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robin947's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
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? N/A
4.0
freadomlibrary's review against another edition
4.0
Actual rating 4.5 stars
This review was originally posted at https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/
Check out my series review here: https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/2016/10/14/series-review-waterfire-saga-by-jennifer-donnelly/
Critically
Plot – 4 out of 5 stars
After the slow third book, this one definitely picked up again. It’s action packed though not as entertaining as the glory that was the second book. There are quite a few slow sections and some more romance which is just not what I read these books for. It deals with deth, grief, friendship, family, hope and faith. Yet I felt like the ending was lackluster for such a fun series though the epilogue kind of made up for it.
Writing Style – 3 out of 5 stars
I’m running out of things to say about the writing style haha. It’s simple, full of tension and descriptive. It’s fast paced which makes reading go by really fast though the books are thick and with a lot of chapters. It’s imaginative though on the younger side of the YA genre. And there’s lots of POV’s that show you everything that is happening all the time.
Characters – 4 out of 5 stars
This book finally has the entire group of six mermaids together and it was really great to see their dynamic again.
Sera is in such a vulnerable place. She’s basically the leader of the fight which comes at a high price and a lot of pressure on her shoulders. She’s determined to get her kingdom back and while she’s brave and strong, she’s also weighed down a lot by everything going on around her. I’m glad she finally started to trust her partners in this book because she needed it.
Astrid is also one of the ones with the biggest character development. She deals with a lot alone, and she’s nervous and discouraged really easily. However, she manages to push past those tough feelings and is determined to save her world. She learns to take the encouragement from her friends and to trust them to keep her secrets and truths safe.
Honestly, this series has some amazing depictions not only of female friendships and the different kinds they can be but also of character development and how people and your experiences can change you for the better. I’m a fan.
Emotionally
I’m really glad that I’m marking this series complete with the fourth book but this finale wasn’t what I was expecting.
The plot is too long. Our six mermaids are readying up for the two biggest battles of their lives. Taking back Miromara and defeating Sera’s uncle and finally killing Abbadon and saving their realms. They’re up against crazy, impossible odds but they have no other choice. I was expecting this finale to be a lot more exciting than it actually was. These books have a tendency to be really long, with a lot of chapters, but for some reason I was expecting this one to get to what we’ve been waiting for this entire time much quicker than it did. It just took too long to get the battles started and that’s basically what the reader is waiting for as soon as you open the first page, since it’s the finale. It was still action packed but there were a lot of luls in the plot and side scenes that didn’t really have to do with the big picture that just took too much time away from what I really wanted to know. When it finally came down to it, it was almost like I was already too bored to really care about the battles that were going on. Things happened a bit too conveniently for their plans which felt unrealistic but still obvious since it is a YA series. The ending itself was a bit lackluster and cheesy. I expected the fighting to be bigger, more intricate and to take up much more of the bulk of the story. However, the epilogue was really interesting though vague and left space open for a companion or spin off series since there were some loose ends that weren’t taken advantage of. This series is more about the characters and I really liked them.
Each girl was special in their own way which was obviously on purpose but still really cute. They were all different and had something unique to their mission and how they each helped make it happen. All of them grow a lot throughout the series though we put more attention on some of them more than the others.
Even with the different mentions of the romance with several of the different characters, this book was all about female friendships and girl power. It was so refreshing and just joyful to read a book all about girls kicking butt and growing and being brave even in front of adversity.
Overall, this series is really fun and I’m glad I read it. The plots are not that consistent, going from crazy action packed to sometimes lulling in movement, but they were all in general entertaining. I really liked the characters and how different they were and how much they grew throughout the series. But my favorite part of this series is how much the subject of girl power and female friendship was represented and made important. It was really refreshing and entertaining.
This review was originally posted at https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/
Check out my series review here: https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/2016/10/14/series-review-waterfire-saga-by-jennifer-donnelly/
Critically
Plot – 4 out of 5 stars
After the slow third book, this one definitely picked up again. It’s action packed though not as entertaining as the glory that was the second book. There are quite a few slow sections and some more romance which is just not what I read these books for. It deals with deth, grief, friendship, family, hope and faith. Yet I felt like the ending was lackluster for such a fun series though the epilogue kind of made up for it.
Writing Style – 3 out of 5 stars
I’m running out of things to say about the writing style haha. It’s simple, full of tension and descriptive. It’s fast paced which makes reading go by really fast though the books are thick and with a lot of chapters. It’s imaginative though on the younger side of the YA genre. And there’s lots of POV’s that show you everything that is happening all the time.
Characters – 4 out of 5 stars
This book finally has the entire group of six mermaids together and it was really great to see their dynamic again.
Sera is in such a vulnerable place. She’s basically the leader of the fight which comes at a high price and a lot of pressure on her shoulders. She’s determined to get her kingdom back and while she’s brave and strong, she’s also weighed down a lot by everything going on around her. I’m glad she finally started to trust her partners in this book because she needed it.
