Review: Of Poseidon

Book: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks
Publication Date: May 22, 2012
Series: The Syrena Legacy (#1)
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis: 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...


Overall Review:
I've had both this and Of Triton on my shelf for quite some time now and just haven't gotten to them. I haven't read a lot of mermaid themed books so I couldn't say whether I knew for sure if I'd like or dislike this series, even though I've heard tons of good things. It was after reading Waterfell by Amalie Howard that I had this sudden craving for a quick, fun, and interesting mermaid story and Of Poseidon seemed to fit the bill! Man am I glad I finally picked it up! It was so good! Impossible to put down and I finished it in roughly 4 hours. While the synopsis didn't give me much information on exactly Of Poseidon was supposed to be about, shortly after reading it was easy to see where things were going to go. Of Poseidon was so much fun to read and it seemed to just fly by, when I had finished I sat there a moment like, "How did that happen?!" It was very light, funny, and highly entertaining. The one issue I had was it's predictability. I was pretty much able to predict every big or important event that happened long before the revealing of it was suppose to occur. Normally a book that I'm able to predict almost everything in it is something that I try to avoid because where's the fun in knowing everything? However, I stuck with Of Poseidon simply because it was too enjoyable to suddenly just stop. Banks has such a funny yet detailed and addicting writing style that it immediately drew me into the story and got me hooked for multiple reasons, and kept me so hooked that I refused to put it down. Literally refused. I got in trouble a few times because instead of getting up to do things, I sat and read. It was that enjoyable.

I really liked Emma, though I felt her personality seemed to change a whole lot during the book. As well as her story. One minute she went on about how nice and sweet she was to everyone, the next she was screaming her head off and threatening bodily harm. She seemed one minute to say one thing but then the next say something completely different. Got really confusing. What I do know is Emma is stubborn, head strong, kind hearted, and really isn't afraid to do what she wants in order to get what she wants. She doesn't take orders well, especially when they come from Galen, and she doesn't put up with anyone's crap. She's very patient but when push comes to shove if you dish it out she'll dish it right back if not dish more back. She's definitely a fighter. I do think she's way too hard on herself but as Of Poseidon went on she began to discover more and more about herself. Wasn't a huge amount of character development but she came out of her shell more and more and I did like seeing her discover more about herself, and discovering how to incorporate who she was into she is now.
Galen is a huge contradictory, I felt. He was socially awkward and had no idea what he was doing half the time, yet he was very cocky and perhaps thought a little too highly of himself. He thought he knew everything or could do whatever he want. Definitely hit him hard when he found out he was wrong on both fronts. He hated humans with a passion, yet he was an ambassador for the humans. He loved being in the ocean, yet spent most of his time on dry land. I honestly have no idea what exactly he wanted or what he was doing, but I doubt he knew himself. After meeting Emma, though, he began to change for the better. He wasn't as cocky as he used to be. He didn't see humans as nothing but destruction and evil. He didn't see Emma as a means to an end either. He began to care. He stopped being so ignorant and saw that his way of thinking, along with the rest of the Syrena was very closed minded and needed a change. Not just for himself, but for everyone. I really liked the changes in him, and he's now one of my favorite boy YA characters simply for his personality, his attitude, and his change of heart. He still needs a wake up call on somethings, but he's so great as he is now too.

The romance was so frustrating in the beginning, and for a majority of the book. In the beginning Galen saw Emma as a means to an end, as I stated before, and Emma saw that Galen as a way to discover who she was. Of course that began to change rather quickly and they both started to like each other but couldn't admit it for personal reasons. There was just so much romantic tension between the two of them I was like, "Just shut up and make out already!!" through most of the book. I like build up, but when you see how much they teased each with not quite kisses or all their arguments or just their conversations I wanted them to hurry things along and just get together so we'd all be happier! When they finally got together it was totally worth the wait because they are just beyond adorable together. Like just seeing them together made me fangirl squeal a little because oh my god they're so cuuuute!!

The pace was so fast for me, maybe even a little too fast. Though it was totally on me because I couldn't put it down for the life of me. Was far too enjoyable! I haven't read a lot of mermaid books but I'm so glad I read this one because it was amazing and definitely convinced me, along with Waterfell, to read more mermaid books. Of Poseidon was so light, funny, and all around interesting, though way too predictable but it was one of the few cases where I didn't mind. It was impossible for me to put down and it was definitely the type of read I needed. Nothing too emotional, uplifting, deep, or anything like that. It was purely entertaining with a fun and interesting world. Banks really knows how to tell a story in her own way and I love it! Emma was a really enjoyable character even if sometimes I felt she couldn't get her personality or story straight. She was funny, stubborn beyond a fault, very head strong, and so nice and sweet even if she had a bit of a temper on her. Galen was a huge contradiction. Very awkward, not much of a talker, and had no idea about a lot of things yet he was beyond cocky and thought a bit too highly of himself. He didn't like humans, yet spent most of his time surrounded by humans. He wasn't a bad guy but he wasn't exactly a good guy either. Until he met Emma. That was when he started to change for the better and become a better person overall. I really liked that. The romance was so frustrating because all I wanted was for them to stop talking and make out like they pictured doing constantly. It was just so frustrating. I wanted to shake both of them and then shove their heads together so they could hurry up and do it. Yet despite the frustration, I loved them together because they were beyond adorable!! Before I read Of Poseidon, I was a bit confused on the title even though I know it has something to do with mermaids and whatnot. Afterwards I get it a lot more and I really enjoy it. Just like I love that cover. The deep blues and her body against the background. Gorgeous. Even more so in person!


Overall Rating:
I give Of Poseidon a 4 out of 5 star rating. It was such a fun and amazing read and the fact that I was able to finish it in 4 hours? Completely caught me by surprise! I would totally recommend this to people who are into mermaid books. And if you aren't, but want to give them a try, I would definitely say you start with Of Poseidon because I'm sure you'll really enjoy it. So glad I finally decided to pick it up and read it! Thanks to this book, I'll be on the look out for more mermaid books for sure! Thanks for reading!

4/5 stars

~Kayla~