A Trio of YA Reviews

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Who doesn't love a mermaid story? I know that I certainly am drawn to them. And this cover is gorgeous. The book itself was so-so, I loved Banks' mythology and legend of the Syrena, but the characters themselves were not that great. And don't call these mermaids mermaids, they prefer Syrena.  Galen and Emma reminded me of Bella and Edward, although Emma wasn't nearly as annoying and helpless.  I enjoyed the secondary characters of Rayna and Toraf much better than Emma and Galen, and the book ended just the right way for my interest to be piqued enough to read the second book, Of Triton. Which is apparently popular since I have been on the waiting list for about 6 weeks for it! Overall, my opinion was I loved the world building, disliked the main characters. Although if I were a teenage girl, I would probably find Galen hot.

Tidal by Amanda Hocking (I think this is #3 in the series?)

My opinion on this book is completely different from Of Poseidon. What I love here are the characters, they are more interesting, spunkier, more emotional than the characters in Of Poseidon. I like that Hocking also tried to make her mermaids meaner, with teeth, because that is how I like to read about mermaids. Think about the mermaids in Peter Pan! Although in this book they are also called Sirens, not mermaids. Unfortunately, I did not buy the explanation for their existence; I just didn't like it. Overall I liked the characters and the mean mermaids, but their origin story fell flat for me.

I always loved the mermaid part in the Peter Pan cartoon. I must have been a weird kid!

The Host by Stephanie Meyer

This was our book club book, and I kind of struggled to read it at first. I don't care for alien stories, nor do I care for Stephanie Meyer. I had to make myself sit down and read this book.  To my surprise, after the first 50 pages or so, I really loved it!  I got sucked right into the romance triangle (Team Ian!) and found Meyer's perspective on humanity very interesting. I thought the descriptions of the other planets that the aliens had taken over a little simplistic, but maybe that is a nod to Meyer's thinking we are the most intelligent species in the universe? Regardless, I loved this book, the questions it raises, and the characters themselves.