Douglas J. Sloan

*A thank you to NetGalley and its publishers for providing this book to me for a fair and unbiased review*

So this book is about three mermaids (Millisine, Seanne, and Lorelei) who have vastly different interests and skills and who have been chosen to undertake a quest that makes them leave their underwater haven and enter the world of the walking. Of course, as soon as they get near the shore they are contaminated by an oil spill and separated. They all wake up to different situations where they individually meet new potential allies and try to find their way back to each other.

The cover of this book is gorgeous and the synopsis of this book made me excited to read it.So Sloan did his work on looking up the facts for these mythical creatures, for which I will give him praise for. The underwater city these mermaids and Mermen hailed from came to life with Sloan's writing. It shows how much he learned about Merpeople and what skills and abilities they have. Unfortunately, that is where all the positivity I have for this book ends. I understand that these are beautiful mythical creatures but you don't have to constantly reiterate this whenever they are looked upon. I get it, they are pretty much perfect compared to human standards I don't need it shoved in my face, thank you very much. This also made it extremely hard to connect with any of the mermaids causing me to be very apathetic to their quest and situations. Plus, I really hated Seanne. Every time she spoke, did something or was even mentioned it had me gritting my teeth and rolling my eyes. It took a lot for me to not DNF this book.

I know that upon learning her backstory you were probably supposed to become sympathetic to her but it did nothing for me because she kept acting so irrational and stupid that I just couldn't find it in me to like anything that had to do with her. The other two mermaids just let it happen, because this is how Seanne is and it's easier to just go along with it than to get her angry. It was her freaking fault they got split up in the first place too.

The story was also kinda boring, and while it did get a bit interesting at the end, you still have to get through 3/4 of the story for anything to really happen. I also wished Sloan was a bit more secretive when it came to the bad guy, I would have liked it to have been somewhat of a surprise rather than pointing it out whenever there was any interaction with him.

Overall, not my cup of tea as I was disappointed.… (mer)

Mermaids are a fantasy angle that is far less popular than werewolves, vampires and other changelings, making it a realm which needs much investigating. Thankfully, I am not alone in that thought.

This is a very simply written and rather short dip into the realm, but that really isn’t surprising as it is the first of a series. It opens with a rather sinister scene, which sets the stage for a phenomenal book and has the reader looking forward to more, so very much more. However, the entire prelude is tossed to the waves until beyond the halfway mark.

Three ‘super’ mermaid maidens are sent to the land to fulfill their queen’s quest: Lorelei, Millisinne and Seanne (the power trio). Sadly predictable, they are all described as beautiful beyond human belief and highly intelligent. Oddly enough, none of them has any real idea what the quest really is, beyond saving their race from the dreaded illness invading Oceanna. Things go sideways almost immediately when the power trio are separated by a deadly oil slick polluting their waters.

Dr. Elias Courtney, handsome, rich, and described as an Adonis, saves Millisinne and becomes involved in the mermaids’ quest. There’s a set up for romance there, though thankfully the author didn’t seem preoccupied with building too heavily on that. Seriously though, we don’t need the main characters to be superhuman and utter perfection in order to like them. That can tend to throw it the other way, and in a YA book may have children striving for what is unattainable and feeling like crap because of it. Hmm...

I’m torn, really. There are some good things and some really awful clichéd things... The author has been involved with the Disney Channel for many years, as director and executive producer, Fox Kids and tv shows and movies. So the plot and writing style is not surprising.

The best thing about this novel in my honest opinion, is that all of the profits will be going to “Marine Preservation Charities” to support and aid in saving underwater eco-systems. That alone is worth the purchase of the book.… (mer)