Of Poseidon (The Syrena Legacy #1)

I love mermaid books, so when I saw this, I immediately grabbed it off the shelf and took it home. I was very disappointed with this book. Emma didn't seem as upset as she should have been when her best friend was killed by a shark for crying out loud! The details seemed vague to me. Also, the use of cheesy fish related terms was tacky and annoying after a while. I get your a mermaid/merman dude, you don't need to say things like Damsel fish it! Or what the mollusk! It got old for me fast, and Galen seemed like a girl when he was talking.

(Source: I won a digital copy of this book.)
17-year-old Emma gets more than she bargained for when she goes on holiday with her best friend Chloe, when they are attacked by a shark and Chloe is killed.

Unbeknown to Emma though, she attracted more than a shark that day at the beach when she bumped into Galen (literally), who recognised her as a Syrenka (mermaid), just like himself.

Following her across the country, Galen is determined to find out everything he can about Emma, and her heritage, as well as the strange gift she has which marks her as a descendent of Poseidon.
Why is Emma unaware of what she is? Why is she hiding on land? And can Galen stop his heart from getting in the way of his duty as Prince and brother to the King?


This was turned out to be an okay mermaid story in the end, but the beginning was really rocky.

For me the first 30% of this book was pretty cringe-worthy. I really could not believe what I was reading. First there was the shark attack, which was just totally unbelievable for me, then there was the immaturity of Emma, and let’s face it, most of the other characters too (who liked to beat each other up for fun, or splash water at each other), not to mention Emma’s mom, who kinda needs a paragraph all of her own.
Emma’s mom went totally over-the-top over some story about Galen carrying Emma to the nurse’s office at school, and starts asking about a hidden relationship, which Emma denies, then starts asking if they broke up because she wouldn’t sleep with him, to which Emma responds no, so her mother jumps to ‘you aren’t dating him, but you slept with him?’ – What the fudge is she on? This was then followed up by her questioning Galen as to why he isn’t sleeping with her daughter? ‘Is there something wrong with her?’ How do you even answer that? I mean seriously – that woman is seriously on the crazy juice.

Anyway, I did think that a lot of the characters in this book were quite immature, although this did improve a bit as the book went on. Emma was actually pretty accepting about the whole Syrenka thing once she was forced to acknowledge it, and Galen seemed pretty normal considering that he was supposed to have lived under the sea for most of his life.

Galen did come out with what was my favourite line in this book though, after Emma explained that her mother had been concerned that they were already sleeping together; ‘She thinks we're more than dating.' Galen comments 'Then the least she could do is give us some privacy.’ which was definitely the best line in the whole book for me.

In terms of storyline this was okay, after the initial awkwardness and unbelievability (I think I might have made that word up), the book found its feet, and the second half was pretty good. That first 1/3 could have been a real deal-breaker though. There were a couple of things that happened that I hadn’t predicted though, and I did get used to the slightly strange writing style too.
I did like this book in the end, and I will be reading the sequel, especially seeing as this one does end with a cliff-hanger, I’m just hoping the second doesn’t start with that same awkwardness.
Overall; an okay mermaid story, if you can forgive the rocky start.
7 out of 10.

I was sure I was going to love this one, I really was. Mermaids! A release date on Boy's birthday! Pretty cover! Macmillian as a publisher! Super nice author! So much potential!

I was really, really let down.

Emma and Galen were okay on their own. Most of the time. But as a couple? They had a horrible relationship. He would request that she do something reasonable. Example: She had a stalker they could sense in the water. He asks her to stay out of the water when he's not there. Does she listen? Not only does she not listen, she gets angry at him. She yells at him. This isn't the only instance where this happens. I'm happy that a female character wants to be independent but...really?



And Galen? Galen also has issues. He's ridiculously over protective. There's this part where he's texting and calling Emma repeatedly and she's deliberately ignoring it because she's on a date and she's mad at Galen. So, he then follows her on her date. Which is going to take place an hour away. And he threatens harm repeatedly to Emma's date for being a nice guy and telling her she doesn't have to go with Galen. By time Galen gets Emma home, they're a couple again. That's not okay. You don't stalk people. It especially bothered me because the reason he was bothering her wasn't time sensitive. Her grandma wasn't dying and he wasn't trying to bring her to the hospital.



There's also a lack of logic in this book. For example, it's established pretty early on that Emma can talk to fish. It's something she's aware of basically from the time she finds out she's a Syrena. Talking requires oxygen. But there's a couple instances where Emma mentions being afraid to not hold her breath underwater and they're always mentioning how she's learning endurance for holding her breath. I'm not sure how you can talk and hold your breath at the same time.

There was also this alternation is perspective. First person for Emma, but third person for Galen. It was kind of confusing and kind of annoying going back and forth. I don't mind switching characters, but I like my books in first OR third, not both.

Despite all this, it wasn't a totally horrible book for me. I did really like two of the side characters, Rachel and Toraf, and I would love to read more about them. I also liked the idea of this story. What the summary doesn't mention is that there are two kingdoms and because Emma is of Poseidon, she's supposed to marry the king of the other kingdom and the king happens to be Galen's older brother, Grom. And he has to marry Emma because the girl before her who was of Poseidon - and also Grom's love - died years before in a mine accident. I found that pretty interesting. Is Emma really going to have to marry Grom? If not, who will he have to marry? The ending was also a really big cliffhanger that made me want book 2 desperately. I kind of wish I had decided not to finish this book because now I really want to make it through the next one despite how much it'll annoy me.

So...yeah. Of Poseidon was not the right book for me...but I might be picking up book 2 anyway.