Powerful Poseidon aka My Kind of Mer People

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

* Book will be released May 22, 2012
* ARC read via Around The World ARC Tours

5 out of 5 gnomes

First I must admit that I love pretty much anything having to do with mermaids.  This can probably be blamed on my obsession with the Disney movie,  The Little Mermaid.  I even named a pair of fishing lures that my dad got me Ariel and Ursula. 

The mythology in this book is fun because it really mixes stuff up.  You have the Syrena who are basically what we would think of as mermen/mermaids.  The Syrena have two different houses, they can either be of Poseidon or of Triton.  In this book you meet a lot of the Triton kind including Galen, a prince who also happens to be the ambassador between humans and his people.

The opening chapter is great because it starts out so funny when Emma literally runs into Galen at the beach.  It goes quickly from the funny of the first chapter to a horrible event that I didn't predict would end like it did.  After what happens at the beach Emma has now caught the attention of Galen because of what he saw her do.

The politics of being a Syrena are interesting because they aren't supposed to have contact with humans and most of them hate or distrust anything having to do with humans.  There's also plenty of animosity between the two houses.  The problems only grew with nothing to tie them together after the last heir of Poseidon died before being able to wed Grom, Galen's oldest brother.  This means that there are plenty of political dealings and conspiracies aplenty. 

Rayna, his sister, also reminded me of The Little Mermaid, because of her love of collecting human treasures.  I loved how she didn't have the temperament of the aforementioned mermaid.  His sister is well to say it nicely, a headstrong individual.  I don't think there's anyone as stubborn or feisty as her until she meets Emma.  Another fun part of the story is anytime that Rayna and Toraf are in the same room together, they make quite an interesting couple.

I love the relationship between Galen and Emma.  She's not crazy about him right away especially after their embarrassing first meeting.  When he shows up again now at her school she of course isn't sure what's going on.  It doesn't help that Galen has ulterior motives that she doesn't find out about for awhile.  Their chemistry is just so very good and you can really see why they're drawn to each other.  It's great to see them become closer and of course the mixed up feelings as they each try to discover what they want makes for great reading.

The side characters also bring some great laughs and depth to the story.  They have some interesting quirks and stories of their own.  You can tell that Rachel has an extremely colorful history and her story alone would be well worth reading.  Then there's Emma's mom, the conversations between her and Emma may lead the reader to serious laughing out loud or spit-takes. 

As Emma discovers she's not exactly human it leads her to question a lot about her life.  Seeing her learn about the Syrena and how her relationship with Galen grows is one of the best parts of the book.

The ending, well I certainly didn't see that coming and wow the tension that adds right at the end of the story is crazy intense.  I'm very excited to see what happens next in this awesome book series.