I am the sea Review

General Impressions

I never thought I would catch myself reading, much less like a male-only, 1870's murder mystery set in a lighthouse but here I am!

"I am the Sea" is told through James's eyes, as he records his thoughts and his day to day life in an isolated lighthouse, famous for the number of employees who either disappear or are found dead. As the days go on, and James becomes more and more unsettled by all the questions he has about the previous occupants of the lighthouse and their frequent disappearances and deaths, he starts fearing that someone else might be living with them, with plans to harm the surviving men.

If you like plot twists, unreliable narrators and diaries, you might enjoy this. I will even go on a limb and consider this borderline dark academia. Although the story is not set in an old university but in a creepy isolated lighthouse, the main character is an apprentice who spends all the time he is not working, reading, thinking about or quoting all manner of books and poems he knows, to stave off the boredom and a growing sense of fear over his future.

Conclusions

Along with that mystery and sense of dread, this book is also rich in details about literature and science, that last one pertaining particularly to the scientific and academic advances of the time and the technology inside the lighthouse. Matt Stanley truly knew how to immerse his reader not only inside the lighthouse keeper's life but in XIX century England's criminal and health systems.

"I am the Sea" was very easy to fall into and refused to give me back until the very end.

Thank you to Legend Press for sending me this copy.

Rating: 4/5