Book Review: Dark Tide (Waterfire Saga #3)

Release Date: October 13, 2015
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Length: 320 pages
Source: Library Book

Once a lost and confused princess, Serafina is now a confident leader of the Black Fin Resistance (BFR). While she works on sabotaging her enemy and enlisting allies for battle, her friends face challenges of their own.

Ling is in the hold of Rafe Mfeme's giant trawler, on her way to a prison camp. Becca meets up with Astrid and learns why the Ondalinian mermaid is always so angry: she is hiding a shameful secret. Ava can't return home, because death riders await her arrival. And it is getting more and more difficult for Mahdi, Serafina's betrothed, to keep up the ruse that he is in love with Lucia Volerno.

If Lucia's parents become suspicious, his life--and all of Sera's hopes--will be extinguished. Political intrigue, dangerous liaisons, and spine-tingling suspense swirl like a maelstrom in this penultimate book in the WaterFire saga

    

Review:

Protagonists: Unlike the previous installments in this series, this book has a much wider range of perspectives. Whereas the previous installments mainly focused on Serafina and Neela, this installment has a focus on Ling and Astrid with smaller storylines focusing on Becca, Sera, and Ava. I was so glad to learn more about these other characters. Astrid has a very strong arc as she's hiding a secret that she believes makes her a liability to the other merls, and because of that she pulls away. Astrid's character development was so great, it wasn't just a quick fix, it's something that takes nearly the entire book to be resolved and it just felt so powerful. Ling's storyline has less to do with her character development, though she does face some growth, and has more to do with escaping Rafe Mfeme aka Orfeo, and finding her ancestor's talisman while on the way making more shocking discoveries. There are smaller arcs such as Sera preparing her rebellion to take back Miromara, Becca helping Astrid come to terms with who she is and finding her own talisman, Lucia (believe it or not) swimming some dark depths to try and discover if Mahdi's love for her is true, and Ava finding out that you can't go home again. I know it sounds like a lot, but it all flows together in a fantastic and strongly spun story.

Romance: Since Sera isn't a main POV in this book I didn't expect very much romance since before now the only real romance has been between Sera and Mahdi. That being said, there is some romance between Sera and Mahdi, but it really only takes up about a chapter, and there are some chapters that show Lucia's twisted "love" for Mahdi. Now for the new romances, I won't say too much about them but I will say that there are two, once for Astrid and one for Becca. Now Astrid's romance I was surprisingly delighted by. It's something that even by the end of the book is still so innocent and new and I felt like it was handled in a fantastic way. Becca's romance on the other hand, while for a while I was totally engrossed by it, it didn't take too long for things to get serious fast. Now there's a wrinkle of complication to her romance and I can see why the author might want to speed it up, but romances that move too fast still really bother me.

World Building: With our new POVs comes a wonder of world building. The most interesting I believe is seeing Ondalina and learning about their culture and how deeply it contrasts with that of Miromara. Ondalina is a very militant place where being different could be perceived as weakness. While I'm not saying I'd move to Ondalina I did find it a very interesting place. While we're there we learn more about Merfolk, such as the and the political situation between the various governing bodies. We do learn about other cultures such as Ava's people and their deep reverence for the Mer gods. There's still so much revealed and unfolded in this story that lends to the deep and fantastic world building that this series has.

Predictability: As much as this series can shock you at times, I have to say that this specific installment does seem to have a problem keeping things secret. There were a couple of things that I didn't quite predict, but for the most part, it was easy to see where this story was going to go for the most part once you have enough breadcrumbs. I think the most shocking thing that this book revealed was something that took me until maybe a page or two before to predict. That being said though the twists aren't annoyingly predictable, I was just missing some of the insane twists we've seen in the past installments.

Ending: This ending was a weird mix of ending too soon and ending too late. It's funny there was one chapter that was like second or third to last that I felt would have been the perfect end to this book, a bit of a cliffhanger with that sort of powerful sentence to leave off before the final installment. However it does go a bit further, it doesn't really start anything new but it just felt a bit... postmature? Is that even a word? That being said, as the story wraps up there are some fantastic scenes that really begin to set up how the final installment in this phenomenal series will unfold. Though I do have to say there are a lot of plot threads that I'll be very impressed if this author can tie them all up in a concise, but not too rushed way, by the end of the next and final installment.

Rating:

So I know it probably seems totally unfair that I'm knocking half a star off because a small romantic subplot went too fast, but it's a serious pet peeve of mine and all the chemistry in the world couldn't change it. That being said everything else in this book is just whar I wanted out of the previous isntallment. It felt like a complete story and that no one was really missing in action.

