The Syrena need to ensure their survival and to do that they have sent their prince, Galen, to land to seek the rumored girl who can communicate with sea life. When Emma, that unaware and rumored girl, literally runs into Galen while on vacation at the beach in Florida, they immediately feel connected, but Galen’s twin sister, Rayna, ruins the mood. Rayna is not convinced Emma is the girl they are looking for but after a dangerous encounter with a shark and after that, wave after wave of incidents, Galen is convinced she is the one the Syrena need. He only has to make her believe.
Anna Banks wrote Of Poseidon from both Galen’s and Emma’s points-of-view. While I enjoyed being in both of their heads, the tenses threw me off. I cannot think of another book that I have read that did something like this. Emma’s point-of-view was in the first person present tense, which is common. But Galen’s point-of-view was in the third person present tense, which I found odd because usually the third person is paired with the past tense. I am not sure what Banks’ motives were for writing the characters this way, but I just found it hard to follow Galen’s parts…at first. More on that in a bit.
I cannot write much about the plot because the synopsis does not reveal much and I do not want to spoil it for anyone. I can say that one minor thing that bugged me was that over and over Galen and Rayna thought and/or talked about how much they hate humans, yet they interact closely with two humans and felt compassion for others, so I was not really convinced and found myself wondering why that was insisted upon when it did not seem to be true.
Alright, by now, a lot of you are probably thinking that I disliked this book. Not true! The hating humans thing was minor and yes, the tense thing was bigger because it slowed me down, but I really enjoyed the story! I regret that I have so many notes on Of Poseidon that I cannot share without spoiling things for you, because I think those would show you better how much I enjoyed it.
For the first few chapters, Galen’s unconventional point-of-view/tense thing distracted me from getting into the story, but after that I started to get used to it (or I was able to ignore it) and I was able to focus on the story properly.
Of Poseidon is really good and sucked me in to its pages. I almost felt like I was in the same places that the characters were, but as an invisible viewer. Even thinking about it now, my brain can call up the images of the sea and Galen’s house and the experiences that made me feel like I was there.
I enjoyed the love story and the sleuthing because who does not love a good love story and while it was happening Galen and Emma were trying to find answers that would have satisfied everyone’s wants.
The ending completely threw me and shocked me because I followed the same false trails that the characters did. It gave me chills and goosebumps and I wanted to keep reading even though that was impossible because even this book is not officially out yet, so it will be even longer to wait for the second. Yes, there is a cliffhanger. A huge one!
While the medium of Galen’s voice distracted me at first, the Of Poseidon’s story quickly overpowered all of that and drew me in deep. I am excited for book number two because I have to know what happens next!
Recommended for those fourteen and up who enjoy young adult fantasy having to do with mermaids Syrena and books with twists that crash over you like an unexpected wave. If cliffhangers are not your thing, you may want to wait until book two comes out, but that could be a looooong time since Of Poseidon releases in twelve days.
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Anna Banks is a young adult author and her debut novel, Of Poseidon, will be available in the U.S. on 22 May 2012. She lives with her husband and daughter in the Florida Panhandle.
