Of Poseidon by Anna BanksSeries: The Syrena Legacy #1
Published by: Feiwel & Friends on May 22, 2012
Genre: Fantasy, Mermaids, Romance
Pages: 336
Source: Purchased
Buy on Amazon • Book Details
Rating: ★★★★★
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.
Of Poseidon is my first mermaid book and I’m glad I started with this one because I absolutely loved it!
The story starts off with Emma at the beach with her friend. She lives a normal teenage life.. and then she meets Galen. Galen is a Syrena prince.. that’s a mermaid for you (but don’t call them that!). When Galen meets Emma he knows there’s something different about her. He’s pretty sure she’s also a Syrena but 1) she doesn’t know it, and 2) she has a few traits that make him doubt. For one thing, she has blonde hair. It’s completely unheard of for Syrena to have blonde hair! But she does have the unique eye colour found only in Syrena and she can talk to fish… so surely she must be one of them?
From there, Emma starts to learn about the lives of Syrena — the good and the bad. For example, if a female Syrena hasn’t chosen a mate by a certain time, she can just be “handed over” to a male! Eeek! That one certainly made Emma scream in protest.
This book made me laugh out loud so many times! Emma and Galen had some great dialogue, Emma’s temper took her to crazy places, and her overbearing mother was absolutely hilarious! Also, I absolutely loved Rachel and Toraf. These were two of the side characters. Rachel is Galen’s human assistant and is absolutely awesome. She’s sort of a “do everything” kind of girl and she’s super nice. Toraf is one of Galen’s best friends and he’s a hilarious character. He seems like a really friendly, funny, and secretly sensitive “big brother” kind of guy.
This story comes down to Emma settling into her “Gifts” and Galen struggling between his feelings for Emma and his duty to his race. It’s an incredibly beautiful story about mermaids, but also just about teenage life and falling in love for the first time. Galen and Emma’s relationship is very slow-brewing. No insta-love! From early on they do have to pretend that they’re dating, but their true feelings slowly develop over the entire course of the book. They have a very unique, fresh, and beautiful relationship.
When I got to the last page of Of Poseidon I screamed. Literally. I couldn’t believe it was over! If I’m not enjoying a book I’m always aware of how close I am to the end. But if I’m loving the book, I’m so in the zone that I often have no idea when I’m getting close to the end. I’m happy to just let it continue forever. That’s why the ending of the book caught me off guard. And man… there is a crazy cliff hanger that makes me DYING to read book #2 (which is called Of Triton).
Thank you Anna for this amazing read! You made my first mermaid book experience an awesome one!!
The Verdict
Squeals!!!! always makes me soo giddy with excitement when I see a 5 star review of Of Poseidon! damn it how much I loved this book! Just like you I absolutely adored the witty and fun dialogue! The ending? Horrible hu?
Can’t freaking wait for the next one!
Yay! Another Of Poseidon fan! I seriously don’t know how I’m going to wait months and months to read Of Triton! I NEED to know what happens next!
Haha I love your reviews. They’re always so full of so much fun and excitement. It’s a comfort to know I’m not the only one who nerds out over a really awesome book. I haven’t delved much into mermaid books, either, and that’s a lot of because (1) it sounds really fishy (excuse the pun) and (2) I’ve heard terrible things about a few. This one included. But you seem so excited about this one that I’m almost tempted to give it a shot (which is the point of a review, right–to give others the impression you got of a certain work–or something like that :P).
Thanks so much Sierra! 🙂 I’m thrilled that you like my reviews!
I guess mermaid books aren’t for everyone and it depends on what you’re interested in. I obviously loved Of Poseidon. If you’re interested in any kind of mythology and/or like teenage romances, then I do think you’ll enjoy this book, as that’s basically what it’s about!
But as I said, the end will TOTALLY leave you hanging!