Review – Of Poseidon (Of Poseidon, Book 1) by Anna Banks (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Size: 384 pages
Publisher: Square Fish
Release Date: April 30, 2013
ISBN: 978-1250027368
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Of Poseidon series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars

I bought this book kind of on an impulse at the bookstore. I had heard lots of great things about it and am doing this paranormal reading challenge where I have to read a book featuring a mermaid…so I thought…well, why not? It is a decent book, it’s one of the best mermaid books I have read and overall I enjoyed.

Emma is on vacation when she literally runs into Galen on the beach. She finds herself drawn to Galen but can’t imagine why. Galen recognizes Emma’s purple eyes and thinks she is one of the Syrena (a mermaid-like race), like him. Emma’s existence might be vital to the Syrena’s survival. Now if Galen can only stop himself from falling in love with her and keep her out of trouble long enough to find out.

This was a good read. Pretty typical young adult paranormal book, but it is one of the best mermaid themed YA paranormal books I have ever read. I feel like for some reason I have read a lot of bad mermaid YA books in my time.

The book switches POV from Galen to Emma, this works fairly well for the book. It gives the reader a chance to see into both of their heads.

Emma has no idea about her past. She is a bit of a klutz and has a great sense of humor which makes her fun to read about.

Galen’s parts come off sounding a bit stilted, they are supposed to sound this way in order to represent his unfamiliarity with human culture. Still it made him sound awkward and at times made his parts difficult to read.

The Syrena are split into two conflicting kingdoms; the kingdom of Triton and the kingdom of Poseidon. This makes for some interesting complications throughout the book. So, Emma is not only dealing with finding out she might be a Syrena, but she is also drawn into the complicated politics of the race. This made things much more interesting.

There is a lot of mystery here as Galen and Emma try to unravel Emma’s past. There is also a lot of political intrigue.

I did get a little bit sick of how all the relationships were the same. First Galen’s friend and his lady love have this tumultuous thing going on where she hates him but really loves him. So she has to make his life hell before she will admit it. Then Emma and Galen go through the same kind of tumultuous thing. It was like the author thinks every good relationship needs to start out with some horrible angsty fighting match in order to be a good relationship…so not true and it got tiresome.

There is a short story included in the “Bonus Materials” version I purchased which that goes over how the Syrena King and his lady love originally met…again it was the same kind of relationship as the other two portrayed in this book. She hates him, then loves him, blah blah blah. Very predictable.

This was a fun, summer read. Nothing ever gets too scary or deadly. The plot is pretty simple with a couple good twists and turns. It was a light and easy read and entertaining.

Overall this was a fun and light entertaining summer read. If you are looking for a solid YA mermaid-themed paranormal book this is a good one. There is lots of intrigue/conspiracy, mystery, and romance. I did get a bit sick of how the relationships between the main characters and their loves are so love/hate, but whatever. Recommended for those interested in a Ya paranormal story featuring mermaids.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge
– 150+ Reading Challenge
– Paranormal Reading Challenge
– Young Adult Reading Challenge