Waterfell (The Aquarathi #1)

This is kind of hard to review because I both liked and did not like Waterfell. It has a lot of YA clichés and they ended up grating on my nerves. Clichés aside though it's really good. First lets talk about Nerissa. (Yes all the Aquarathi characters have names like that. I understand that they would have different names from us because they aren't human but their language consists of dolphin like clicks. I don't see how they can translate clicks into English and since she's hiding out in the human world why would they use their real names? It seems like an obvious way for Ehmora, the villain of the story, to find Nerissa.) Anyway about Nerissa, I liked her and connected with her fairly well, except for when it came to her love life, which unfortunately was most of the book. Nerissa has a supposedly best friend named Speio who's a guy. I say supposedly because she totally mistreats him through the whole book but from what she thinks about how their friendship was like before they started hating each other. Now he's not meant to be a love interest. There is no love triangle. It's just I want him to be the love interest because I like him more then Lo. Lo (short for Lotharius) is so annoying and arrogant. How can she be attracted to this guy! He sort of grew on me because of what he did in the last fifty pages or so. But for the three hundred pages up until then I kind of hated him. I saw no reason for her to be so into him so fast. It was like "What? When did that happen? You've said like five sentences to the guy?". There is definitely instalove. So if you have a problem with that beware! There is going to be a sequel so he may be able to redeem himself but I'm not sure. Ok so that's all the major problems I had lets talk about what I enjoyed like the friendship between Nerissa and Jenna! Sometimes in YA, friendships get overshadowed by the romance but in Waterfell Jenna is very important to Nerissa. I really loved the moments when they were together. I also loved the Aquarathin aspects of the story. Nerissa was not in her Aquarathin form nearly enough for me. There were I think four times when she transformed and they were much to short. Something I would like to note is that while the ending was satisfying to me, I can see it annoying some people. Also a few of the twists are a bit obvious however if you don't see them coming they are quite fascinating.

I tried SO hard to finish this book. I tried for nearly an entire month, in fact. But try as I might, I just couldn't do it.


I thought this cover was stunning. I thought it was going to be some type of mermaid book. To a degree it was, but the Aquarathi are not mermaids. I don't know what they are, other than water dwelling sea monster-like creatures. It is a mystery I did not solve in the 200 pages that I read.

What drove me crazy about this book was the lack of descriptions. It was as if a grade school child was telling me a story that they remembered, but left out all the vital details. What should be been described in more depth was glanced over. What did not need pages or paragraphs of details seemed to drag on endlessly. It got to be too much.

I also did not like the slow moving plot. This book literally put me to sleep at night. I think I spent one night reading for a few hours but that was it. The majority of the time a few pages had my eyes heavy with slumber.

There was one element that kept me reading: Lo. I thoroughly liked his character, even when the others felt unremarkable. He was witty and a tad bit sarcastic. My favorite type of love interest in a story. I know he was vital to the plot in some mystical way, but I never made it to the end to find out how. If you could stick with the book through the slow parts, I think there could be some promise in this series. It is a unique concept... book 1 was just not a home run.

Lost mermaid princess. No, lost alien mermaid princess - how could that not attract me to the book? Technically, she's not a mermaid since they are like an evolved marine species but you get my drift - the book's idea itself drew me towards it. With the influx of paranormal titles in the YA industry, the twist on this one - brownie points to the author for blending sci-fi and paranormal well. So, these Aquarathi species live undersea in the Mariana Trench and a have a rumspringa-like rite for the royal heirs - wherein they have to live for 4 years in the human world while blending, learning and steering the human community towards marine protection (I'll get to that later). Only for Nerissa, the situation is more permanent since her father was murdered and she can't ascend until she comes of age. Not to mention, her father's murderer is the one ruling and if she doesn't take back her crown, she may lose it forever.

First off, I would like to say I liked Nerissa - she is sassy, no-nonsense, knows when to pick her battles and doesn't create much drama - even though being a teenager she is prone to occasional fits of rebellion. She comes off as arrogant and spoiled at times, but if you were the sole princess whose every whim was catered to from birth, wouldn't you be too? In the beginning of the book, she feels vulnerable and useless because of her past attitude and her inability to go back and claim her throne. She would prefer living in the human world, but when her enemy brings a challenge to her coast, she can't back down. Keeping a human cover and avoiding a certain human boy whom she has an intense attraction to - so not easy.

The writing was brilliant and as I said before, I loved the alien theory mixed with an ancient lore. The storytelling was spectacular and the twists in the story kept me hooked. The romance was intense, yes, but fit the storyline. The forgiveness theme played a lot in the book and while I felt the Cara arc didn't do much for the main plot, it was good for Nerissa's development. The flirting/banter between Nerissa and Lo is quite entertaining, though the end had me feeling bad for Lo. I was grateful that I didn't have to choose - a love triangle would have been overwhelming and it's good that Howard had the foresight to avoid it.

Now, about the role the Aquarathi play - that one had me a bit meh about it. It wasn't properly explained and I don't see why only the royal heirs have to do the ambassador business - why can't some members of the Aquarathi have occasional trips to the land and help foster marine conservation. Considering the health of our oceans is in such dire situations, they can do better than just send their teen heir, like one in a generation - it is too little to contribute, don't you think?

Overall, I found this to be a great book and I loved the fresh take on the mermaid legends.