Okay, so I know its totally Monday and the Book of the Week post comes out on Thursday but last week got a little ahead of me and I just completely skipped the Book of the Week. I know. I know. Worst book blogger ever.

So the Book of the Week review is a little late but its here, and I’m finally reviewing a book for you. You can expect me to be back on schedule this week, with the Tuesday Top Tens and Fandom Fridays and alllll that super fun stuff.

I am also going to start posting book reviews over at my co-blog, iFandoms Collide. I read a lot of books a week so I’m trying to review as many books as possible and this will be helpful, to spread it out between two different sites. So definitely become a fan of that site, follow it on Twitter or Facebook to keep up with my book reviews.

And now for this super belated Book of the Week post!

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Genre:
fantasy, young adult, romance

Part of a Series?
Yes, the first novel in the Syrena Legacy, followed by the recently released, Of Triton.

You May Like if You Liked:
Marissa Meyer’s Cinder, The Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Plot Summary:

This story is a dual point of view story told by Emma and Galen. Emma is a normal girl, living in New Jersey, who literally crashes into Galen on a summer vacation in Florida. She immediately feels attraction to him, but is also embarrassed that she ran right into him. Dismissing this, she and her best friend, Chloe, going surfing where they are attacked by a shark and their vacation turns deadly. Emma escapes with her life, and returns to New Jersey, heartbroken.

Galen is a prince of the Triton kingdom, a family of Syrena (mermaids, though they won’t call themselves that). He is called to land by a human friend of him, on the authority that a girl with powers of Syrena is here on land. Galen doesn’t believe it until he runs into Emma and he feels the immediate connection. Then he witnesses Emma calling off a shark and he’s convinced that she is of Poseidon, the kingdom once allied with the Triton.

Galen follows Emma to New Jersey, determined to convince her of her powers and her legacy, and to bring her home below the water. Emma doesn’t believe him at first, but when she starts to be able to breathe under water for long periods of time, and discovers her communication with fish. Galen begins train her, so she can change, and have her fins, and discover why she was raised on land, as a human for so long.

Because Emma is part of a kingdom at outs with the Triton and if she can change and come down below, she’ll be a perfect match for Galen’s brother, Grom, who is to become king. But Galen finds himself holding back, as he begins to fall for Emma.

The Bad:

Honestly, there’s nothing SO bad that I was like, ugh, I hate this part. I’m not saying this book was one hundred percent perfect but I really, really, really liked this book. I would say…and its not really Anna Banks’ fault, but I am getting tired of all these super beautiful heroines haha. Like, Galen can’t shut up about how pretty she is. I’m really looking forward to having some chubby, average looking girls out there. Sometimes I’m like, all right, Galen, we get it, she’s pretty. But she’s also kind of badass, too, remember? So there’s that. But that’s such a small thing and it doesn’t deter from the story, or my enjoyment of it.

The Good: 

I had seen this book randomly every where but it wasn’t until I discovered Leigh Bardugo and the Grisha trilogy that this book really caught my notice. From what I can tell, Anna Banks is a good friend of Leigh’s and they just finished a tour recently for Fierce Reads with Jessica Brody and Emmy Laybourne. I had a little extra cash this past weekend and bought the book.

I gobbled this book up in one day. My boyfriend was at a bachelor party so I curled up in bed and whipped my way through this book and THOROUGHLY enjoyed it.

First off, mermaids? Okay, sorry, I stand corrected, Syrena. Mermaids is the term that they were given by human folklore but their correct name, according to Galen, is Syrena. I love it. I just love it. I love the new story of it. I love that its not vampires or demons or fallen angels or any of that. I love that its so different. I love learning something new. One of the best parts of reading books that are fantasy or dystopian, fantastical is that you get to immerse yourself in a new world, a new culture. But a lot of the stories that have been coming out have some overlap in the stories and myths. I haven’t had a chance to explore the myths and legends of merpeople so that was SUPER fun to read.

I liked the mystery of Emma, her true parentage and whether she was a true Syrena or not, because her mom seems to have no idea what is going on. I love that she spends so much time trying to figure it out and its not immediately apparent. Its a journey to discover what she is capable of, what her body is like, what she can expect of her future. I liked watching that. I love journeys, especially in the young adult genre, because that’s when so many of us are going through journeys and changes and finding ourselves.

I also liked the relationship between Galen and Emma. I liked that even though you get both of their point of views in the story, and you know that they’re absolutely crazy about each other, there’s a ton a build up and it doesn’t happen right away because of Emma’s reluctance and Galen’s duty to his kingdom and his brother and the future of his people. I love the subtlety to their relationship and that it is more about friendship and discovering the truths about Emma than their love story.

Its a really great story, an addicting one that will keep you glued to the pages until the very end, trying to figure out what Emma is, what she is going to be, and trying to figure if Emma and Galen are ever going to get together. Plus the end of Of Poseidon ends in an epic cliffhanger, which has me DYING for the next book! If anyone is feeling at all sympathetic toward a poor college student blogger, you can throw a copy of Of Triton my way :P

Rating: 

4.5 out of 5 stars

Recommended or Not? 

Definitely. You may not think mermaids and their myths and lore is your type of thing, but I wouldn’t have thought that either until I picked up this book. It was nice to read something new and exciting for a change, and I can see why she, Emmy, Leigh and Jessica go on tour together with their unique stories. I think anyone with a love for fantasy and for young adult literature would absolutely enjoy this novel.

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I hope you guys enjoyed this review of Of Poseidon by Anna Banks.

Check out last week’s review of Struck by Jennifer Bosworth and stayed tuned for a review of The Abandon Trilogy by Meg Cabot as part of The Romance Bookie‘s Meg-A-Readers blog hop!

And you can read other Book of the Week posts here.