Review Detail

What caught my attention about this book was the description. There was something so familiar about it, and then it clicked. The Little Mermaid. I was delighted to see an author who picked up the long-lost tale and decided to twist it. The first chapter also tweaked my interest, ultimately gaining the book my commitment.

Miranda was a haunting character and had an interesting perspective, especially since she had just survived a boat accident in which many of her friends had died. This always left the book slightly tinged with melancholy, so don’t read this if you think it will be as uplifting as The Little Mermaid. The commentary between characters was clever and the storyline had a dark twist to it.

I enjoyed Wrecked to a certain extent. The idea of under-water fantasy creatures kept me reading. What was going to happen to Miranda? Was Christian going to tell her the truth? How was it going to end? I must admit however, that I was disappointed with quite a few aspects. For one, I really would have liked Anna Davies to have incorporated more information about the world ‘Down Below.’ I wanted to know more about the creatures beneath the sea; what they did, what their purpose was, and how they lived. Instead, the story focused on the love story between Christian and Miranda.

Also, there were numerous errors within the writing that should have been caught by an editor. At one point Miranda would be standing up, but in the next sentence it would say that she was actually sitting down. This happened a few times in the book, which skewed my perception of the story. This may not be a big deal for some people, but I can’t stand reading grammatical mistakes.

The main character is always extremely important to me, and Miranda was a strong character in her own way. However, I found her frame of mind exhausting at times. She continually changed her mind, never knowing what she wanted, being strong at points, and weak at others. Maybe that was the point. Maybe that made her more human. But I definitely found her somewhat annoying by the last few chapters of the novel.

The first two and the last two chapters were the best parts in the book, which some might argue, is the way a book should be. They presented the clearest pictures of the story and they were written with intrigue. I felt a few times during the middle of the book that I was being weighed down unnecessarily. This book was a good read, but I think at the end of the day it could have used more work.