Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Book:  Of Poseidon

Author:  Anna Banks

Publisher:  Feiwel & Friends

Date:  May 22, 2012

My grade:  A

Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he’s heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen—literally, ouch!—both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma’s gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . .

Told from both Emma and Galen’s points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

MY REVIEW

Initial reaction

Ohmysweetgoodness!  Please tell me that there is a sequel and it’s coming out soon!

Title and cover

The title is great.  The cover is ok.  I love the font and I love the idea of the girl in the ocean, but the actual girl on the cover looks……awkward.

The plot

This plot had me racing through the book at top speed.  I should have been grading papers today during my planning period, but instead I was reading this book.  ::hides head in shame::  The book starts out with a bang, describing an event at the beach that left me reeling and then I couldn’t wait to get to the bottom of the mystery.  I thought that the plot was fast-paced and full of action.

There were a couple of things that bothered me about this plot.  This may just be me getting picky because of what I am.  I was disturbed by the fact that all the Syrena spoke English, immediately.  Now, perhaps this is because I am a French teacher and I’m very sensitive to language accuracy.  I really don’t think that a whole different race of humanoids is going to speak English.  Might some of them learn to speak it?  Sure.  But I had a hard time buying that they all spoke it.  That was a bit of a distraction for me.  I really wish that she had done some translating when other Syrena showed up around Emma.  I could accept that Galen spoke English and I would understand that even though she wrote conversations in English for the readers’ benefit even if the Syrena were “speaking” something else between one another.  But I’m probably just being weird.

The characters

I thought this was a fun cast of characters.  They had a lot of spunk and spirit and I really liked all of them.  Galen was the typical moody bad boy type of YA hero, but Emma stood up to him. (I wish Bella would take some lessons here.)  I was glad to see that she didn’t just turn into a dishrag because some hot supernatural fish guy paid her some attention.  Now, she had a lot of the typical teen girl insecurities, but it didn’t turn her into Galen’s doormat, and I appreciate that.

Galen was an interesting character also.  I liked him as the male protagonist and love interest.  His sister Rayna was soooooo interesting and so was Toraf, Galen’s friend.  He reminded me of some character that I can’t quite put my finger on.  Regardless, the characters in this book were an interesting bunch and I enjoyed getting to know them.

The final grade

My grade for this book is an A.  Language issue aside, I really enjoyed this book and couldn’t get through it fast enough.  I just hope that there really is a sequel, because I’m dying like a beached whale here!  I must see what happens next!!!  I recommend this book to people who love paranormals.  It was a breath of fresh air in that genre and I enjoyed reading something that wasn’t vampires, werewolves or angels.  Bravo!

Big thanks to Feiwel & Friends and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book.  I received no compensation for my honest review, but I did get to imagine Galen shirtless…..a LOT!