Book Review: Dark Tide; Jennifer Donnelly.

It's kind of surprising that I've kept up with Donnelly's series based around Mermaids, mostly because I don't find that particular mythical creature all that interesting and water is not exactly my favourite book setting thanks to my phobia of it. However, something about the series has kept drawing me back, despite the fairly mediocre scores I gave the first two books. This third book was definitely the book I'd been waiting for to sell it to me as a series worth investing in! I'm also entering into the Monthly Motif challenge with this one!

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: Dark Tide
AUTHOR: Jennifer Donnelly
SERIES: Waterfire Saga (#3)
PUBLISHER: Hodder Children's Books
PAGES: 432
GENRE: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Adventure

RATING: 4/5 Stars

Blurb:
Once a lost and confused princess, Serafina is now a confident leader of the Black Fin Resistance (BFR). While she works on sabotaging her enemy and enlisting allies for battle, her friends face challenges of their own. 

Ling is in the hold of Rafe Mfeme's giant trawler, on her way to a prison camp. Becca meets up with Astrid and learns why the Ondalinian mermaid is always so angry: she is hiding a shameful secret. Ava can't return home, because death riders await her arrival. And it is getting more and more difficult for Mahdi, Serafina's betrothed, to keep up the ruse that he is in love with Lucia Volerno. If Lucia's parents become suspicious, his life--and all of Sera's hopes--will be extinguished.

What I Liked:

• I finally got round to reading the third book of this series and I'm really glad about it because it's my favourite of the series so far! While the first couple of books were definitely aimed at a younger audience, this third book took on a slightly darker and more mature tone. This is a very promising direction for me. Much less of the cheesy mermaid language/puns and more of an interesting plot and serious tone to get into! I feel so much more invested than I did before, and I can't wait to see what happens in the future of this series!
• Donnelly did a lot more work with her characters this book and I loved it. I'll forgive her for the fact that Neela barely even got a line because Book Two gave her so much attention. When there are six main characters it can be hard to give them all the attention they need. The fact that Donnelly gave chapters to Astrid (my new favourite character), Becca, Sera (who is definitely the leading mermaid in this series but I'm okay with that because she's getting to be pretty badass), Ling, and most surprisingly Lucia! The last one was a really good addition because it moved Lucia from being her parent's spoilt little pawn into a darker villain than I ever imagined her to be. I love it when author's give their villain's depth and Donnelly did a great job here!
• The world-building in this book, when reflected upon properly, is actually pretty darn cool. Firstly, there is so much diversity in Donnelly's mermaid world, and I love that different mermaids have their own cultures dependant on where in the sea they were born, which is so reflective of life. Also, I love the creatures they encounter, and especially that they are partly rooted in Mythology that we know! They add a whole new level of exciting to the book and manage to feel very fresh and new at the same time!

What I Disliked:

• Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate the idea of new romances in this book. After all, why should Sera get all the fun? I just feel that they were a little rushed, particularly in Becca's case! I wanted to see a whole lot more in the way of development than I did. In Astrid's case, it was handled better and I see a lot of potential for them providing that Donnelly allows them to grow as individuals first. I just wish more care had been out into the love sub-plots of this book!

Overall Conclusion:

I hadn't realised how much I needed this book in the series until I read it. While I enjoyed books one and two, they didn't grab me in the same way and I feel that if book three hadn't have been so good, I might have given up. However, this provided me with the excitement, danger and character development that I needed to fall for this series all over again. I'll definitely be getting hold of Sea Spell ASAP, which is apparently the last book so I'm expecting the finale to truly blow me away!

Book Review: Rogue Wave; Jennifer Donnelly.

Hooray, another Netgalley book bites the dust! I was excited about reading this one too because despite a few bad reviews, I really enjoyed 'Deep Blue'! I liked this installment (the second in the series) too and can't wait to share my thoughts with you guys!

SOURCE: Netgalley
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: Rogue Wave
AUTHOR: Jennifer Donnelly
SERIES: Waterfire Saga (#2)
PUBLISHER: Disney Press
PAGES: 320
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Adventure

RATING: 3.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
Serafina, Neela, Ling, Ava, Becca, and Astrid, six mermaids from realms scattered throughout the seas and freshwaters, were summoned by the leader of the river witches to learn an incredible truth: the mermaids are direct descendants of the Six Who Ruled-powerful mages who once governed the lost empire of Atlantis. The ancient evil that destroyed Atlantis is stirring again, and only the mermaids can defeat it. To do so, they need to find magical talismans that belonged to the Six.

Serafina believes her talisman was buried with an old shipwreck. While researching its location, she is almost discovered by a death rider patrol led by someone familiar. . . . The pain of seeing him turned traitor is devastating.

Neela travels to Matali to warn her parents of the grave threat facing their world. But they find her story outlandish; a sign that she needs to be confined to her chamber for rest and recovery. She escapes and travels to Kandina, where her talisman is in the possession of fearsome razormouth dragons.


As they hunt for their talismans, both Serafina and Neela find reserves of courage and cunning they didn't know they possessed. They face down danger and death, only to endure a game-changing betrayal, as shocking as a rogue wave.

