Of Triton - Review

Of Triton (The Syrena Legacy, # 2)

By: Anna Banks

Published: May 28th 2013 by Feiwel & Friends

246 pages

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal, Mermaids

Source: Borrowed from my local library

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Goodreads description--Emma has just learned that her mother is a long-lost Poseidon princess, and now struggles with an identity crisis: As a Half-Breed, she’s a freak in the human world and an abomination in the Syrena realm below. Syrena law states that all Half-Breeds should be put to death.

As if that’s not bad enough, her mother’s reappearance among the Syrena turns the two kingdoms—Poseidon and Triton—against one another. Which leaves Emma with a decision to make: Should she comply with Galen’s request to keep herself safe and just hope for the best? Or should she risk it all and reveal herself—and her Gift—to save a people she’s never known?

Once again, Anna Banks infuses Emma and Galen's points of view with humor, intrigue, and waves of romance.

Since I got Of Poseidon as a free audio download from Sync last year, I decided to pursue the second book in the series when I saw that my e-library had an audio copy of it also. I like audiobooks for books that I’m interested in, but yet don’t want to devote too much of my available reading time to getting marked off my TBR list. I usually listen to audiobooks while I’m working (if I’m working on something that doesn’t require too much thought) and when I’m doing housework. And so I can multitask. At the same time, I wouldn’t be able to read during work or while doing housework anyway, so this actually allows me to expand my reading time. But I try not to listen to books on audio that I really care about either. I don’t want to miss anything. And so Of Triton was the perfect audiobook for me.

I vaguely enjoyed Of Poseidon, but I felt like had I actually read that book over listened to it I would have found more frustrations and probably not have enjoyed it as much as I did. And I feel the same way about Of Triton. This book had frustrations for me, but because I was listening and not actually reading, I brushed over some of my frustrations. And this wasn’t a book that I felt like I had to absorb every single detail. I also want to note that like Of Posedion both Emma and Galen narrate, but still Rebecca Gibel is the only one to read both parts. I think a male narrator for Galen’s POV would have helped.

I didn’t take notes while listening to Of Triton and now that a couple of days have passed since finishing it, I don’t really remember too much about what happened. I mean I’ve got the big plot points, but the little details are escaping me. I do remember being annoyed with Emma’s mother in the beginning of the book. She made a lot of assumptions, and then I actually remember other characters doing a good bit of assuming as well. That’s always a frustration of mine.

I realize that I’m not giving much detail about Of Triton at all in this review. The characters are essentially the same ones from Of Poseidon. They face some conflict. They find a way around said conflict. There’s a happy ending with a little sad part. And there’s got to be more conflict to come as there’s a final book in the series. Speaking of Of Neptune, I’m not sure if I’ll ever read it or not. After reading the description, I’m not sure I can deal with a potential love triangle so late in the series and on top of the other frustrations I’ve had with this series. So I’m not sure if I’ll read it or not.

Of Triton gets 3 Stars from me. It was “okay.” There wasn’t much wrong, but there wasn’t too much really good either. It was just one of those average books. I’m glad I listened to it on audiobook instead of reading it. Have you read or listened to Of Triton? What did you think? Let me know!

Of Poseidon - Review

Of Poseidon (The Syrena Legacy, # 1)

By: Anna Banks

Published: May 22nd 2012 by Feiwel & Friends

326 pages

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal, Mythology

Source: Free Audio Download from Sync Audiobooks

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Goodreads description--Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen—literally, ouch!—both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma's gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom...

Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

I got Of Poseidon as one of the free Sync Audiobook downloads from last year. I remember seeing mixed reviews about Of Poseidon, but I wasn’t about to turn down the opportunity to listen to it for myself. Surprisingly, I’ve only ever read one other mermaid book--Sea Change by Aimee Friedman. I don’t have anything against mermaids in general, but I guess as paranormal/mythological concepts go, mermaids have always been a bit of a stretch for me. And it’s not so much the idea of mermaids themselves as the mixing of mermaids and humans as well as the transition from ocean to land that bothers me. I pumped myself up for this read by telling myself that if I can buy shapeshifting of any kind then mermaids ought to fall into that category as well.

Initially, I was put off by the New Jersey accent the narrator, Rebecca Gibel, was doing for Emma’s best friend Chloe. Fortunately, this wasn’t an issue I had to deal with throughout the whole book. While I’m thinking about the narration, the book itself is narrated by both Emma and Galen—the leading male character—yet the audiobook version only had the Rebecca Gibel reading for both parts. I found this a little odd, especially when transitioning from Emma’s narration to Galen’s. It always caught me off guard and took me several sentences usually to figure out the point of view changed. Adding a male narrator for Galen’s parts would have solved this problem easily.

As the description says, there’s an episode involving a shark that leads Galen to believe that Emma might not be human. She just might be Syrena just like him—or well…maybe not just like him. In this instance, Emma displays an ability known as the “gift of Poseidon.” Only Syrena descended from Poseidon himself can possess the gift and Galen is descended from Triton, not Poseidon. But Emma lacks some other key Syrena traits that prevents Galen from thinking she is in fact Syrena. Galen, as the Syrena-Human Ambassador for his tribe, decides to spend some time with Emma in order to find out what she really is.

Obviously, the Syrena have a different culture than huamns. If Emma is “of Poseidon” then his brother and the now Triton king, Grom, will have first dibs at mating with Emma. Not Galen. But Galen can’t seem to keep himself from falling for Emma which leads him to keeping her a secret from the Syrena as a whole. Emma takes not liking to be told what to do to a whole new level. Anytime Galen tries to tell her something she needs to do, she digs in her heels and does the opposite just out of spite for being given instructions. Emma doesn’t know about her potential fate of mating with Grom so she doesn’t understand why Galen won’t can't attempt a relationship with her and therefore, jumps to the conclusion that he doesn’t in fact like her.

Rayna and Toraf were likable characters. I took me a while to warm up to Rayna. She was a bit rough around the edges, but Toraf was easily likeable from the first introduction. I liked their relationship with each other as well.

I found myself laughing out loud a couple of times during my listen of this audiobook. I cheesed. I giggled.

The biggest “surprises” weren’t that big of a shock to me. I felt like they were easily spotted. What Emma really is. The truth about her parents and Emma’s stalker. All of that wasn’t as big of a secret as it should have been. I felt like the characters were missing the obvious in both of these instances.

While Of Poseidon had some minor frustrations for me, I still really enjoyed the book overall. I think listening to the audiobook version was a wise choice as I might have had a few other frustrations from reading this one, but adding a male narrator for Galen’s parts would have made the audiobook version even better. Of Poseidon gets 3.5 Stars from me. Have you read Of Poseidon? What did you think? Let me know!