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gracerichards11's review
did not have the energy up finish this book. i got the gist of it.
tyler_j's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I don't have words right now, but I LOVED THIS TRILOGY!
windinthewires's review
4.0
This trilogy has an incredible ability to provide an ending so emotional and beautiful that it makes me forget every single flaw that I previously encountered in the book. This has happened with all three books in the series and it was most noticeable in this one because this is the one where I found most flaws. So obviously, I really loved this book as well as the previous two, but I'm bumping it down to 4 stars instead of 5 because while I was super emotional and teary eyed at the end, I had enough of small issues throughout the book that I can't justify a 5.
'Cause that's the thing: it's all minor issues. There's nothing hugely wrong with this book that made the reading experience bad, or that annoyed me so much that I didn't want to keep reading. I enjoyed every page of it, except maybe the chapters told from the POV of the new character whose name I keep forgetting because, well, that's how little I cared about his part of the story. I get that he played an important part in the finale but honestly I think that could've been handled without having to dedicate a bunch of chapters to him throughout the book. His character felt unnecessary, forced and honestly a lot like an underwhelming retelling of Meela's arc in the previous books. His whole thing is that he doesn't believe mermaids are just monsters, instead he believes they are intelligent creatures like humans and deserve the same kind of respect. Revolutionary, right? Except that's exactly what we learned from Meela and her friends & family's journeys in previous books. I suppose it's meant to show that other humans feel the same way as them but ugh, it was just way too much space dedicated to an issue that didn't need fleshing out more, while other more interesting issues were left largely unexplored.
A bigger issue is definitely the political scene and how relatively underdeveloped it was. Maybe a second reading would clarify things but I kept getting confused as to how the political system in mermaid culture worked, who the big players were and how they related to each other. I also felt like concepts and ideas were introduced only to then be put aside without much development (like the idea that mermaids have underwater borders and border control, the labour camps and persecution of political opponents, the fact that this huge all-powerful and indestructible serpent is let loose and it's supposed to be extreeeemely dangerous and yet our heroes always escape in one piece - I mean, of course they have to escape but I just always find it so difficult to take a story seriously when something is soooooooo powerful and yet someone defeats or tricks it with relative ease? Anyway, that's off topic...) and then we were on to the next thing. They arrived at one place, was there for a scene or two, left, went to a new place, was there for a scene or two, left, and it kind of kept going like that in a weird way where it felt like nothing was happening at the same time as everything happened too fast.
I do appreciate how the book deals with tyranny, indigenous culture and the importance of history and oral stories, how fucked up the US is and the lengths they're willing to go to in order to protect themselves and their interests, etc. I also love the theme of Meela learning to let go of her destructive desire for revenge and instead embrace her love and empathy as the source for her strength. I love that the act was the same - killing Adaro - but that the whole difference lay in her approach, and how she realized that the desire for revenge would eat her alive and that being driven by compassion and love was more powerful and meant she didn't have to sacrifice herself in the process. And then she still killed Adaro and later the serpent, because it needed to be done, and it was very badass and VERY emotional, especially the scene with the serpent. I like that Meela went from fantasizing about controlling Eriana's Host to realizing no one should be able to hold that much power and that true peace could only come when she was destroyed.
And as with any book, the true heart of the story is the characters. While Meela is definitely annoying at times, I appreciated her character growth and her passion for not only her family and loved ones, but for justice and decency in general. I love Lysi and how capable and resourceful she is. And I absolutely adore Spio, who reminds me a lot of Sokka from Avatar: The Last Airbender. He's just such a dedicated, loyal person who stands up for what he believes in, protects his loved ones whatever it takes, and is a ridiculous mess of a person who loves pranks and doing stupid shit just for the sake of doing it. But he also often uses his experiences of doing dumb shit to save the day, which is endearing and only makes me love him more. One of my favourite scenes with him is when they're battling king Adaro.
