I enjoyed this book. I loved the world-building and though the mermaids were interesting. I also thought it had a fantastic villain, and an intriguing plot. However, I was disappointed in the romance, and I never connected with any of the characters. Overall, I would recommend if you like mermaids. ( )

STAR CROSSED LESBIAN MERMAID LADY FRIENDSHIP WARRIORS LOVE STORY!!!! i've never needed or wanted anything more in my whole damn life. ( )

I've had an odd run late. I've just completed six young adult books in a row (not that I put them on that shelf, for various reasons), and the work before that was from the point of view of a cat. *shrugs*

I'm vaguely curious if anyone who tried this book, and/or everyone who read this book can immediately pinpoint where this book took place. Because it does take place on Earth. A fairly modern one at that.

There was a vaguely Hawaiian vibe to the islands, though it was supposed to be close-ish to Alaska (I think?), but not part of the Aleutian Islands, since that is described as a separate set of islands. Water was cold, but that doesn't really mean anything . . . much; no glaciers or mention of snow . . .. eh, whatever.

Right, so . . . as I mentioned, the action that takes place in this book takes place on an Earth that has things like Alaska, the United States of America, the Aleutian Islands, a Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic ocean; cars, helicopters, etc. That's the basic setting. More or less. Earth. Specifically the Pacific Ocean, some islands in the Pacific Ocean and the pacific ocean itself.

Who does it involve? Dark-skinned humans. Pale-skinned Mermaids. Merman. Various types of sharkes, Orcas, whales, dolphins. Specifically the interaction of a group of humans from a specific island, and the merpeople, and the war they are fighting.

Roughly thirty years ago, the merpeople arrived. Started taking a lot of fish. Which is important, because the people of a specific island make their living from fishing. And, so, naturally the humans set out on a mission of genocide. They were going to wipe out the invasive species, the 'sea-demons', the mermaids. So, each year, they send out a ship with 20 warriors on it. And the go about killing the sea-demons. There are years where 500+ 'sea-demons' are slaughtered. But before people get a particularly wrong idea, most years, especially the more recent years, the slaughtered tend to be the humans. And many a year anywhere between zero to . . . 3 to 7 of the humans return. Most often zero.

This is not a world where 'mermaids' or 'merman' or the like is a foreign concept/word/etc. So this is not like a world that has, basically, vampires but call them something else like Grasalt. No, there be mermaids, and the people here call them that. On the other hand, almost no one sees the merpeople as an intelligent sapient species. They see them as sea monsters. In the same way they would see an especially large and vicious shark as a sea monster.

The book opens with the star of the show, Meela (18 years old I believe), on the night before her group of warriors is to go out on their Massacre. The book is entirely from her point of view. The next chapter, and for a little bit thereafter, the book goes back to when Meela roughly 10 or so. Fills in some of the backstory, adds some information about Meela and the mermaids, and shows Meela's first meeting with one - with a mermaid. One roughly her own age, named Lysi. Despite a long time war, Lysi & Meela become best friends.

Once the flash back part is over, we are back to the 'present time' with Meela about to go off to war, as part of a ship of 20 warriors.

Quite interesting story. Lots of stuff happen. War, bloodshed, lots of water....

Rating: 4.25

March 15 2021 ( )

I really enjoyed this one! I found the first couple of chapters fairly slow but the pace sped up quickly after and there was a lot of action which I liked. This is a book about how a childhood friendship between a human, Meela and Lysi takes a bad turn even though it was neither of their faults. A couple years pass and they meet again in an unexpected situation and STUFF happens and I won't reveal too much or it'll take away the experience from the book but don't worry its worth it ;) ( )

WHY did it take me so long to read this? Spoiler alert: I’m a dumbass, that’s why.

Not to be dramatic but this was everything I could have hoped it to be? I was wanting a gruesome violent mermaid horror novel with lots of death and a mermaid hunter in love with a mermaid and oh boy did it deliver. If you love mermaids as a concept but want something a bit darker than what a lot of mermaid fiction has to offer, this is a good choice (especially if you want it to be gay). ( )