My Thoughts: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

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 . . . 






**Review Copy Received from Raincoast Books**














I don't know about you, but there is something totally cool about having the ability to communicate with fish. Super cool. So when I read the synopsis of Anna Banks' debut Of Poseidon I was SUPER excited. This is a little funny, because I am terrified of deep water. Like totally. If I can't see the bottom or feel it, it is not likely that I am getting in. No way. But reading about water and fish in a fun loving kind of way seemed like a good idea. EXCEPT... this freaking books begins with a shark attack! Uh huh, a freaking shark attack. I almost had a heart attack reading. Anywho... I really really enjoyed this book. Like a lot. It was so good. It was intense and funny, the characters were funny, and the premise was pretty original. Banks did a good job with this one.


So, as I mentioned earlier, Of Poseidon starts off with a bang- well a shark attack. This is a pretty intense scene. Our protagonist Emma and her bestie are hanging out on a surf board when a shark attacks them. Things do not end well for Emma's friend, but that was to be expected. Our male lead Galen (whose name I just love), who we have already met briefly, shows up and sees Emma unknowingly tell the shark to piss off go away.  This is something that Galen is very curious about and naturally does the stalker-y thing and moves to the town where Emma lives and forces himself into her life.

The concept of this book is fun. This is not your run of the mill mermaid novel. The Syrena aren't really mermaids at all- they actually find the term offensive. They can survive on land (and yes they do so with legs). There are two kingdoms: The Titans and The Poseidons. Those who have the rare gift to speak to fish have what the Syrena's call the gift of Poseidon. But only decedents of Poseidon (the royal heir) can have this gift. So why does Emma, a human girl have this ability? Dun dun dun.

What I liked the most about this book were the characters and the way the interacted with one another. It was a pleasure to read. Emma was a fantastic protag. She was strong girl, who dealt with her grief well. Even when she felt like she wanted to let it take over her life she never let it. She over came it. She handled Galen and his bossyness hysterically, I would be laughing out loud at times because of their interactions. Galen was a riot. He just did not get human life at all. Human emotions and their loyalties were so completely foreign to him. He was also royalty and had the attitude of one. He expected everyone to adhere to his wishes and was completely baffled when they wouldn't. This was very amusing to me.  Obviously there is a little romance that goes on between Galen and Emma, but that's nothing to write home about. It's sweet but it's pretty typical, there's nothing terribly special there.

What I really enjoyed reading about was the relationship between Emma and Galen's sister, Rayna. That was fun. Rayna was not a fan of Emma, therefore Emma was not a fan of Rayna, and they had no qualms about sharing that with one another. They were both so blunt and matter of fact. At one point they got into a pretty serious physical fight and minutes later they were basically best friends. Rayna was great character. She could have easily been my favourite if Toraf didn't already hold that spot. At the risk of sounding redundant- Toraf rocked! He was hilarious!

The best thing about Rayna and Toraf was how good they were at making the two protags better (does that make sense?), they were definitely supporting characters and they were really good supporting characters. Banks knows how to write great characters that is for sure.

Of Poseidon gave me everything I wanted and more. I got a great story, fantastic characters and a crazy cliffhanger! Whoa.  You don't want to miss this one boys and girls!

Of Poseidon is due to hit stores May 22nd. I would like to thank Raincoast Books and Feiwel and Friends for the ARC.




~Happy Reading Everyone!