I just adore the idea of scrappy darling Spio literally throwing dead fish in the face of the king who is so much more powerful than him and could end his life in a heartbeat.
But of course, the true heart of this whole trilogy is the love story between Meela and Lysi. Although I wish they'd had more time together so we could see their relationship evolving after them being kept apart for so long, I still appreciate the parts we did get to see and it was so lovely watching them fall in love and fight for each other. It's the reason I picked up the first book in this series and it's the main reason I wanted to keep reading, although the world-building and supporting characters of course played a large role in it as well.
'Cause that's the thing: it's all minor issues. There's nothing hugely wrong with this book that made the reading experience bad, or that annoyed me so much that I didn't want to keep reading. I enjoyed every page of it, except maybe the chapters told from the POV of the new character whose name I keep forgetting because, well, that's how little I cared about his part of the story. I get that he played an important part in the finale but honestly I think that could've been handled without having to dedicate a bunch of chapters to him throughout the book. His character felt unnecessary, forced and honestly a lot like an underwhelming retelling of Meela's arc in the previous books. His whole thing is that he doesn't believe mermaids are just monsters, instead he believes they are intelligent creatures like humans and deserve the same kind of respect. Revolutionary, right? Except that's exactly what we learned from Meela and her friends & family's journeys in previous books. I suppose it's meant to show that other humans feel the same way as them but ugh, it was just way too much space dedicated to an issue that didn't need fleshing out more, while other more interesting issues were left largely unexplored.
Spoiler
One such issue is the correlation between human and mermaid culture. We get some glimpses into the differences between both cultures through Meela's eyes as she transitions from human to mermaid, but I still have so many questions that the book didn't answer. Did human and mermaid culture develop in contact with each other or totally separate? If they weren't influenced by each other, how are we to read the mermaids using phrases like "blitzing" (which is surely a WW2 reference?) and "drifting idly by" which is clearly a play on "standing idly by". There's a lot of these little phrases that are clearly plays on human language and culture, and it'd be so interesting to learn how these parallells came to be since we've only seen this world when humans and mermaids are at war. Again, not a huge issue that ruined the book for me, but I definitely would have appreciated some more insights there.A bigger issue is definitely the political scene and how relatively underdeveloped it was. Maybe a second reading would clarify things but I kept getting confused as to how the political system in mermaid culture worked, who the big players were and how they related to each other. I also felt like concepts and ideas were introduced only to then be put aside without much development (like the idea that mermaids have underwater borders and border control, the labour camps and persecution of political opponents, the fact that this huge all-powerful and indestructible serpent is let loose and it's supposed to be extreeeemely dangerous and yet our heroes always escape in one piece - I mean, of course they have to escape but I just always find it so difficult to take a story seriously when something is soooooooo powerful and yet someone defeats or tricks it with relative ease? Anyway, that's off topic...) and then we were on to the next thing. They arrived at one place, was there for a scene or two, left, went to a new place, was there for a scene or two, left, and it kind of kept going like that in a weird way where it felt like nothing was happening at the same time as everything happened too fast.
I do appreciate how the book deals with tyranny, indigenous culture and the importance of history and oral stories, how fucked up the US is and the lengths they're willing to go to in order to protect themselves and their interests, etc. I also love the theme of Meela learning to let go of her destructive desire for revenge and instead embrace her love and empathy as the source for her strength. I love that the act was the same - killing Adaro - but that the whole difference lay in her approach, and how she realized that the desire for revenge would eat her alive and that being driven by compassion and love was more powerful and meant she didn't have to sacrifice herself in the process. And then she still killed Adaro and later the serpent, because it needed to be done, and it was very badass and VERY emotional, especially the scene with the serpent. I like that Meela went from fantasizing about controlling Eriana's Host to realizing no one should be able to hold that much power and that true peace could only come when she was destroyed.
