Of Poseidon review

Of Poseidon

by Anna Banks

Fiewel and Friends

May 2012

First line: "I smack into him as if shoved from behind."

I'm not ashamed to admit that I picked up this book based on the gorgeous cover alone. Bonus: I love books that alternate between two main characters POV. Of Poseidon was a fun read - if you enjoy the schadenfreude of yelling at characters who are Too Dumb to Live. Clumsy Emma and her best friend Chloe are enjoying a vacation on the Florida beach before they go off to the college in the fall. Things quickly take a serious turn when Chloe is eaten by sharks. Emma is very dramatically super sad that her token black friend is dead. In the meantime hunky stranger Galen is hiding a secret - he's actually a merman. He's actually a royal alpha-male merman, or Syrena as they're called, who is immediately smitten with Emma. He decides to behave like a creepy stalker and chase Emma around, moving to New Jersey so he can keep tabs on her. It's explained to the reader that this is okay, because Galen's culture is male-dominated. Galen's feisty sister Rayna is given away in marriage to Galen's friend Toraf without her consent, and everyone seems right on board for that.

Galen and Emma are Meant to Be Together - Emma's unusual violet eyes give away her half Syrena heritage, and Galen hopes that she can unite the warring Poseidon and Triton tribes. Galen's main obstacle is that he feels Emma rightfully "belongs" to his older brother Grom. Emma has all the hallmarks of a Mary Sue - gorgeous, klutzy, unusual eyes, special powers, (like Aquaman, she can talk to fish) she's as dumb as a box of rocks, yet everyone is smitten with her.

Later in the book, Emma and Galen hit a rough patch and break up. Emma is on a date with nice guy Mark, and Galen shows up and angrily demands that she get out of Mark's car and come with him instead. I was shouting out loud, "No, Emma, no! Don't go with him! So what if he's got great pecs? He's a total weirdo, and threatening other guys you spend time with is such a red flag! Don't do it!" On more than one occasion she even describes Galen as having such an intense stare that he has "serial killer eyes." Of course, Emma decides that she must go with him, in order to protect Mark from getting beat up, since a mere human would not be able to stand up to Galen's superhuman super-strength. Then Galen refuses to drive her home, instead, pulling over on an abandoned stretch of road and guilting her into taking him back. Gross!

File this book under, "so terrible that it's great." Read if you're looking for a light summer read and you're not worried about killing too many brain cells. I kind of split the difference on the read-alikes I recommended: two mermaid books that I think are way better than this one, and two paranormal romances with inappropriately domineering boyfriends (that we are for some reason, supposed to like.)

Compare to:
Lost Voices - Sarah Porter
Lies Beneath - Anne Greenwood Brown
Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
The Mephisto Covenant - Trinity Faegen

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Waiting for Waking Storms

I loved Lost Voices so much! I'm really looking forward to reading the sequel.

Waking Storms
by Sarah Porter
Harcourt Children's Books

July 2012

After parting ways with her troubled mermaid tribe, Luce just wants to live peacefully on her own. But her tranquility doesn’t last long: she receives news that the tribe is on the verge of collapse and desperately needs her leadership. Anais, the tribe’s cruel queen, wants Luce dead. Dorian, the boy Luce broke mermaid law to save, is determined to make her pay for her part in the murder of his family. And while the mermaids cling to the idea that humans never suspect their existence, there are suddenly ominous signs to the contrary. But when Luce and Dorian meet, they start to wonder if love can overpower the hatred they know they should feel for each other. Luce’s new friendship with an ancient renegade mermaid gives her hope that her kind might someday change its murderous ways. But how can Luce fulfill her rightful role as queen of the mermaids without sacrificing her forbidden romance with Dorian? Full of miraculous reunions and heart-pounding rescues, this haunting second installment in the Lost Voices trilogy finds Luce eager to attempt reconciliation with humans—as long as war doesn’t break out first.

Waiting on Lies Beneath

Yessss! I love mermaid stories.

Lies Beneath
by Anne Greenwood Brown
Delacorte Books for Young Readers

June 2012

Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans, killing them to absorb their energy. But this summer the underwater clan targets Jason Hancock out of pure revenge. They blame Hancock for their mother's death and have been waiting a long time for him to return to his family's homestead on the lake. Hancock has a fear of water, so to lure him in, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter, Lily. Easy enough — especially as Calder has lots of practice using his irresistible good looks and charm on unsuspecting girls. Only this time Calder screws everything up: he falls for Lily — just as Lily starts to suspect that there's more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined. And just as his sisters are losing patience with him.