What I Liked:

• The strongest part of this book (and indeed the series so far) is the character development. Serafina is a strong heroine. She's smart, independent and courageous, while managing to be compassionate and caring at the same time. All in all, she is the making of a good ruler, and as she's the rightful Queen, it's good that she has those personality traits to back her up. It was nice to see her development, but as well as that, we get to see the same happen to Neela! In the last book I remember her constantly craving sweets, being a little bit silly most of the time, and constantly freaking out over the slightest situation. In this book, you can see she has truly grown and is both strong-willed and a lot cleverer.
• The plot-line was easy to follow and interesting enough. It was certainly coherent too which is what I want out of a series. It followed nicely on from the first book and gave a good lead up into the third (enough that I want to read it anyway). I liked that Donnelly came up with a few sub-plots, such as Serafina's love life, managing to develop them while making sure they didn't get in the way of the story too.

What I Disliked:

• While the plot-line was good, it never wowed me. In fact, I don't think anything about this book had me on the edge of my seat. The plot twists were predictable (a couple of them I predicted in the last book) and there were a number of moments that I found myself a little bored, hoping for something truly exciting to happen. I was a little disappointed that the girls split up too, having taken all of last book to find each other and having been told that they are strongest together. I understand the necessity plot-wise but still, two or three of them had completely disappeared off of the radar!
• Donnelly has a knack for world-building, but turning it into manageable, readable content is another thing. Most people complained that she overloaded the reader with information in the last book (myself included) and I found that again this time around. There were so many Underwater puns, and so much Mermaid History, political and social context, and general Mermaid talk that at times it felt like the book was in another language! It would be good to have that taken down a notch.

Overall Conclusion:

All in all I did enjoy this book, but I wouldn't say it bowled me over. And I so wanted to be bowled over. I wanted to totally fall in love with Serafina and Mahdi as a couple, but I didn't. I wanted to be on the edge of my seat constantly, but I wasn't. I wanted to at least once yell out "NO!" or "I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!" but alas, no. Still there are two more books to come and I am emotionally invested in the series enough to say that I want to find out what happens next. And Donnelly did do a lot of really good character work in this one!

Book Review (ARC): Deep Blue; Jennifer Donnelly

So here it is, my first read for Netgalley! I was extremely excited to be approved for this particular book, as I'd heard so many good things around the blogosphere from people who had also got hold of advance copies. I was not disappointed. The book is due to be released tomorrow (May 6th, 2014) and I urge everyone to pick up a copy if you can! I'm not entering this one into any challenges so I'll start my review!

SOURCE: Netgalley
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: Deep Blue
AUTHOR: Jennifer Donnelly
SERIES: Waterfire Saga (#1)
PUBLISHER: Hatchette Children's Books
PAGES: 352
GENRE: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy

RATING: 3.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
Deep in the ocean, in a world not so different from our own, live the Merpeople. Their communities are spread throughout the oceans, seas, and fresh-waters all over the globe.


When Serafina, a mermaid of the Mediterranean Sea, awakens on the morning of her betrothal, her biggest worry should be winning the love of handsome Prince Mahdi. And yet Sera finds herself haunted by strange dreams that foretell the return of an ancient evil. Her dark premonitions are confirmed when an assassin's arrow poisons Sera's mother. Now, Serafina must embark on a quest to find the assassin's master and prevent a war between the Mer nations. Led only by her shadowy dreams, Sera searches for five other mermaid heroines who are scattered across the six seas. Together, they will form an unbreakable bond of sisterhood and uncover a conspiracy that threatens their world's very existence.

What I Liked:

• I haven't really read many fiction books that are set in the world of Mermaids, but if ever there were a book to make me want to read more of them then this would be it! Donnelly's writing style was nice, flowed really well and her world-building was impressive to say the least, full of many unique ideas I haven't seen before. Such impressive skill kept me hungry for more. Seriously, I devoured this book like there was no tomorrow, I was hooked! The plot was full of twists and turns and I didn't ever find myself bored or lacking action as I read it. 
• Donnelly's characterisation was probably the most impressive part of the book. I'll talk about Serafina, who was a really strong and likeable main character in my opinion. I really loved the direction that Donnelly took her in, rather than being a selfish and whiny princess that wanted to escape the marriage and responsibilities that were soon to be placed upon her, she was much more worried that she would fail and disappoint her Mother. In other words, she was more selfless than other characters I've seen in similar positions. It was so refreshing to read! And she only grew as a character, I found myself liking her more and more as the book went on.
• While on the subject of characters, those surrounding Sera were equally as impressive. Despite an interesting romance sub-plot, it didn't overpower the story in any way. This story, for me, focused a lot more on the power of friendship and it's ability to overcome obstacles, and I felt it did this really well. As we meet the other five mermaid heroines, I felt that Donnelly gave me enough information for me to warm to them, but left plenty of room for development as the series continues. What I'm trying to say here is that Donnelly has a great ability to have many threads in her story and balance them really well.

What I Disliked:

• The only thing I can really say that unsettled me originally about the book is the huge amount of Mermaid lore that was thrust upon me at the beginning of the book. Mere pages into the book I had been barraged with more unfamiliar words, politics, history and conventions than I could deal with and I found it a little overwhelming. But it didn't take me long to make sense of it and once I was over the initial plunge into the world of the Mer, I really got into it!

Overall Conclusion:

So if it isn't clear already then I'll lay it out for you. I thought this book was fantastic! I have never got into reading Mermaid fiction before now but this was a wonderful book to start with, and an excellent first book to the series. I did have some initial doubts when I was fed a little too much information, but the information was necessary in order to understand the context of the story and Donnelly makes sure that the information is repeated in case you missed it the first time. What more can I say? The world-building was great, the characters really likeable and I have no doubt that the rest of the series can only get better!