Book Review | Deep Blue | Jennifer Donnelly

Title: Deep Blue
Author: Jennifer Donnelly (web | twitter)
Series: Waterfire Saga #1
Genre: Fantasy YA, Paranormal YA, mermaids
Amazon | Goodreads | B&N
Publisher: Disney Press
Release date: May 6, 2014
Source: ARC from the Publisher (thanks, Disney!)

The first in a series of four epic tales set in the depths of the ocean, where six mermaids seek to protect and save their hidden world.

Deep in the ocean, in a world not so different from our own, live the merpeople. Their communities are spread throughout the oceans, seas, and freshwaters all over the globe.

When Serafina, a mermaid of the Mediterranean Sea, awakens on the morning of her betrothal, her biggest worry should be winning the love of handsome Prince Mahdi. And yet Sera finds herself haunted by strange dreams that foretell the return of an ancient evil. Her dark premonitions are confirmed when an assassin’s arrow poisons Sera’s mother. Now, Serafina must embark on a quest to find the assassin’s master and prevent a war between the Mer nations. Led only by her shadowy dreams, Sera searches for five other mermaid heroines who are scattered across the six seas. Together, they will form an unbreakable bond of sisterhood and uncover a conspiracy that threatens their world’s very existence.

I don’t have the best luck with mermaids, friends. I’ve tried to read more than one mermaid book and haven’t managed to finish any. Until, that is, I sat down with DEEP BLUE, the first in a new series by historical fiction superhero Jennifer Donnelly. So I consider that a plus. There were things about DEEP BLUE that I found intriguing, and the world was interesting enough, but I don’t think I’d say that this book was especially great. Alas. My conflicted relationship with mermaid books likely continues, friends. This is such a bummer, because I love mermaids in theory. But let’s discuss, shall we?

First of all, a little recap: Seraphina is a mermaid princess and we meet her on the morning of a hugely important ceremony that not only cements her position within her mermaid tribe, but also ends with her betrothal to her childhood sweetheart, Prince Mahdi. She’s understandably full of anxiety because if she fails in her tasks, she could be KILLED. (Ironically, this isn’t your typical Disney princess mermaid story.) Things start out fine, despite some difficult things Seraphina learns about her intended–who also happens to be the brother of her bff, Neela–and EVERYTHING Seraphina knows comes crumbling down around her in a few short minutes. But Seraphina and her best friend have been having very similar dreams lately, and it’s those dreams and the urging of other members of Seraphina’s tribe that force the two girls out into the open sea to find other girls with their own special gifts (Seraphina and Neela having their own as well) in an effort to halt a devastating ancient evil from destroying all of the seas, as well as figuring out who was behind the destruction and mayhem and death of Seraphina’s city on the day of her ceremony.

Obviously, DEEP BLUE focuses a great deal on Seraphina and her quest to locate the other mermaids of the prophecy and meet up with this kind of creepy but also awesome mer-witch who can teach the girls a great deal about their role in saving the world as they know it. As Seraphina and Neela are on the run from the bad guys who invaded Miromara (that’s where Seraphina lives), we get to know them both pretty well, but since this is mostly Seraphina’s story, I’m just going to focus on her for now. I liked Seraphina. She’s very smart and knowledgable about her people, determined to find answers and avenge some things, and not afraid of taking risks. She didn’t do too much hemming and hawing when it was time to make a decision. Of course, she often stepped in piles of you-know-what as a result, but you can’t win them all, I guess.

I liked the other girls as well, although we don’t get to learn a whole lot about them in DEEP BLUE. They are all very different girls, and so Jennifer Donnelly has lots of diversity in this mermaid crew, but it felt like they all still had lots of gelling to do. I wasn’t completely connected to all of them, which is a shame, but since there are four more books in this series, my guess is that we’ll get to learn more about each girl in future installments.

Jennifer Donnelly did a pretty good job with the world-building, too. Well, mostly. Kind of. There were a few instances where we got some pretty exciting backstory into the history of the merpeople and their ancestor, Merrow. I really enjoyed the way their history was connected to Atlantis, one of the all-time most awesome mysteries to nerd out about. So that was great. But the modern-day merpeople seemed a little more ridiculous, if I can be frank. I don’t mind a pun here and there, but generally I find myself rolling my eyes at them, and DEEP BLUE is chock full of puns. They got very old very fast for me. And I really couldn’t stand the way Seraphina and Neela and the girls talked. The slang they used, I mean. Worst offender? Saying “merls” instead of “girls,” not just when referring to a group of mermaid girls, but also in a “You go, MERL” way (this was actually said). It brings down the maturity level of everything for me in a really bothersome way. This was one of those instances where something that seems insignificant snowballs and becomes a HUGE THING that ruins stuff. WAH!

That said, I liked that there wasn’t really a whole lot of romance in DEEP BLUE, although there were hints for sure and I know that there’s no way Jennifer Donnelly will write four more books and not get into the Prince Mahdi thing. But this story is so much about the girls, and I liked that DEEP BLUE didn’t bog them down with romance, as much as I love it. This is largely because the book is pretty short and has a TON of plotlines and moves at a brisk pace, all things that are good and bad at the same time.

Guys, I’m honestly surprised at how much I wrote for DEEP BLUE here. There were things that I liked, yes, but there were easily an equal number of things I didn’t and so it was just about as ok a book as I can think of, which usually means I have a hard time putting thoughts together. I might read some more books in the Waterfire Saga, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing to them.

Check out another review of Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly!

Jenny @ Book and a Latte: “It may not stick with me like Donnelly’s previous works, but it was fun.”