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Sometimes I really wish I were a teenager in this decade, but only because there are so many amazing teen books that exist now that did not when I was a teen. Take, for example, mermaid books. There were not very many. I can probably think of 3 that I read when I was a tween/teen, and sadly I do not think any of them are still in print.

Those books are:

  1. The Mermaid’s Three Wisdoms by Jane Yolen (I was so desperate to read this one again that I paid a bit more than I would normally pay for a used book just to get one in really good condition with its dust jacket that was not a library discard.)
  2.  The Mermaid Summer by Mollie Hunter (I actually ended up with 2 copies of this one because my dad bought it twice by accident; I’m actually really glad he did, because I lost one of my copies during college.)
  3. The Glass Mermaid by Susan Clymer (I read this book once a night after finding a Saban’s Little Mermaid Marina doll that I wanted to buy with my Christmas money. I was going to read it every single night in its entirety until I owned that doll–I really don’t know why I did that! My dad ended up buying the doll for me, so then that nightly ritual stopped.)

These 3 books inspired me to write my own mermaid fiction, because as much as I loved –and still love–those books, they still give me as much detail as I wanted about mermaids.

Of the current mermaid fiction that has been published in the last few years, Of Poseidon is my favorite. I’ve been pretty harsh on some of the other titles I have read and reviewed, but I found pretty much nothing to nitpick over in Anna Banks’s debut novel.

Of Poseidon has a wonderful female heroine in Emma; she’s feisty, opinionated, and doesn’t fall instantly in love with Galen, her one and only love interest. I should also mention there are no annoying love triangles with the central characters. This makes me extremely happy!

Emma has a fairly unique look; she has extremely pale skin and blonde hair that is almost white. She attracts the interest of a male Syrena (or “merman”, but please don’t refer to him as that because he’ll get very offended) because he learned that she has the ability to communicate with fish. This means that she could have the gift of Poseidon, something that is rare in his kind, and that is necessary to pass down generations by uniting a Poseidon with a Triton.

To get closer to Emma, whom he suspects to be a full-blooded Syrena, he masquerades as a human teenage boy and enrolls in all of her classes. Finally Galen reveals his true fishy nature to Emma, who still has not shifted forms, even though she displays all of the strengths of a Syrena. In order to spend time with each other, Emma and Galen have to pretend to be in a relationship. Galen is serious about his feelings for Emma, but Emma thinks he is only pretending.

It would actually be better if Galen had not fallen for Emma; if she does indeed possess the gift of Poseidon, she is intended to mate with Galen’s brother, Grom, and it is Galen’s royal duty to bring her to him.

Anna Banks has created a believable mermaid mythology, and I especially loved that much of it tied into the fabled land of Atlantis. She also gives great insight into Poseidon and Triton and who they really were historically, and I really enjoyed that aspect of the story as well. She even gets really scientific about mermaid genes and their inner workings, which is extremely cool!

Usually the background characters do not really stand out much to me, but I was especially loved Rayna (Galen’s sister), Rachel (Galen’s human friend who pretends to be his mother), and Emma’s mother. Rayna is just as stubborn and feisty as Emma, and when they butt heads it gets pretty crazy. Rachel has a really intriguing history, and I am hoping that some of it will come back to haunt her to add some drama to the story. Emma’s mother is extremely hilarious when it comes to Emma dating Galen. I loved the interactions with Galen–especially when she demands to see his license and writes down its number.

There weren’t too many surprises for me in this one, but I was more than okay with that. Anna set up everything so well that things were still shocking for me when they actually happened. I kept frantically hitting the “next” button on my Kindle when I read the last page because I didn’t want the story to stop in such a tension-filled place. Of Poseidon is a terrific combination of humor, romance, mystery, and the supernatural; I cannot wait for release day so I can own a finished copy!

Of Poseidon hits shelves on May 22, 2012!