorly. I could be completely off-base with this assumption, but Maggie’s personality has me thinking that Magda may not be entirely heartless. Based on the way Maggie acts, I am starting to wonder if Magda is simply tough as nails due to her life’s circumstances and she has buried that side of her personality to protect herself.

Captain Richard Blackmore

Richard Blackmore might be the most sympathetic character in this entire story. From the moment he is introduced and falls in love with Maggie, I found myself pulled right into his story. Seeing his dedication to his crew on the ship as a captain made me realize that I liked him as a person. I feel like who he is as an individual especially shines through during the middle part of the story to the end. That was the point where I just wanted to reach out and take his hand, because it was clear that he needed someone to be there for him.

On that note, seeing what he goes through to try and get back to Maggie once he realizes what has happened with her is amazing. He is doing it based off how he remembers her and while not being fully aware of her other side, but the fact that he loves Maggie that much is heartwarming to me because he finds reason to go on despite everything! He has been through nightmare after nightmare in this narrative, but he will not give up if it means being there for someone he loves. I am wondering where that love will go as more comes out about Maggie/Magda, but it shows me that he is a genuinely good person. Given where the story ends, I am interested in where he goes next!

William Harker

Now, earlier when I was discussing the characters that have few sympathetic traits, I was thinking about William Harker. He reminds me a lot of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Mr. Hyde, mainly in the sense that I cannot see one redeeming quality about him. He does not care whom he steps on to get what he desires, and if he wants to engage in underhanded actions to attain power, he will. Because I know this about him, anything he did set off alarm bells for me and the tension rose significantly!

I am curious and concerned for Blackmore because of this man. I do not know what Kane is planning, but I admit to feeling uneasy about whatever comes next. Given certain plot developments, I find myself concerned for anyone encountering Harker. Anytime he so much as walks into a room, the mood and atmosphere of the story changes, and this makes it easy to stay hooked on whatever he is doing. I’ll talk more about that tonal shift in the writing section. It happens quite a bit in this narrative.

Structure

Kane knows how to build a compelling narrative that will grab the reader and not let them go until the end! Setup and payoff are crucial here, even if in doing so you are only providing a hint as to what comes next instead of an entire resolution. If an element is set up, it needs to be either resolved or the author can drop a hint as to what comes next, because then it is easier to keep the audience’s interest.

The way Kane structures the narrative shows me that he knows the importance of this aspect of writing, because he follows through on most things he wishes to close, and leaves hints to things he does not resolve. The only place where I feel this is not done effectively is the section with the rebels attacking Blackmore’s ship. This is because the event is dropped into the narrative without anything to clue the reader in that something like this could happen. One way this could be improved is by throwing in a line or two about rebellion and conflict before Blackmore’s crew reaches that destination. It is necessary to do so because by itself the event is not woven organically into the narrative, causing an otherwise-intense scene to have an underwhelming impact in the grand scheme of things because the setup did not work as intended.

Writing

Now, as I said before, one of the things I want to discuss when talking about the writing is tone. Because we see a few different characters’ perspectives in this story, it is important to give their sections things that implicitly tell the reader whom they are following. This can be easily done by playing with tone, thereby setting the mood for an event.  

There is one section where one character leaves an office, only for someone to be standing outside the door. The tone of the writing in this scene engages the reader with a sense of unease, building anticipation as the full context becomes clear. Tonal shifts like this work wonders to keep the reader hooked on the narrative! Even when it looks like Kane may not be doing much because a scene is straightforward, he is able to throw these curveballs that engage the reader with greater intensity!

Conclusion

Kane has woven a captivating narrative here! From the moment the story started, I found myself drawn right in! The interesting characters and intense plotline make this very difficult to put down. I frequently found myself finishing one chapter, only to be drawn immediately into the next one because of how the narrative flows and the implicit promises being made in the narrative, which kept me engaged and interested!

In the end, I would highly recommend this to, not just fans of historical fiction, but also anyone who loves it when a story grabs you and refuses to let you go! If you enjoy the feeling of when you cannot stop reading because you must know what happens next, I will say this story is more than worth diving into!