Book Review
Title: Of Poseidon (The Syrena Legacy Book 1) by Anna Banks
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Rating: 4.5 Stars
The opening to Of Poseidon introduces us to a lot of characters and lore so it was a little tricky to get everything straight in my head. We are introduced to Emma as she runs into a guy on the beach with her best friend, Chloe and this guy happens to be Galen. Galen is the Prince of the Syrena, who are merpeople and his is also the ambassador to the human race. He is informed by a friend, Dr. Milligan that there is a human that can communicate with fish and Galen comes to land with his twin sister, Rayna in order to investigate it. Galen believes that the human is Emma since he can sense her on land which is something other Syrena can’t do. A little later on when Emma and Chloe are surfing a shark attacks Chloe and drags her beneath the water. Emma calls for help but she is too far away from the shore but unaware that Galen is already heading to her aid. When Galen reaches the pair he sees Emma holding Chloe and fighting with the shark over her but she possesses a strength that isn’t normally for humans and she is able to hold her breath for a long time. When Emma tells the shark to stop it does and even swims off at her command which makes Galen sure she is one of them but he can’t figure out why she didn’t transform because if she did her friend would still be alive.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we learn that there are two royal families of merpeople, Triton and Poseidon. Galen’s older brother, Grom is next in line to be King of the Triton line but things are going well in their kingdom. There was an old law that the first borns in the third generation of each line would mate with each other and this was to be Grom and Nalia. However, after an argument Nalia swims away into a mine causing an explosion and everyone believes she is dead. However, I think Nalia survived and gave birth to a daughter, Emma and kept her ignorant of what she is despite Galen coming to explain to her the significance. Galen’s best friend, Toraf also arrives as he is tracking them down in order to bring him and Rayna home since he is now mated to Rayna which she doesn’t really appear to want but Galen knows he has to find out the truth about Emma. Despite this Toraf explains he might be feeling to pull towards Emma which would mean she is his true mate but that wouldn’t be allowed since she would be promised to Grom as the last in the line of Poseidon but I can’t wait for Emma to find out the truth.
Galen tries to talk to Emma about what she is but he doesn’t know that she has no idea and never has so it doesn’t go well and ends with Emma getting a concession but she’s quickly back to normal. When Galen comes over to her house to meet Emma’s mother since her father died a few years before he is nervous but quickly notes that her mother can’t be Syrena since she doesn’t have the violet eyes and neither did her father. He then takes Emma over to their temporary house to meet his “mother” Rachel but something happens to Emma making her feel like she is going to pass out. Galen obviously takes care of her and when she wakes up she meets Rayna again and Toraf and she immediately likes the other boy for his jovial demeanour. Things seem to be going fine until dinner is served which consists of fish but Emma can’t bring herself to eat it which causes some problems. It is a shock to the Syrena who do eat fish but Rayna uses this as an excuse to prove Galen wrong but when she claims that Emma killed Chloe she loses it and the pair begin to fight. Syrena have a naturally thicker skin than humans and are stronger so when Emma is holding her own against Rayna the boys are convinced that Emma is Syrena and when Rayna gets Emma into the water it is proven.
Once Emma is in the water the Syrena can sense her and Rayna berates her for not changing and saving her friend so Galen has to intervene and explain that Emma doesn’t know she is Syrena and he proves it to her. He dives with her in his arms and shows her his tail which freaks her out but when she realises she can see really well under the water and doesn’t really feel the need to breathe despite being down there for longer than an ordinary human can hold their breath coupled with the fact she can hear and speak perfectly fine finally makes Emma confront the truth of her situation. When they resurface Galen explains more about the Syrena but doesn’t tell her where exactly she fits into the situation but he wants to help her transform for the first time and she agrees despite knowing there is no way she is going to live in the water since her life in on land. I still think that Emma’s mother is Syrena and she is covering it up so Galen can’t spot it since she seems to know exactly who Galen is when she sees him but Syrena can’t sense each other on land. Since I am almost halfway through the novel, I was really enjoying it and the characters especially Emma and Rayna since they go from fighting to protecting each other in the space of a few hours. Toraf also comes a close second since he is jovial and funny where Galen tends to be more serious.
Galen and Rayna do have to return home briefly and Galen wants Emma to stay out of the water but he knows she isn’t going to listen to him so he leaves Toraf behind to look after her. Emma soon figures out that Toraf is watching her and they become closer as friends and she gives him advice on what to do about Rayna’s behaviour. When Galen and Rayna return, Toraf kisses Emma to make Rayna jealous although it works on Galen as well who attacks his friend before Emma comes between them. It works perfectly though as Rayna stops with the hard to get act and admits her feelings for Toraf preparing an island for them which is the Syrena equivalent of a wedding night. Afterwards Galen explains to Emma that they are going to visit Doctor Milligan to figure out why Emma can’t change into Syrena form and to explore her gift. This visit initially goes well and Emma is excited but when they get down to the medical tests the truth begins coming to light. Doctor Milligan notices that Emma’s bone structure is halfway between human and Syrena so he believes that she has one Syrena parents and one human parents. This coupled with the fact that Emma father performed all her medical stuff which was passed onto his friend when her father died makes Doctor Milligan believe that her father always knew about her strange anatomy which is why she doesn’t seem regular doctors. This brings up a lot of conflicting emotions in Emma since Syrena will see her as an abomination and she isn’t entirely human either so she doesn’t really fit into either world. She also has to accept the fact that either her mother or father isn’t really her parent but I still believe her mother is Syrena but just hiding her true nature but she is going to have to talk with her mother sooner or later in order to get the truth of what she is.
With only six chapters left in the book I was excited to see how the novel would wrap up and what revelations would come to light to set up the rest of the series. Galen visits the Archives and learns more about the Half-breeds and he realises that Emma is definitely half-Syrena and when he meets Paca at Grom’s mating ceremony he and Rayna realises that she is lying about having the gift of Poseidon but Grom won’t listen to them. Grom ends up banishing them so they go back to Emma’s and Galen realises on the way back that Nalia is still alive and she is hiding. When the reach land Galen plunges his hands into water that Emma’s mother has her hands in and he can sense her. He realise in that moment that Emma’s mother is Nalia and she has a lot of questions to answer for how she left Grom and how Emma came into being. Overall, I really liked Of Poseidon but the insta-love was a little off-putting and the characters felt underdeveloped that weren’t Emma and Galen.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Comentarios