If you happen to follow my Goodreads, then you may know that I have already reviewed this book. Initially, I was not going to post a review of the this book on here. Later on though, I came to the conclusion that I should since Anna Banks is making an appearance at this year's Bookcon and since I will be attending Bookcon as well, I should review all the young adult author's novels who are coming, on this blog.
Since I have never read any of Anna Bank's works, I decided that it was better late than never and so I bought Of Poseidon- the first book to the Syrena trilogy- to see what kind of author she was. I heard much praise for this novel, which made my expectations much more high. Unfortunately, my expectations were not met. Considering the unfortunate fact, I am reluctant to read the next two books.
The novel was not entirely bad. I enjoyed the main concept and Galen, who becomes a love interest for Emma. Galen's internal conflict between pursuing Emma or doing what is right makes his character more amusing. His character was by far my favorite in the novel, he was somewhat funny and charming. The book was a fairly fast paced book, making it easier to tolerate.
Still, there was many mistakes in this novel. The first major mistake was the bewildering and poor writing style Banks used. The point of view change was somewhat sloppy. Another writing mistake that irritated me was the phrases Emma used. Phrases like ohmysweetgoodness and fan-flipping-tastic made me feel that Emma was way younger than she actually was. This mad me develop a small annoyance for her personality. The constant use of words like babe or sweet lips made me literally cringe out of annoyance. The scene when Emma tried to make Galen jealous was when I despised her the most, mostly because it shows how crazy and needy she can be. I believe that Anna Banks tries to make Emma like every other stereotypical awkward teenage girl in books by adding the trait of clumsiness to her, making her character worse. Toraf is another character that irritates me. The fact that some people think Toraf and Rayna's relationship is 'cute' is beyond me. Toraf basically forces Rayna against her will to mate with him and neglects to tell her until she finds out by accident. Also, Rayna only begins to like him when he makes her jealous. The relationship screams toxic and resembles a stalker and victim love story. Lastly, we have the absolutely bizarre death of Chloe. Only a couple pages into this book, after the insta-love of Galen and Emma happen, Chloe embarrasses Emma. This event irritates Emma as Chloe and her go into the ocean. During this, Galen watches them swim and Emma splash water on Chloe (this scene really does not make sense since Emma claims she hates the ocean later in the book.) Randomly, a shark comes out of no where and kills Chloe by pulling her down into the water. Oddly no one seems to notice a teenage girl screaming while blood surrounds her and her friend is being drowned by a shark, but whatever. In the end Chloe dies after only a chapter of her being in the story, which makes me wonder why she was even in this story, and Rayna blames Emma for this situation even though she had no idea she could talk to animals at the time.
Basically if you can get past the writing style, you may be able to really enjoy the concept of this fantasy novel. I recommend this novel to those who are looking for something easy to read and do not read mostly for good literature but for a good plot.
Since I have never read any of Anna Bank's works, I decided that it was better late than never and so I bought Of Poseidon- the first book to the Syrena trilogy- to see what kind of author she was. I heard much praise for this novel, which made my expectations much more high. Unfortunately, my expectations were not met. Considering the unfortunate fact, I am reluctant to read the next two books.
The novel was not entirely bad. I enjoyed the main concept and Galen, who becomes a love interest for Emma. Galen's internal conflict between pursuing Emma or doing what is right makes his character more amusing. His character was by far my favorite in the novel, he was somewhat funny and charming. The book was a fairly fast paced book, making it easier to tolerate.
Still, there was many mistakes in this novel. The first major mistake was the bewildering and poor writing style Banks used. The point of view change was somewhat sloppy. Another writing mistake that irritated me was the phrases Emma used. Phrases like ohmysweetgoodness and fan-flipping-tastic made me feel that Emma was way younger than she actually was. This mad me develop a small annoyance for her personality. The constant use of words like babe or sweet lips made me literally cringe out of annoyance. The scene when Emma tried to make Galen jealous was when I despised her the most, mostly because it shows how crazy and needy she can be. I believe that Anna Banks tries to make Emma like every other stereotypical awkward teenage girl in books by adding the trait of clumsiness to her, making her character worse. Toraf is another character that irritates me. The fact that some people think Toraf and Rayna's relationship is 'cute' is beyond me. Toraf basically forces Rayna against her will to mate with him and neglects to tell her until she finds out by accident. Also, Rayna only begins to like him when he makes her jealous. The relationship screams toxic and resembles a stalker and victim love story. Lastly, we have the absolutely bizarre death of Chloe. Only a couple pages into this book, after the insta-love of Galen and Emma happen, Chloe embarrasses Emma. This event irritates Emma as Chloe and her go into the ocean. During this, Galen watches them swim and Emma splash water on Chloe (this scene really does not make sense since Emma claims she hates the ocean later in the book.) Randomly, a shark comes out of no where and kills Chloe by pulling her down into the water. Oddly no one seems to notice a teenage girl screaming while blood surrounds her and her friend is being drowned by a shark, but whatever. In the end Chloe dies after only a chapter of her being in the story, which makes me wonder why she was even in this story, and Rayna blames Emma for this situation even though she had no idea she could talk to animals at the time.
Basically if you can get past the writing style, you may be able to really enjoy the concept of this fantasy novel. I recommend this novel to those who are looking for something easy to read and do not read mostly for good literature but for a good plot.