The Sinking City

By: Christine Cohen

Narrated by: Christine Cohen

Venice is a carnival of opposites, and Liona Carvatti thinks she understands it all: canal and palace, magician and merchant, plague and pantomime. As a patrician's daughter, Liona enjoys the sparkling life of a noble family—although she would prefer to be tending to her flowers than practicing violin or standing around in a ball gown. But what Liona fails to realize is that Venice is a city of stone in a world of water. And ruling the dark waters are the Seleni—ageless, cold, and calculating.

When she loses everything she relies on, Liona must set a new course that will shake the foundations of Venice itself.

This book is published by Canonball Books. Canonball Books is the children's imprint of Canon Press. At Canonball, we believe stories are soul food, so you can expect excitement, danger, loyalty, virtue, and family in your Canonball books. Feed your kids the right books!

Souls will be fed and shaped from the inside out. That much is inescapable.

©2021 Canon Press (P)2022 Canon Press

MAGA Ray

We loved MAGA Ray’s character and how he really was a sweet person underneath is brash personality. And especially how brave Leona is!

Great Coming of Age Story! 4.5

What I Liked

First, the book’s target audience is young adults, probably age 11 and up. My evaluation is based on my opinion about the appropriateness and literary nature of books for this age group.

This book is well-written and interesting. I really enjoyed listening to the author read the book. She did a fantastic job with both the writing and the reading.

Next, a little about the world building. The world Cohen creates is a parallel to our own with place and time mirroring our own Renaissance Era Venice, but the setting has a mystical twist where magic helps keep the city afloat and mermen pose a villainous threat. Spells are cast in Latin, of course! The way they are cast is not a copy of HP, but a unique feature of Cohen’s own world.

The writing clearly describes the city giving readers / listeners the feel of being right there along with Leona as her city battles attackers and she wages her own war to be free.

Finally, The story is truly a great coming of age tale in which Leona must find a way to escape the plans others made for her and forge her own path without becoming obnoxious or bitter. I enjoyed reading about a “strong, independent woman” who remains feminine and kind.

What I Did Not Like

First, I thought the physical conflicts lacked realism. While characters are described as bruised and seriously injured, they walk around the next day able to wage battle. Acts of terrorism, abusive attacks, brawls, firebombing, and knife fights are all shaken off leaving the main characters to recover and fight again faster than a video game character re-spawns.

Second, I thought the pacing was a little slow at times while the ending was a little abrupt. I loved the ending, but I was left wondering if more books were to follow. I guess it might actually be a good thing for authors to leave their audience with a desire for more, though.

The Bottom Line

I thoroughly enjoyed this audio book. The book is also on Kindle Unlimited so subscribers can enjoy both versions. Listening was fun, though. The audio version is well done and definitely worth the credit! I liked Cohen’s previous book, The Winter King, as well. I will read and listen to her next book should she write more.

clever mix of history and fantasy

The idea of monstrous mermen and pompous magicians in Venice is what caught my eye and the story 100% delivered.
Having the author narrate her own story is a mixed bag. Her voice fits the main character perfectly, but her range for different characters is a little limited. Also she stumbles over some pronunciations, mostly foreign words and names adopted into the English language.
But the story of a young girl finding her own fate in Medieval Venice is well worth it.
Highly recommend it.

Sooooooo gooood I loved it 😍😍😍

the story was so interesting and romantic at the same time and I love how lions is brave the hole time and it was magical also love this story and I think who ever is reading this should read the sinking city!!!!!!!

awesome

loved it! mago re and liona are such fun characters! this book is fantastic