Review: Of Poseidon

Title: Of Poseidon
Author: Anna Banks
Release Date: May 22, 2012
Source: ARC from author/publisher

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.

Nancy's Review:

What first drew me to this book was the cover... it is beautiful! I hate to admit it, but I totally judge books by their covers. The prettier the cover, the more appealing it is to me. Of course, the cover is not always an indication of how good the book will be. Thankfully, in this case, it was. Right from the beginning of the book, I was hooked. I have only ever read two other books about mermaids, a theme that seems to be growing in popularity. Of the three, this has been my absolute favorite. Good job, Anna Banks!

Emma, our main character, was exactly how I thought she should be. She handled everything that was happening to her in a very realistic way. Though, of course, we'll just assume that there can actually be a whole civilization of mermaids (oops. excuse me, Syrena) underwater. So, if this whole thing could actually happen, she reacted like I think a normal girl would. As I previously said, Emma was very much how I imagined her. I was picturing a normal girl, someone who wouldn't be either stoic or overly emotional. She was a good mix of sensitive and strong. When things happened that made her head spin, she kept it together, a quality that I really admired in her character.

Our male protagonist, Galen, was better than I expected him to be! He was funny, sarcastic, yet capable of showing just how much he cared for Emma. Though Galen makes some bad decisions in the book (like keeping important information from Emma),  he does redeem himself. He shows Emma (and the reader) how devoted he is to her and just how far he would go to be with her. Galen is very much like other male leads in young adult books, a guy that we all want! Girls, you know you want him! I really liked the fact that family and duty meant so much to Galen, it gave him more substance. He was more than just a handsome guy that the girls all fall in love with.

The author did a great job with all the other supporting characters. Galen's sister, best friend, assistant, and Emma's mother were all fantastic!  I loved that they were very much part of the story. They weren't just characters that the author made up to fill up space and pages, they were there for a reason. Not only were the characters awesome, but the setting of the story was great. I really liked was how the underwater world was depicted, it sounded fantastic and I wish I could actually see through Emma's eyes! 

Tiny spoiler: My favorite scene was when Galen took Emma to the where the titanic was! I'd like to think that I felt what Emma must have felt at that moment. It was very touching and it made me love Galen even more. It was one of the sweetest things that I've read about in a young adult book.

Moving on, I definitely recommend Of Poseidon to everyone! It was an amazing book and definitely one of my top favorite books of 2012. It was intriguing, exciting, romantic... everything that you would want in a YA book. I loved it and I can't wait for the sequel!

10/10