ARC provided by the amazing Angel of Mermaid Visions.
Emma is your average girl living an average kind of life until she literally runs into the hottest man she has ever seen, Galen the prince of the Syrena. Sparks fly as Galen senses something special in Emma, but that something may be just the thing that keeps them apart.
Any of my UsaMamo girls will understand why I was hooked on this book from the very beginning. The opening is reminiscent of my all time one true pair Tsukino Usagi and Chiba Mamoru from Sailor Moon. From that point on, I could not put this book down.
Strangely, this book reminded me a lot of my initial feelings of Twilight before I began to notice its flaws. Even better, I feel as if Banks took the best parts of Twilight and the critique it was given and handed us back the kind of romance that has a heroine who isn’t afraid to stand up for herself, or point out when the guy she’s seriously crushing on is being an over-controlling idiot. Seriously, Emma is awesome.
Though, I wouldn’t say that portrayal of woman in this story is perfect. Female relationships in particular take some heavy hits. Whether it’s between Emma and her mother or Emma and Rayna, we really don’t get to see a healthy female centred relationship.
Another issue I had to do with an event that happened very early in the book. Those of you who have read my review of Across the Universe by Beth Revis already know that I don’t like traumatic things to happen just for the sake of them happening. If something big happens, your character needs to be seriously impacted by it. I felt like this event was used purely as a plot point and it seemed to have little to no effect on Emma. There was a kind of attempt to address it, but all in all I was disappointed by how it was treated.
However, I want to be clear that overall I really enjoyed this book. I read it in one sitting, unable to put it down despite knowing I should be preparing lesson plans. I think Banks makes some real attempts to move forward the YA supernatural romance genre, and I hope that other publishers and authors will continue to build on this.
Books with similar aspects
The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Sailor Moon, Vol 1 by Naoko Takeuchi
recomended to supernatural romance fans that like their romance with a side of conflict and drizzled with sarcastic banter
not recomended to those looking for something beyond the supernatural romance genre. It is what it is.
Don’t just take my word for it!
“Surprising me with a knock-out mermaid story, Of Poseidon carries itself with grace and humour.” Angel @ Mermaid Visions
“I will just come right out and say that Of Poseidon by Anna Banks did not work for me.” April @ Good Books and Good Wine
“A fun and well thought out mermaid tale. It’s a great book to take to the beach or read on vacation. ” Christa @ Hooked on Books
“Unfortunately, Of Poseidon sticks to the trends to an alarming degree and ends up reinforcing some of the worst traits of the [YA PNR] genre.” Katya
I haven’t heard too much about this one… or maybe I just haven’t read any of the reviews I’ve seen. I think it sounds great. I’m all about some mermaid stories – even though I’ve never read a book about a mermaid! I do like that you put in some negative comments about it in your comment section – very honest! :)
I try to be honest in all of my reviews :)
I appreciate the way you reviewed this book, looking at how female relationships are portrayed (which I haven’t seen in the other reviews of this book I’ve read). I also like your Sailor Moon reference, that made me want to read this book even more. I think I might just be making a stop at the bookstore tonight for this one…
I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did!
Ooooh…how you felt about Twilight before you started noticing its flaws? I could go for a book that would give me those feelings, especially if it took many of the good aspects and trimmed out some of the bad leaving it sometime I could feel really good about even after thinking about it. I do have this one, and am really looking forward to reading it!
I think that’s something you need to consider when it comes to YA books in particular. Some books are great while reading, but on reflection that changes. It’s easy to get caught up in stories, so it always makes me happy when I look back and the good outweighs the flaws.
I’ve got this one on my review list, and I’ve been a little hesitant about picking it up because I’ve heard a lot of mixed things. Still, I’ll be reading it no matter what, so it will be interesting to compare notes with you once I’ve finished it!
I think novels with mixed reviews are some of the most interesting to read.
YES, YES I hear what you’re saying about that plot point and I also thought that about Across the Universe and it also happened in Embrace and I was PISSED.
It’s frustrating because I feel like those kind of plots points are used for a shock factor and not a chance for emotional growth.
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