Review – Tide by Daniela Sacerdoti

Title – Tide (Sarah Midnight Trilogy Book 2)
Author – Daniela Sacerdoti
Genre – YA Fantasy
Publisher – Black and White Publishing
Release Date – February 21st 2013
Source – From Publisher

Sarah Midnight is no ordinary teenager. She is a demon hunter, caught up in one of the deadliest wars unknown to man. Orphaned at the age of sixteen, Sarah learned the family trade of hunting without her parents to guide her but under the watchful eye of her ‘cousin’, who was revealed to be Sean Hannay, no relative at all, but a dear friend of the real Harry Midnight.

Now, in the exciting sequel to “Dreams”, the fight continues. Sarah and Sean may have defeated the Scottish Valaya, but the rest of the war still rages on, and Sarah, Sean, Nicholas and their companions must unearth the identity and location of the Enemy – the leader of the demons – before the world plunges into the Time of Demons once more. Their quest leads them to Sarah’s family home, the Midnight mansion in Islay, and there they discover horrible truths about the demon ruler, his plans, and Sarah’s own personal history.

Along the way, Sarah must battle not only the demons but her hurt toward Sean and her feelings for the enigmatic Nicholas, who has plans of his own.

When I finished Dreams, I scavenged my bedroom for the next book amongst the growing pile of my TBR list. I was lucky enough not suffer the impending long await of the sequel…but now I have to wait for the last installment until NEXT YEAR! Its just too much for me to bare.

Tide continues Sarah’s journey as the only surviving Midnight of their legacy. Sarah conquered her enemy that was to destroy the remaining Secret Families across the world. However, now she is faced with the upcoming battle between herself and The Enemy. What the second installment to the trilogy focuses on is Sarah limited  perception of her destiny. Her parents, secluded her from any teaching until she was of age, but they died before she could learn anything. In attempt to succumb the growing awareness of her legacy and they danger around her she travels to her grandmother’s home, hoping to find the long awaited answers to protect her in the future. Many sequels present themselves as a filler to the next or in this case final novel of the series, but we also see another perspective of the the story through the constant switch between the secondary characters.

I find with many second novels, there is this remaining question; ‘does … develop as a character?’ and its one that we comment most on. But Sarah doesn’t answer that question, to me she is stuck, enveloped in a tug of war between two people and also normality and power. It seems odd they I don’t comment on her development, as a persona, she seems to have got worse with the sudden influence of Nicholas, clouding her judgement. She more self-obsessive over the little things and she separates herself from life, period. I hate to pity on characters but in this case, I do! The depression of Sean, really got to her and she knows deep down that he was good for her and she misses him.

Just like Carly Anne West said “Are you shouting at your book? Good?” that is what’s like not just between the love triangle, but the emotional connection between the characters and the reader. That is what’s important with any novel and Daniela hit the nail on the head with this series. Now Nicholas, as much as he is the bad boy (and I mean literally) and I would totally go for those, he just seems to cold and cruel to actually care about anything aside from his father’s orders. He constantly surrounded by the screams and cries of his father, never alone, which in some moments, not very many, I feel sorry that he has to go through it. But in the end, he is consumed by the a black hole of dark magic and madness. What makes it hard is the situation that Sean is presented in becomes increasingly hard for both Sarah and Sean to be together, when the infuriating thing is they both love each other irrevocably.

What I loved about this book, is that I was more intriguing by the secondary characters and how they developed. I never mentioned before.. Niall the courageous, somewhat annoyingly comical that breaks the tension and makes you laugh out loud. Mike, Niall’s protector and Sean’s best friend, is the observant of characters. We never really saw much of his character in Dreams, very protective, secretive, sacred toward toward his duties as a Gamekeeper. Alongside the male persona’s we finally met Harry’s wife, Elodie. My first impression was quite controversial as she could be bitter and cold, but then I warmed to her as she revealed herself more throughout the novel. And, finally Winter, she was one of the more interesting characters as she was particular unique to Sarah but also being the maturity of 53 year old in the body of a teenager. She was both enlightened to the group but also to the reader.

At long last, I found an ending that I am capable of waiting the length of time until the next book. I know some will likely to tease me on upcoming snippets to the final book in the trilogy and I will whole heartily take what I can get!