Set in a kingdom where danger lurks beneath the sea, mermaids seek vengeance with song, and magic is a choice.
She will reign.
As princess of the island kingdom Visidia, Amora Montara has spent her entire life training to be High Animancer—the master of souls. The rest of the realm can choose their magic, but for Amora, it’s never been a choice. To secure her place as heir to the throne, she must prove her mastery of the monarchy’s dangerous soul magic.
When her demonstration goes awry, Amora is forced to flee. She strikes a deal with Bastian, a mysterious pirate: he’ll help her prove she’s fit to rule, if she’ll help him reclaim his stolen magic.
But sailing the kingdom holds more wonder—and more peril—than Amora anticipated. A destructive new magic is on the rise, and if Amora is to conquer it, she’ll need to face legendary monsters, cross paths with vengeful mermaids, and deal with a stow-away she never expected… or risk the fate of Visidia and lose the crown forever.
I am the right choice. The only choice. And I will protect my kingdom.
Recommended as a YA Book Club pick by my local bookstore, Jan's (Paperbacks), I picked this up partly for the cover and partly for the premise. I've never read anything featuring mermaids before and figured it was worth a shot. Little did I know, a mermaid doesn't show up until nearly halfway through the book.
Not that the mermaid wasn't awesome, but after the mention in the first sentence of the book I was expecting them to show up a bit sooner, is all. In fact, the very end of the book has an anecdote about mermaids hidden in the copyright section:
There was once a mermaid who loved nothing more than a beautiful conch shell she brought with her everywhere. A sailor, noticing her affection for the conch, stole it. He believed he could trick the mermaid into thinking she lost her prized possession, and that she’d fall in love with him once he returned it to her. But the mermaid was too clever for his tricks. She shed her fins in favor of feet and went ashore to hunt the sailor down. Upon finding him, she ripped out his heart, ate it, then returned to the sea with her conch in hand.I dunno, maybe mermaids were originally planned to be a much larger part before editing kicked in? Be that as it may, Vataea, the mermaid we meet eventually, is a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps a bit bloodthirsty for her own good, she gives no second thoughts to drowning (and devouring) any humans foolish enough to get caught in her song, and plans to reap her own kind of justice on "any man who’s ever told [her] to smile." (Though, honestly, I've had more women tell me to smile than men. Ah, retail.)
This book is protected by mermaids. Steal it, and you best watch your heart.
But Vataea isn't the only feisty lady on this quest. No, that honor also belongs to our protagonist, Amora. I really did love Amora and her sense of honor. She's adamant that she earn her birthright, even after she learns that she is the only choice left for the crown. But even as she's ready to risk her life for her people, she's also not willing to needlessly shed the lives of others, even if it might make things easier—after all, her own magic runs on blood and bones.
That magic system is something else. Visidia has 7 types of magic, each completely unique and relegated to its own island. Elemental magics (wind, fire, water, earth) are all grouped together, and then there's healing/restoration magic, enchantment magic (often dealing with short-term illusions), time magic (speeding up or slowing down items/people or even manipulating lifespan), mind magic, curse magic, and soul magic. Mind and curse magic don't have as much exposition dedicated to them, but soul magic is is dark. I mean really dark. Like torturing-a-person-by-burning-and-breaking-their-bones-from-the-inside-out dark. And that is what Amora and the royal family are blessed/cursed with.
And it is the failure of mastering her magic that kicks off Amora's journey, also tossing her into the arms of Bastian. Bastian is the epitome of the handsome rogue: quick witted, sly, charming, and handy with a sword, he was a pleasure to read. Not so much with Ferrick. Ferrick is Amora's arranged-marriage betrothed who hitches a ride on the adventure with no one's invitation, and his early drunken antics don't help endear him to the reader at all. Still, he's shown to be a good guy, noble and such. But while two suitors might normally ring the love-triangle alarm bells, Amora's introduction of Ferrick as 'the man she'll never love' should help put things in perspective fairly early on. In fact, I'd say very little of this book focuses on romance at all, though there are a few kisses thrown in here and there.
On the whole, I really liked this story. There's adventure, magic, fighting, kissing, great camaraderie, witty banter, a protagonist of color, kick-ass girls, and a lot of lore and other deep subjects that would be great topics to discuss. I hope that book club at Jan's had a ball (I didn't get the book until a month too late). There are, however, a couple things I would like to discuss on the negative side. And first is about the ending.
I won't go into spoilers yet, because I think I can skirt around them pretty easily, but I wasn't too keen on the sudden stupidity the main characters showed toward the end of their quest. They've reached their goal, it's within their grasp, and then...HEY, WHAT'S THAT OVER THERE? There's no reason they can't just go through with what they came to do and then go look over there, except plot convenience. Oh, and setting more things up for the sequel. But yeah, not their brightest moment. I would have thought at least Vataea would have kept her eye on the prize.
The other discussion I can't get over does contain spoilers, so it'll be inside this handy button here:
Finally, the ending felt rushed. It's not uncommon to have the final inciting battle anchor on our protagonist trying to take out the big bad, but there were two battles back to back with very, very little time to decompress both between and after. I'm assuming that will all take place in the second book, but nonetheless it took some of the satisfaction away from the end of this story to have everything crammed in at the finale.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book, especially for anyone looking for their next bookclub or group read. It has a lot to unpack, what with the magic system and politics, but I think most fans of YA and/or high fantasy will find it easily accessible and engaging. There's some on-page kissing and the possibility of off-page canoodling, as well as the gory details surrounding soul magic, so maybe a pass for younger readers. Finally, it does lead heavily into its (currently) unreleased sequel, but I don't think it has as bad a cliffhanger as some of the series I've read. I'll definitely be returning to Visidia as soon as I can. Will you be joining me?
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