Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

From Back Cover: Galen, the prince of the Syrena, is sent to dry land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen - literall, "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 ...

My Rating: 1.5 hearts

Thoughts on the Novel: Right off the bat, I found myself getting annoyed with Anna Banks’ Of Poseidon due to the characters. I thought perhaps I was being overly critical and so kept reading; but the more I read, the more the characters irritated me. Here are some reasons why:

• The book opens with Emma giving an inner monologue that runs a page and a half about how bumping into a hot guy is, like, the most humiliating thing ever. It happens; move on!
• Another one of Emma’s monologues that bugged me was when she basically implies that if Galen tells her he loves her, she’ll abandon all her dreams to follow him. The little respect I had for her pretty much went down the drain after that.
• Before being killed by a shark and completely forgotten about, Emma’s best friend, Chloe, wears a weave and fake nails to the beach. Who gets dressed up to go to the beach?!
• Emma’s mom incorrectly assumes that Galen and Emma are dating and/or have slept together and freaks out. Later however, she’s completely okay with Galen telling her that he wants to sleep with Emma, and even lets the two of them go to Florida together. WTF?!
• Throughout the book, Rayna is upset with Toraf because he knew that she never wanted to mate and yet still mated her. The minute Rayna sees Toraf kissing Emma though, she changes her mind and claims that she’s in love with Toraf.

Besides the issue of characterization, I also couldn’t make myself care about the romance, which was an instant love situation. There was a lot of talk about tingles and heat, but I never felt the chemistry between Galen and Emma. Part of the reason may be because Emma’s POV was in the first person whereas Galen’s was in the third person, which made the writing feel a little choppy. More importantly, Galen just seemed to want to control Emma rather than consider her an equal. He even muses about finding a “docile female … who would do whatever he asked [and] never argue with him.”

Of Poseidon wasn’t all bad though as there were some bright spots. The book made me chuckle occasionally, especially during the parts that involved Galen learning more about humans. As well, I appreciated that Banks made the effort to develop and explain the Syrena’s history and current political situation (even if I did find it confusing sometimes).           

Of Poseidon was released on May 22, 2012 by Feiwel & Friends.

Comments About the Cover: It’s beautiful, and I really like how the girl blends in with the water. My ARC’s cover is more greenish though than blue.

In exchange for an honest review, this book was received from the publisher (Raincoast Books) for free.