Of Poseidon (The Syrena Legacy, #1) in The Wide Web of Friends in YA Books

Jul 24, 2014 Laurie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: high-school, grades-9-12

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Booklist (May 1, 2012 (Vol. 108, No. 17))

Grades 9-12. Banks’ debut novel has teen movie written all over it: a gory opening death by shark bite, paranormal romance, incredibly good-looking nonhumans, and even a visit to the ruins of the Titanic. Pale, clumsy high-school senior Emma first (literally) runs into Galen, prince of the Syrena (or merpeople), on a beach in Florida while on vacation. There is definite electricity between them, based not only on their mutual attraction but also on the fa ...more

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Nov 10, 2011 Carie rated it really liked it

I ended up liking this quite a bit. It’s fun and fairly unpredictable, though I did figure out the final reveal a few chapters before the end. I knew (view spoiler) early on, but I think the direction this went at the end was awesome! And I was really happy the Grom stuff ended up going in a different direction than I was fearing earlier in the book. I’m anxious to find out what happens next! I liked Emma, Galen, and Toraf. Thought Rayna was darn annoying a ...more

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Jul 14, 2013 Amber rated it liked it

I remember liking this book a lot more the first time around, but I'm not gonna lie, I do still swoon just a little for Galen.

So, the basic plot of this book is that Emma is part Syrena and she doesn't realize it, so Galen teaches her everything, including the fact that she can talk to sea creatures (but only because one day the Syrena will need her to tell all of them to offer themselves up as food). Also, Emma might have to marry Galen's brother, the king, because she has this gift. It was mos I remember liking this book a lot more the first time around, but I'm not gonna lie, I do still swoon just a little for Galen.

So, the basic plot of this book is that Emma is part Syrena and she doesn't realize it, so Galen teaches her everything, including the fact that she can talk to sea creatures (but only because one day the Syrena will need her to tell all of them to offer themselves up as food). Also, Emma might have to marry Galen's brother, the king, because she has this gift. It was mostly interesting, and the plot moved along pretty quickly, so I have to give it props for that, but at the same time, I've seen similar things done with different paranormal creatures all the time in YA. It wasn't anything special.

The romance was good, mostly because I liked the interaction between Galen and Emma. They were funny and adorable and I even managed to forgive the instalove that showed up about half way through. Also, the side relationship of Toraf and Rayna was great as well. I found myself rooting for them from the very beginning. Okay, if I'm being honest, I only rooted for Galen and Toraf. The girls were annoying, but the guys liked them, so I wanted them to get what they want.

What I really wanted to see was more Syrena action. Most of this book happened on land, so we didn't get to meet more than a handful of them the entire book. Basically, Galen, Rayna, and Toraf were the only ones that made frequent appearances and any other characters were mentioned so briefly, I don't really want to count them at all.

Also, I HATED the way women are treated in their society. I think Anna Banks was just trying to make a patriarchal society, but she should have at least brought to light that a woman living as an inferior should not be allowed. Honestly, if I were a Syrena, I would just run away to the land and become a human so that I wouldn't have to deal with all these men treating me like I have to be obedient to them for no other reason than their gender.

This next point isn't important to the story, by the way - it just really bothered me. Why does is her skill only useful for the food issue? I swear there are plenty of other ways you could have those animals working. Like, they could possibly serve as additions to their underwater standing army. They could grow an underwater farm of crops so that the Syrena won't eat them. They could even be servants for the Syrena. Seriously, there are so many ways they could be helpful, that the simple explanation given in the book seemed too weak for me to believe. ...more

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Apr 08, 2013 Angele | adominiquereads rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, mythology, ebooks, r-opposites-attract, mermaids-sirens

Finally! Something new and refreshing! I've been getting a little bit overwhelmed with all the other YA books that are about dystopian societies, vampires, and other mythological creatures. But I haven't read a book about mermaids yet, so it is definitely a new experience.

The whole story's unique and amazing. It's not really following the typical "Little Mermaid" scenarios, so it's cool. But there are things that bothered me a little, like as the story goes, I find it a bit too predictable. I me ...more

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Nov 30, 2011 Anna rated it really liked it

I really really liked it.

It felt like a quick read to me because half the time I was hooked!

It had some of my favorite story elements...like how much spunk Emma had and how likeable Galen & Emma were together...the secondary characters, Toraf...Rayna and even Chloe...great great characters.

I don't know how I felt about the beginning...yea it might have been necessary but Anna Banks almost lost me because I hated the main beginning event!

Also I totally called the ending...I knew that would happen ...more

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Jun 04, 2012 Ifrah rated it liked it

Shelves: owned

As I was coming close to finishing this book I thought my comments and overall impression would be about how the story was just okay. It didn't impress me as much as I wanted it to and the main character, Emma, really annoyed me at times. While all that is still true, the ending of the book kind of changed things for me. I was thinking that I would be in absolutely no hurry to read the next book but that ending changed my mind. It made me want to read the sequel and so I read the first two chapt ...more

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