And as with any book, the true heart of the story is the characters. While Meela is definitely annoying at times, I appreciated her character growth and her passion for not only her family and loved ones, but for justice and decency in general. I love Lysi and how capable and resourceful she is. And I absolutely adore Spio, who reminds me a lot of Sokka from Avatar: The Last Airbender. He's just such a dedicated, loyal person who stands up for what he believes in, protects his loved ones whatever it takes, and is a ridiculous mess of a person who loves pranks and doing stupid shit just for the sake of doing it. But he also often uses his experiences of doing dumb shit to save the day, which is endearing and only makes me love him more. One of my favourite scenes with him is when they're battling king Adaro.
Adaro was trying to push his way out of the chaos. Spio threw dead fish at him so they bounced off his face.
I just adore the idea of scrappy darling Spio literally throwing dead fish in the face of the king who is so much more powerful than him and could end his life in a heartbeat.
But of course, the true heart of this whole trilogy is the love story between Meela and Lysi. Although I wish they'd had more time together so we could see their relationship evolving after them being kept apart for so long, I still appreciate the parts we did get to see and it was so lovely watching them fall in love and fight for each other. It's the reason I picked up the first book in this series and it's the main reason I wanted to keep reading, although the world-building and supporting characters of course played a large role in it as well.
Spoiler
Remember when I said the end erased all the little issues I'd found throughout the book? Well, by that I don't actually mean the very end, because there is a little epilogue that I didn't really like. Okay, it's definitely cute, but it's just a very weird choice to end this whole series through the eyes of this random ass character we've only known for a couple of chapters and who (at least for me) we don't really have an emotional connection with. Lysi and Meela have both been here from day one, and yet we get to see them ten years later just hanging out in the ocean for a fraction of a second and then they're gone and the book is over? It was kind of underwhelming, but since chapter 31 is an epilogue I'm counting the "real" end as the end of chapter 30, and THAT ending I really did love.wonderings's review
5.0
I believe that this is a satisfying conclusion to the Mermaids of Eriana Kwai series. It is closer to Ice Crypt than Ice Massacre in terms of tonality and pacing, but overall I deeply appreciated the character development that evolved throughout this book with Lysi and Meela – especially with the latter. There were certainly some surprises and shocks throughout that drew me in, and then the last quarter or so propelled itself beautifully.
Overall, I am immensely glad that I picked up the Mermaids of Eriana Kwai series. It has introduced a beautifully meaningful island and a vibrant, underwater world – both that are worth exploring with the characters of Meela and Lysi. I would highly recommend and have highly recommended this series for anybody who is interested in mermaids and complex and meaningful wlw relationships.
Overall, I am immensely glad that I picked up the Mermaids of Eriana Kwai series. It has introduced a beautifully meaningful island and a vibrant, underwater world – both that are worth exploring with the characters of Meela and Lysi. I would highly recommend and have highly recommended this series for anybody who is interested in mermaids and complex and meaningful wlw relationships.
magicineverybook's review
5.0
This series is amazing and I cried and I would pay all the money for a short story about Meela and Lysi getting married or adopting a merbaby
eclipsoul's review
4.0
oh. my. god. just when i thought i knew where the ending was going, it took a completely different turn and i absolutely LOVED it. it turned out way better than i had expected it to be, though i wish i had seen more lysi and meela by the end, but we LOVE a happy ending we LOVE to see the gays happy and thriving. the ending definitely felt rushed and not exactly what i wanted (at least for the POV because i wanted to know lysi’s POV) but this series is amazing! i cannot believe i only read and finished this now but im so glad i did.
gay mermaids? gay mermaids.
ps. i wish we more spio-meela interaction, spio’s adoration for meela as the whale whisperer is SO cute.
gay mermaids? gay mermaids.
ps. i wish we more spio-meela interaction, spio’s adoration for meela as the whale whisperer is SO cute.
reversedpolarity's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
haunted_by_humans's review
3.75
My least favorite from the series, but still pretty good and definitely worth the read! The middle just seemed to stretch on forever, but I was so happy to see Nilus and Meela reunited with their parents!