Early Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Of Poseidon
by Anna Banks

Expected publication: May 22nd 2012 by Feiwel & Friends

Emma and her friend Chloe are spending vacation in Florida. When Emma (literally) runs into a hot guy named Galen on the beach, little does she know he’s a prince of the Syrena. Galen and Emma both feel something strange – is it attraction? – and Galen suspects that Emma might well be the girl he’s heard of – a human who can communicate with fish. 

What follows is a deadly scene with a shark in which Galen witnesses Emma’s gifts. He must know more about her, and follows her back to New Jersey, and high school, to find out for sure if she’s the key to saving his kingdom. Soon, Emma can’t deny her feelings for him, but can’t explain them, either – and both she and Galen must learn more about where she comes from and what her powers are before they can trust one another and their feelings.

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publication Date: May 22nd 2012

Publisher:  Feiwel & Friends

Format: eARC, 324 pages 

Series: no

Source: Netgalley

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My Review:

Emma McIntosh was spending her last vacation before college in Florida, along with her childhood friend Chloe, when she ran into the most gorgeous guy she had ever seen. But what really captures her attention is that, against all odds, both him and his sister have purple eyes, just like hers. A color said to be so rare some people even believe is nonexistent.

Galen is very surprised when he sees the eyes of the girl who just tottered into him. Those are the eyes of the Syrenas, most commonly known as merpeople. And even if her skin and hair coloring are all wrong, the tingling sensation he feels when he touches her just make his suspicions that she's one of them grow. Even if his sister, Rayna, doesn't believe him. Any doubts he might have had disappear when he sees her talking to a shark... and the shark actually obeying her. That ability alone proves that she's one Of Poseidon, and she just might be the key to uniting two kingdoms.

Emma is absolutely crushed when her best friend is killed by a shark during their vacation together, and that she couldn't save her, but life must go on. On her first day back to school she can't believe her eyes when she sees Galen, the guy she met on the beach, again. That very, very handsome guy, whom every girl suddeenly wants. Turns out he's in ALL of her classes. And he seems to ALWAYS be around her. Not to mention that he seems to really enjoy annoying her. They just can't stop arguing. But their chemistry is amazing.

Galen starts to feel more and more attracted to Emma, even knowing that if she is of Poseidon, than she should be mated to his older brother, Grom, as their tradition demands. He can't be so selfish as to want her for himself when the other option is uniting and bringing prosperity to two kingdoms.

I thought the story of Of Poseidon was very creative. I liked the characters immensely (even if Emma fainted way too many times for my taste), found a lot of quotes to be absolutely hilarious and many situations very amusing. What I just couldn't take was how long it took them to find out Emma was a freaking half-blood! I mean, seriously? The girl had been living her whole life at the surface, had no idea she could hold her breath for so long, can't grow a fin to save her life, had never even heard of the Syrena people, looks nothing like them (with the exception of her eye color), and they kept thinking she was a full-blooded mermaid all along? Jeez, talk about being blind. Oh, and about her mother? Please. That was a bit too obvious from the very start.

So I wasn't surprised when the ending turned out to be predictable, but I was startled by the abruptness of the way it ended. For a moment I even thought maybe my advanced copy had missing pages. I'm sure the author was trying to build tension and make things more mysterious for the next books, (and I actually really want to know what happens next), but I think the ending for this first volume could have been more, well, complete. I did like the book as a whole, though. I usually don't care much about secondary characters, but they were all so charming and funny! I'm hoping we'll see more of Toraf (horrible name, great guy), Rayna and Rachel. And it was too bad Chloe had to die so soon! She could have made things even more interesting. :(

If you like your fantasy YA with hot mermen, funny heroines and super interesting secondary characters, you'll really dig Of Poseidon.

* I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*