Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Title: Of Poseidon

Author: Anna Banks

Publishing Information: May 22, 2012 by Feiwel & Friends

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Mermaids, Romance, Mythology

Series information: Book 1 in the Of Poseidon series

Format: Hardcover, 336 pages

Source: Borrowed from my local library

Recommended For: Those looking for a new mermaid tale with a mix of mythology

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 . . (Via Goodreads)

I’ll be honest I was wary. I was wary to begin yet another mermaid story and prepared myself to again be vastly underwhelmed and outright frustrated at the lack of depth (see what I did there) and intrigue. Thankfully, Of Poseidon was different from any other mermaid novel I have ever read. Where others fell short, Of Poseidon delivered.

I had strong feelings toward the characters of this novel. At first I really didn’t enjoy Emma, she annoyed me, and I physically cringed every time she said “ohmysweetgoodness,” but overall I really enjoyed how she grew as a character. I felt the same way about Galen as I did about Emma, annoyed. I had a hard time falling for him and really found him to be arrogant. However, once the relationship between Emma and Galen developed, I found myself falling for Galen as if we had our own mystical ties! I did not enjoy Emma and Galen’s relationship at first. Like Noah and Mara in The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer I found it really grating how Emma focused so much on her dislike for Galen and then in a moment she would be hoping to kiss him. Also? At one point he is described as having “serial killer eyes,” ummm…come again? It was descriptions like that throughout the novel that brought me to a halting stop while reading. I adored Toraf and Rayna, though I was conflicted by their relationship and can completely understand why some readers loathed how it progressed. In the end, I really enjoyed their relationship and found them to be a very sweet and honest couple. To be honest, I think I may like Toraf even more than Galen!

As many have commented on before, the changing point of view throughout the novel really bothered me. This is something that doesn’t usually affect me and I usually have no problem switching my brain back and forth between multiple points of view or picking up on who the current narrator is. This time, however, the narrators changed from first person to third person and it took me a few seconds to fall back into the story as the chapters changed.

It was the plot of Of Poseidon that I really fell in love with, the mermaid lore was exquisitely written and I was really impressed by the way Anna Banks wrote the struggle between the houses Of Poseidon and Triton. The lore surrounding these houses was so interesting that I found myself wishing for more background information about the whole culture. I was fascinated in the way Banks provided in depth details about the characters of both houses and how she made it apparent that their struggle was both on a political and personal level. Additionally, there aren’t many books that catch me by surprise nowadays and this one ended on a pretty unbelievable cliffhanger. I had that moment of wanting to throw the book against the wall because though I had an inkling, the ending was so unfathomable that it still took me by surprise. Well done, Anna Banks, thank you for providing me with a book that gave me a new hope for mermaid books everywhere. I am anxiously awaiting Of Triton, summer of 2013. EEP!