Book Review: Rogue Wave (Waterfire Saga #2)

Release Date: January 6, 2015
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Length: 313 pages
Source: Library Book

Serafina, Neela, Ling, Ava, Becca, and Astrid, six mermaids from realms scattered throughout the seas and freshwaters, were summoned by the leader of the river witches to learn an incredible truth: the mermaids are direct descendants of the Six Who Ruled-powerful mages who once governed the lost empire of Atlantis. The ancient evil that destroyed Atlantis is stirring again, and only the mermaids can defeat it. To do so, they need to find magical talismans that belonged to the Six.

Serafina believes her talisman was buried with an old shipwreck. While researching its location, she is almost discovered by a death rider patrol led by someone familiar. . . . The pain of seeing him turned traitor is devastating.

Neela travels to Matali to warn her parents of the grave threat facing their world. But they find her story outlandish; a sign that she needs to be confined to her chamber for rest and recovery. She escapes and travels to Kandina, where her talisman is in the possession of fearsome razormouth dragons.

As they hunt for their talismans, both Serafina and Neela find reserves of courage and cunning they didn't know they possessed. They face down danger and death, only to endure a game-changing betrayal, as shocking as a rogue wave.

    

Review:

Protagonists: After learning about their destinies Serafina and the other mermaids descended from the Six who Ruled much search for their ancestors' talismans in order to enter the prison where Abaddon is being kept and defeat him. I was really disappointed to discover that while Ling makes an appearance for some of the book, only Serafina and Neela have chapters told from their perspectives. I was hoping and expecting that after the first book we'd see a wider range of perspectives and be able to learn more about these other mermaids. That being said though there isn't much to be done about it and from the looks of it we'll check in with the other mermaids before too long. In this book though Serafina seeks to discover more about the talismans and where they were hidden and Neela heads home to try and warn her parents of the incoming danger and to regroup, however they both encounter roadblocks on their path and need to find new strengths within themselves in order to succeed.

Romance: I honestly wasn't expecting as much romance as this book had. I'm not too sure what I can say and what will give away what I'm trying to avoid saying, but here goes. First off the only one of the six mermaids to have a romance in this book, that I caught on to, is Serafina, and her romance is complicated in more ways than I can easily explain. First off there is the fact that she feels like she's falling for Blue while she's betrothed to Mahdi, but she's not sure of Blue's condition after the raid that Sera and Neela barely escaped from. Then there's the fact that Sera does still have feelings for Mahdi, but he's not the same as he used to be, and now she's not quite sure where her heart lies. Before I go too far and ruin something or everything, I just want to say that I really enjoyed the romance in this book. I was really able to see where I wanted Serafina's romance to end up, and was able to really root for where it's going.

World Building: Now we're going to talk more about the fact that aside from some scenes with Ling the only two of the SIX main mermaids that we see are Serafina and Neela. I have nothing against those two characters, in fact since getting to know them so much from the previous installment I really like them. That being said though, since we only get two POVs for some reason the story feels smaller than it should be. Granted we find out a lot about the talismans and where they might be, but I can't shake this feeling that this book isn't quite a complete story or installment. I mean I know there are two more installments in the series so it wasn't like I was expecting the entire story to end in this book, and there's enough accomplished to where I feel as though I can't call it a filler book, but it more feels like part one of two for a standard installment. I don't quite think this is a bad thing, but that almost empty feeling doesn't really make it a good thing either.

Predictability: Don't you just love it when you predict a large twist an entire installment before it's revealed? I mean seriously I did that with at least TWO twists in this book. That's not to say that this book is extremely predictable, there are twists that blew my mind because I didn't see them coming, and there were other things that were just unexpected. Even with the twists that I called an entire installment before, there were still aspects of those twists that caught me off guard. By the way those are some of my favorite twists, when you believe you have everything figured out only to realize you don't know the half of it.

Ending: I think one of my biggest problems with this book, and why I didn't feel as though it was an entire installment and only felt like part one of two was the fact that the final climax of the book was such an internal and passive thing. I don't mind books where there's no big battle at the end of the book, but I always expect some final confrontation whether it be physical or mental, however in this book it was a lot more political. We discover so much more about the schemes going on in this ocean and that all leads up to discovering who's really in charge in one of the best twists I'd ever seen.

Rating:

This might be unfair of me since I did really enjoy the book, in fact I cannot wait until I get to the next installment, however there was just something lacking, whether it be too little POVs or no real final confrontation, I just didn't feel right giving this book 5 stars.

Book Review: Deep Blue (The Waterfire Saga #1)

Release Date: May 6, 2014
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Length: 340 pages
Source: Library Book

Serafina, daughter of Isabella, Queen of Miromara, has been raised with the expectation - and burden - that she will someday become ruler of the oldest civilization of the merfolk. On the eve of the Dokimí ceremony, which will determine if she is worthy of the crown, Sera is haunted by a strange dream that foretells the return of an ancient evil. But her nightmare is forgotten the next day as she diligently practices her songspell; eagerly anticipates a reunion with her best friend, Neela; and anxiously worries about Mahdi, the crown prince of Matali, and whether his feelings toward her and their future betrothal have changed. Most of all, she worries about not living up to her mother's hopes.

