Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Reading Level: Ages 13 and up
Hardcover: 326 Pages
Release Date: May 22, 2012
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Genre: Mermaids/Fantasy

Of Poseidon Series
Book One: Of Poseidon
Book Two: Of Triton (May 28, 2013)

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Goodreads Summary:

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.

My Review:

Of Poseidon. What's the first thing that pops into your head when you come across this title? Some might say water, the sea, or badass gods. My thoughts? Greek Mythology, Percy Jackson *Swoons*, and Jello. Don't ask me where that last one came from, because I honestly don't know. Although....it does say alot about my mental sanity doesn't it? xD Anyways...if your looking for some sort of Greek related myth, or maybe your an obsessive Percy Jackson fan waiting for the next big thing in the Mythology genre. If you are, turn back around and head the other direction! I'm not saying you won't enjoy what this book has to offer, but if your relentlessly set on a Mythology based book, you won't be finding it in this novel.

Of Poseidon was a refreshing theme! Were all used to the Greek gods by now, heck that was what I assumed the theme to be based off of just by looking at the cover. However, even though Of Poseidon wasn't exactly what I was expecting, it was pleasantly surprising how interested I became on the whole subject matter. The idea of a race of mermaids, or "Syrena", as they liked to call themselves, that were each divided into two categories (Poseidon, being those who didn't mind a human's company and Triton, being those who openly despised them), intrigued me.

Anna Banks doesn't fail to jump right into the story! No long drawn out introductions or tedious explanations! She literally starts off with one of the major characters, Emma, tripping on her flip flops and falling smack into Galen, prince of Syrena. I loved what she did here! This certain scene was what I was anticipating all along, and Anna didn't fail to deliver!

Emma was a so so character for me. She started off with a major blushing problem. Emma seriously blushed like a bajillion times each page. Might be an exaggeration on my part, but ehh, that's what it felt like to me. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against characters who blush, but to do it so repetitively? It starts to grate on your nerves after a while. However, even though she had a tendency to get embarrassed...alot..she also had this stubborn and headstrong nature about her. When Galen specifically told her NOT to do something, it basically guaranteed that she would do it anyways. Her reactions to difficult situations were at times realistic....but other times not so much. There was this one particular scene when she attacked someone (With good reason!), threw them out a window, and then the following day became friends with said person. Don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that going from murder to omg lets be bffs is a little far stretched.

Galen was an admirable character! But If I couldn't read from his POV, I probably would've thought of him as a creepy stalker dude who wouldn't take no for an answer. However, since we did have the opportunity to read from Galen's perspective, I understood the problems that he was going through, and that even though he had a stalkerish tendency in the beginning of the novel, he had good intentions. I loved the way that Anna wrote Galen's character! It was like stepping into his shoes for the day, and experiencing the world for the very first time. As a Syrena Prince, he didn't spend much time on land, because it was frowned upon by his society. Words and phrases that are second nature to us, were completely foreign to him. It was adorable to see him flounder around (Haha fish joke!) to find the right word he was looking for.

Writing style.......wasn't feeling it. Everyone has different opinions, and I respect that. But for me, my favorite writing style is First Person past tense. Of Poseidon jumped from First Person present in Emma's perspective to Third Person present in Galen's perspective every other chapter. This constant switch back and forth made the wording awkward, stilted, and flat. I had to reread pages over again, because the writing style just didn't make sense. And for certain scenes, when there was alot of action going on, the sentences were abrupt and choppy. The author was probably hoping that this style of writing would make the scene more epic, but sadly...it just didn't work out.

The action was well paced. There were a few spots when I got slightly bored and ended up flipping a couple of pages, but it wasn't very often. One of the main reasons I picked up Of Poseidon, was because I heard from alot of my favorite bloggers that the characters were witty and that this book was chock full of laugh inducing humor. Do I disagree with that statement? Yes and no. There were several times when the reactions or comebacks of certain characters made me laugh or chuckle. However, there were also times when the humor was just a little too much, and veered dangerously close to corny.

Overall, Of Poseidon had a great idea with a unique twist. The action was well paced and the characters were fairly decent. However, if your picky about your writing styles or if you were hoping for a Greek myth based book, this novel might not be for you.

Hero- 4/5
Heroine- 2.5/5
Romance- 3.5/5
Action- 3.5/5
Comedy- 4/5
Overall- 3/5

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