Astrid is also one of the ones with the biggest character development. She deals with a lot alone, and she’s nervous and discouraged really easily. However, she manages to push past those tough feelings and is determined to save her world. She learns to take the encouragement from her friends and to trust them to keep her secrets and truths safe.
Honestly, this series has some amazing depictions not only of female friendships and the different kinds they can be but also of character development and how people and your experiences can change you for the better. I’m a fan.
Emotionally
Spoiler
This series wasn’t the greatest thing I’ve ever read but it’s so much fun and I loved the messages and themes it presents.I’m really glad that I’m marking this series complete with the fourth book but this finale wasn’t what I was expecting.
The plot is too long. Our six mermaids are readying up for the two biggest battles of their lives. Taking back Miromara and defeating Sera’s uncle and finally killing Abbadon and saving their realms. They’re up against crazy, impossible odds but they have no other choice. I was expecting this finale to be a lot more exciting than it actually was. These books have a tendency to be really long, with a lot of chapters, but for some reason I was expecting this one to get to what we’ve been waiting for this entire time much quicker than it did. It just took too long to get the battles started and that’s basically what the reader is waiting for as soon as you open the first page, since it’s the finale. It was still action packed but there were a lot of luls in the plot and side scenes that didn’t really have to do with the big picture that just took too much time away from what I really wanted to know. When it finally came down to it, it was almost like I was already too bored to really care about the battles that were going on. Things happened a bit too conveniently for their plans which felt unrealistic but still obvious since it is a YA series. The ending itself was a bit lackluster and cheesy. I expected the fighting to be bigger, more intricate and to take up much more of the bulk of the story. However, the epilogue was really interesting though vague and left space open for a companion or spin off series since there were some loose ends that weren’t taken advantage of. This series is more about the characters and I really liked them.
Each girl was special in their own way which was obviously on purpose but still really cute. They were all different and had something unique to their mission and how they each helped make it happen. All of them grow a lot throughout the series though we put more attention on some of them more than the others.
Even with the different mentions of the romance with several of the different characters, this book was all about female friendships and girl power. It was so refreshing and just joyful to read a book all about girls kicking butt and growing and being brave even in front of adversity.
Overall, this series is really fun and I’m glad I read it. The plots are not that consistent, going from crazy action packed to sometimes lulling in movement, but they were all in general entertaining. I really liked the characters and how different they were and how much they grew throughout the series. But my favorite part of this series is how much the subject of girl power and female friendship was represented and made important. It was really refreshing and entertaining.
kbhayford's review
4.0
Good series. Always a good comfort read. A little death, a little destruction, but a good old fashion happy ending. The romance was cute and the character development was great.
disneygirl08's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-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
pizzamyheart's review
5.0
Sea Spell is a wonderful conclusion to Waterfire Saga. Although the first book was slow, the others ramped up and dominated the mermaid genre.The imagery is breathtaking, and something I'll remeber for a long time. The characters are strong, courageous, flawed. Each has their own personality which shines through the text.
This series shows it's ok to be different, embrace what makes you who you are, face your fears, stand up to friends and for friends, fight for what you believe in even if the odds are stacked against you, learn, have fun, and enjoy every moment life gives you.
Jennifer Donnelly proves once again why she is a master storyteller. I will miss this world and the characters she built.
Highly recommend to all young readers, especially young girls.
This series shows it's ok to be different, embrace what makes you who you are, face your fears, stand up to friends and for friends, fight for what you believe in even if the odds are stacked against you, learn, have fun, and enjoy every moment life gives you.
Jennifer Donnelly proves once again why she is a master storyteller. I will miss this world and the characters she built.
Highly recommend to all young readers, especially young girls.
ameserole's review
2.0
omg! It's over. It's really over. And I cared about absolutely none of it.
This book was a huge disappointment. It started off okay.. then got bad.. then really bad... and then I just gave up on this book because it was complete shit.
Sea Spell was quiet boring but honestly... not the most boring book in this entire series. It was terrible - like, completely one hundred percent terrible. I didn't care about anyone or their part in this super long and never ending boring book. I just wanted it to end. I kept hoping that it would just magically end half way through this book and just have pictures for the other half. It didn't happen at all. I was very disappointed.
Besides that, the characters were back to being annoying twatwaffles.
I pretty much hated everyone and everything they did. This book, and series, probably would have been a lot different if it wasn't about these characters or in this setting. Maybe.
The ending was meh. The middle was meh. The beginning I actually liked because it was about Ava. Overall, I didn't like this book one bit. I'm happy it's over. I'll never think about this book ever again. I will never ever EVER read this series again.
lunabooks23's review
5.0
What a great ending also Astrid you have such a good way of manipulating people I was literally all for it and also Serafina and Mahdi relationship is so cute glad they got married
a_lf05's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.0
what a lovely book series :) the ending felt a little rushed but I don't care because I love them all so much