The Dokimí proceeds, a dazzling display of majesty and might, until a shocking turn of events interrupts it: an assassin's arrow wounds Isabella. The realm falls into chaos, and Serafina's darkest premonitions are confirmed. Now she and Neela must embark on a quest to find the assassin's master and prevent a war between the mer nations. Their search will lead them to other mermaid heriones scattered across the six seas. Together they will form an unbreakable bond of sisterhood as they uncover a conspiracy that threatens their world's very existence.

    

Review:

Characters: So while this book, for the most part, is only told from the third person point of view of Serafina, there are chapters that she does not tell. I have to admit, sometimes I get so wrapped up in the story that it's hard for me to tell who's POV it is when there's a third person POV. So, other than Neela, I'm not quite sure if there are other perspectives. Anyway, this is the story of mermaids, caught in a terrible attack, who escape to find out they have a greater role in this under sea world than they thought. They have to team up with four other mermaids and develop and grow their respective magics to thwart a great evil from returning. Since this book mainly focuses on Seraphina and Neela, for the most part I'll talk about them. Seraphina is a strong character, who can't let go of self-doubt sometimes. She's great at covering up her feelings, but hiding her heart my not be what's best for her in the end. Neela doesn't want to be a princess. Forced into a role she didn't choose. She has other dreams, passions, and talents and is scared she won't get to express them. Both these girls are fearsome and extremely loyal to one another. They work hard and with the help of the other girls, I could see them doing anything they set their minds to.

Romance: There... actually isn't much romance in this book, which is funny because for a while there it looked like there would be. Not a lot, but definitely more than there was. Okay, so I'm going to try and explain this as delicately as possible. There is what looks to be a love triangle in this book, but it's not quite confirmed, and I have other theories that I won't divulge at this time. Anyway, first we have Sera's betrothed who seems to have changed much since they last saw each other, becoming more of a party boy and wild child than the sweet boy she knew. Now, what's great about this romance is that we get to see how it came to be and the author did so in a succinct way that actually made me care about these two as a couple, whereas most established romances fail in that department. Then there's the mysterious boy that Sera and Neela meet on their journey with a past of his own. We don't find out much about him, but I did sense some romantic leanings with him and Sera. However both romances are cut short before they can quite form, though, at least for me, that just adds to the mystery.

World Building: I've read quite a few mermaid books in my time, but I have to say that so far this is the best in term of submerging the reader into mer-culture. Most mermaid books focus on a protagonist who finds out they're mer, and not someone already in this society. Plus there are the different mer kingdoms and different cutures around this world. The magic system is amazing, using the power of song to cast spells was genius and wonderful. I'm always a sucker for a good Prophecy to Save the World kind of story, and this is definitely one of those. Last but not least there's the mythology. Now, there is a bit of Greek Myth with Atlantis and all that, but it also looks as if this world has a bit of it's own mythology, or the author is pulling from some more abscure parts of Greek Mythology. Either way it was very entertaining and I loved how myth and magic weaved into this world. If I had one criticism, and seriously this is tiny, it's that sometimes the mer-slang and lingo could get a bit too cheesy. An example of this, though this one is actually one of the better ones, is currensea instead of currency.

Predictability: Have you ever read one of those books where there seems to be a lot of foreshadowing pointing to one or various things that look to be surprises, only for the book to end before finding out anything of the sort? Well this book is like that. Granted, unless you have the same thoughts I do, maybe you won't see it that way, but either way that's definitely how I experienced this book.There are other twists to be sure, things that either seemed to come out of nowhere or are barely hinted at. Though there are a few things that I saw coming because when a book has an extensive glossary, as this one does, I tend to missuse and abuse it, luckily it doesn't have anything too spoilery in it's pages, but if you're extremely sensitive to even the smallest spoiler, I'd steer clear until the end.

Ending: Much like with those books that seem to be hinting at something only to leave the reveal for another time, there's the books that seem to end too soon. Now I can give this book a bit of slack because it is still awesome, but there was a certainty that this story was unfinished. There's a lot left unsaid, and most likely a lot left unrevealed, and the ending just didn't feel quite like a traditional beginning or mid-series ending. There wasn't really a final climax, though there was a pretty epic scene at the end, but it doesn't fit in with most final climaxes, and then the story just ends. Again, I'm not upset, because there was a lot to the end and there was a lot of the future teased in the finale, but it was a tad disappointing.

Rating:

I loved this book! Which is a good thing since Disney-Hyperion sent me a copy of book 4: Sea Spell, I would have felt bad if I hated the series and couldn't get around to reading book 4 for them. This is a brilliant fantasy and anyone who loved merfolk or witches I'm sure will love this, and hey let's throw in Mythology Nerds too!