Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Title: Of Poseidon

Author: Anna Banks

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Publishing Date: May 1, 2012

Pages/Format: 336, Hardcover

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.

Initial Reaction of Book in One Word: NEED.

When I first heard about Of Poseidon I wanted to read it for one reason: mermaids. (Although they’re actually Syrena, but they’re practically mermaids, for description’s sake.) The book was not what I expected, but it definitely did not disappoint.

I was pulled in by the first page and the first line, which doesn’t happen a whole lot. I immediately noticed the strong, fun, pretty realistic voice that Anna Banks wrote, and I loved that. (Voice is big, people.) I really liked most of the characters. Emma was a fun point of view to read, and some of the things she’d say—“Ohmygoodness!”—made her seem like an actual teenage person and not just some fictional character. Galen—swoon!—was, well, hot. (Merman/Syrena and shirtless all the time? Yes, please!) Some of the things he said were odd and kind of weird, but that’s mostly because he’s not human and doesn’t usually live as a human—he lives in the sea (duh). Rayna’s the cunning, snotty teenager (though not unlikeable) who reminded me of Rebecca from The Vampire Diaries. I liked Toraf—a fun character—and enjoyed witnessing the friendship between him and Galen, as well as his relationship with Rayna. They were, for the most part, believable characters, and I always like that.

Now for the negatives. (There’s usually always something.) While I have a few, they’re pretty much outweighed by the goods. I had three main problems with Of Poseidon. The first is some of the word choice. I’ve started doing this new thing when reading where I notice that certain words are used a lot and they just stand out like a red apple in a basket of green apples. Here, that’s blush/blushed. I understand blushing. I do it all the time and for no reason at all. However, it could be worded differently—I’m sorry, but how many times does Emma need to blush?! The color could creep into her face, she could turn red as a tomato, her cheeks could flush, etc. It’s not that big of a deal, just something that kind of nagged me. My second issue was understanding. Sometimes I was unsure of what was going on or what was happening. With that also came the want for more detail, elaboration, and clarification—more. There were several scenes that just didn’t give enough, like I wanted more danger, wanted something bad to happen. (Examples: shark scene, fight scene.) On occasion, I’d be all, that was it? That leads into my third issue: fast-paced. More than one scene ended too quickly for me, and a lot of it was just too fast. One page it’s Monday, the next Friday. How did that happen? I wanted, once again, more.

The point of view was interesting; Emma was in first person while Galen was in third. This really didn’t bother me much, if at all. Half the time I didn’t even notice it, which was great. I enjoyed the overall story—Emma finds out she isn’t human, she may be what saves the Syrena race, the relationship (a little insta-love) between her and Galen, the humor, everything. And that ending. WHAT. WHY. THAT’S IT?! I remember finishing the book and being kind of stunned. Like, that’s all I get? In other words, I need Of Triton RIGHT NOW. But I have to wait several months. I can be impatient, so the wait may be gruesome. I want it so bad!

In the end, it may seem like I have a lot of negatives and didn’t like the book, which is so totally wrong. I loved this book, which pleasantly surprised me. (It kept me up late on school nights, which isn’t good in college. I just couldn't help myself.) If you’re looking for a fun, entertaining read with some good romance, I’d highly suggest this. Plus, mermaids! (Basically.) And an idea just popped into my head: girl and guy making out on a beach, waves crashing over them—that could totally happen in the next book! *Cough cough* Anna Banks *Cough cough*

Did I like it? Yes.

Did I love it? Yep!

Would I reread it? Yes.

Would I purchase it? Most definitely!

Would I recommend it? Yes!