Paranormalcy review

Paranormalcy
by Kiersten White
Harper Teen
August 2010

Kiersten White recently said in a series of interrelated Twitter posts:
"My writing is... not full of quiet grace. It's more like a sparkly pink baseball bat. To the face. But in a friendly way. Mostly. For example, @haleshannon's writing says, 'Oh, hello dear friend. Come with me on a beautiful, thoughtful journey. Drink me in. Savor.' My writing says, OH HI HI HI! LET'S HAVE FUN RIGHT NOW! SHUT UP I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE TIRED! YOU'RE MY FRIEND WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!"

Honestly, I thought the peppy enthusiasm of the book really carried things and made this a super fun read. It's not nearly as exhausting as White fears. Much like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 16 year-old Evie is a petite girly, blonde who happens to be great at taking out supernatural creatures such as werewolves and vampires with her pink sparkly gun, "Tasey" while delivering quick-witted, snappy dialogue. Working for The International Paranormal Containment Agency keeps her pretty busy, and she longs to do normal things, like hang-out at the mall, go shopping, go to school. As the story picks up, you start to see how lonely Evie really is and the pressures put on her by her supervisors who are always ready to "bag and tag" the next creature. I wondered how Evie would manage to have a best friend who was a mermaid - it turns out Alisha's lagoon had become so polluted that Alisha, or Lish for short, jumps at the chance to work for IPCA, in a self-contained water bubble command center. Mermaids have eidetic memories and don't need to sleep, making her the perfect employee to run their switchboard. Neat! She speaks with a voice translator that bleeps out any swear words.

In the meantime, possessive and scarily dangerous Reth, a faery, is always popping in and out, threatening to kidnap Evie. Things get really interesting when Evie meets a new type of paranormal - a shapeshifter who calls himself Lend. Against the orders of her superiors, Evie runs off with Lend to discover that IPCA and her own abilities to see past supernatural glamors isn't what she's always been told. 

I liked the whole tone and feel of the book - alternating silliness with incredible danger, a great sense of suspense in all of the fight scenes, the slow and gradual dropping of hints, the prophecy and Evie's visions of the disturbing fiery Vivian were really well handled. The sequel, Supernaturally, was just released. I'll recommend these books for any YA readers who like paranormal, but are getting tired of all the dystopians out there.

I borrowed this book from the library.

Lost Voices review

Lost Voices 
by Sarah Porter 
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's 
July 2011

Such a fantastic book, I don't even know where to begin. I've always loved mermaids, and I couldn't have been happier to learn that mermaids are supposed to be The Next Big Thing in paranormal fiction. 14 year-old Luce is living in a horrible home situation, and after narrowly escaping an assault by a family member, she falls from an Alaskan cliff into the sea. It doesn't seem like a direct suicide attempt, but she doesn't seem to particularly want to cling to life, either. Much to her amazement, she finds herself transformed into a mermaid. She joins a tribe of similarly transformed abused girls. The book mainly focused on the mean-girl social dynamics of the group. Catarina, a Russian girl, is the queen bee. She takes Luce under her wing... with the condition, of course, that Luce assist her in taking down ships. It turns out that Luce is a terrifically gifted singer and her siren song allows the tribe of mermaids to go after larger vessels than ever before. Catarina is harboring a secret... her goal in sinking ships is to find good looking men to briefly canoodle with before their inevitable death by drowning. Luce loves singing, but despite her rough treatment by all the humans she's known, she still clings to human morals of right and wrong and the wanton murder of shipgoers doesn't sit right with her. The introduction of Anais, another new mermaid, further upsets the balance of power, as the girls get greedy and start sinking ships for material gain.

The book does a marvelous job of really immersing you in a new underwater world. The mermaids live in an abandoned bay, and rest occasionally in nearly inaccessible underwater lagoons. Luce worries at first that she won't find raw seafood appealing, but when she tries it, she finds it salty, smooth and delicious. Remembering her human memories Luce thinks that a rain shower will feel refreshing, but finds the fresh water raindrops feel dirty after the  clean salt water that is her new habitat.

The mythology of mermaids is fairly well-thought out. Abused girls who are in a near-death situation make the transformation. I thought the journey through pipes or whatever waterways were available was a bit of a stretch for girls who are inland. I wondered why boys in a similar situation never turn into mermen. Babies or toddlers become what the girls contemptuously call "larvae" - helpless little mermaids who are quickly picked off by other ocean life.

The book ends abruptly. It's not a cliffhanger exactly, but it definitely doesn't wrap things up neatly. Happily, the book is supposed to be the first in a trilogy. I'm eager to pick up the next in this dark and lyrical series.


I received a copy of this book from the publisher.