Waterfire Saga, Book One Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga, Book One)

I would absolutely recommend this book, as well the the sequels. At first, I thought this was going to be a sappy Disney—like mermaid book, but I was wrong. It’s filled with action and adventure. I loved how strong the female lead is as well as the supporting cast. There’s so many twists and turns that kept me on my toes. I also love that it dives fully into a different world- like Harry Potter. It’s got it’s own language, characteristics, and traditions that really bring this book to life.

I went through a mermaid phase this past summer after a trip to the beach and this is definitely the most child-friendly and indeed child-oriented among them. The target demographic seems to be twelve to sixteen year-old girls(or merls as the book would put it) and it's very obvious but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think it's a great book for it's demographic but I probably won't be buying the sequels. If I had one criticism it would be the liberal and somewhat infuriating regularity of genetic, linguistic and geographic impossibilities. In the story all mermaids trace their lineage to the people of Atlantis there isn't much explanation for the racial diversity of an entire planet of people from an island with a population smaller than Iceland. It also doesn't explain how they all end up perfectly aligned with the people of the coasts. But that's not completely horrible what bothered me was the excessive loan-words from Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish, Hindustani and certain North Germanic languages. Several of which didn't even exist three thousand years ago when the Merpeople began with no human contact in between. But then again maybe I'm just strange for noticing.

This is the best mermaid book I have ever read, and I love mermaids. Jennifer Donnelly creates a whole world filled adventure, friendship and hope. I read this as an ebook and loved it so much I decided I wanted a hardcopy. The other three books in this series are just as wonderful and the story is kept fresh and fun the whole way through.