Ingo

"Thrilling adventures" "A richly imagined fantasy" "The elements come together in an exciting climax." "A spell binding tale"

This is a very good book about a girl named Sapphire, or Sapphy,and her brother Conor as they discover a mysterious world called Ingo, which is the world of the Mer. The story is written in present tense in Sapphy's point of view.As Ingo draws Sapphy in to the sea, it draws the reader into the book.I highly recommend this book to all of you who are interested in fantasy, merpeople, and the sea. Even for those of you who aren't into fantasy I think you would enjoy this adventerous and emotional tale of life under the sea and the fight between Ingo and Air.

The sea calls to Sapphy, a call that seems to say that the sea is in her blood and the sea is where she belongs. It calls to her brother Conor, too, and it may have called her father. Is that why her father disappeared a year ago? Sapphy has lived near the sea all her life, but when she meets one of the Mer, a boy named Faro, her life is changed. She begins to understand the voice of the sea, and the pull is so strong that she finds it difficult to resist. It pulls her away from her home and family. But when the sea and the earth come into conflict, Sapphy and Conor must make a choice about where they belong and where their loyalties lie. Ingo is a lovely and poignant book about choices. The choices we make affect not only our destiny but the lives of those around us, and sometimes, to gain one thing, we must lose another. The story is told from Sapphy's point of view, which gives the reader an intimate connection to the difficult choices Sapphy must make. The characters are well developed, and the writing is vivid, especially in the beautiful underwater scenes. Helen Dunmore is especially skilled in making the reader feel what the characters feel: the pain of losing a father, the longing for the sea, and the anger at unexpected changes. This is a book that draws you into its depths and lingers after you turn the last page.

A wonderful book. The first chapter didn't engage me but I continued on and was soon hooked. The story follows Sapphire, a teen with a dark attraction to the ocean and what lies beneath the surface. This was no ordinary 'mermaid story' -- it has great depths (no pun intended) of character and conflict, and will pull you right into Sapphire's turmoiled emotions. Wonderfully believable. The only small down-side is that, being the first in a trilogy, the ending is somewhat unsatisfying. But when you finish, you'll be left with a strong impression of how real this is, and will find yourself thinking about the book and the characters for days.