Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

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• Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
• Publication date: 5/22/2012
• Pages: 336
• Source: eARC from NetGalley/Macmillan for review

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | The Book Depository

Overview

Galen, a Syrena prince, searches land for a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. It’s while Emma is on vacation at the beach that she meets Galen. Although their connection is immediate and powerful, Galen's not fully convinced that Emma's the one he's been looking for. That is, until a deadly encounter with a shark proves  that Emma and her Gift may be the only thing that can save his kingdom. He needs her help--no matter what the risk.



My Thoughts

I really enjoy mermaid stories. I haven't really read a lot of them, I'm not sure why, but I do love them. When I first heard about this book I was super excited. For one, it's a mermaid (or as they are called in this book Syrena) and two, boy Syrena!! Right?!!! Then there were the little teasers and chats on twitter that made me even more interested. The characters sounded so entertaining...and they definitely were. This book moved along nicely. It was never really slow, but it was not ever really fast paced either. It was just a great flow. Anna was very good about giving us the Syrena history too, which I really enjoyed because too often, books just skim over things and leave us short on the details of why things are.

Emma is a feisty character. I liked her and at the same time I was bothered by her a bit. She is a pretty tough chick, but also very stubborn. She acts like a child sometimes too with just having to go against something that Galen said, just because. It's like she has to prove a point that she isn't going to listen to him. Yet she is totally obsessed with him. It's almost comical when you think about it. She wants to be with him so badly, but she acts so immature about things. I mean, yes, he totally gives mixed messages, but that's still besides the point. I would be like, "Dude, you're hot, but kinda a jerk about some things, but I so want to kiss you." Lol!! I guess that is just me. I just think that it's sad that she kind of lets him walk all over her in a sense. I mean it's not like he's treating her bad, but he wants an obeying girl and she basically gives into that.

Galen is pretty swoontastic!! He has to learn how to adjust to how humans are and the things they do. Yes, h e comes across as a jerk at first, but he gets better. I liked how loyal he is to his kingdom. The whole time you are really hoping that things can be different so that he can be happy in the end. I can't really go into it without spoiling anything though. He ends up doing a lot of research and finding out a lot of things that can actually change everything. I think that Galen really changed a lot through the book. Or maybe he didn't change as much as the real him finally was able to surface. He really is a sweet guy, things just seem to come out wrong for him. It's hard trying act human when you don't completely understand how things can be interpreted.

The secondary characters were awesome too. I especially liked Rayna. My first impression of her was not great, but I couldn't help but really like her character as we get to know her better. One of the best parts of the book was a certain scene including a glass wall. It was quite entertaining. Rachel is quite a sweetheart too. I liked her. Emma's mom is something else. She seems overly paranoid about things and a bit too overprotective.

This was a great story, I can't say the ending shocked me really. I think I figured out that was coming very early on. Like, really early. It still didn't take away from me enjoying the book though. It wasn't anything extraordinary. It was pretty average as far as books go, but I really did enjoy getting to know the characters and found the Syrena history interesting. The humor was great! I love I am looking forward to where the next book will take us. I think that the story will get much more interesting. And I really want more Galen!! The nice Galen. 3.5 out of 5 stars