Date published: 2015
Written by: Laura Dockrill
Summary:Looking after a naked girl he found washed up under Hastings pier isn't exactly how Rory had imagined spending his sixteenth birthday. But more surprising than finding her in the first place is discovering where she has come from.
Lorali is running not just from the sea, not just from her position as princess, but her entire destiny. Lorali has rejected life as a mermaid, and become human.
But along with Lorali's arrival, and the freak weather suddenly battering the coast, more strange visitors begin appearing in Rory's bemused Sussex town. With beautifully coiffed hair, sharp-collared shirts and a pirate ship shaped like a Tudor house, the Abelgare boys are a mystery all of their own. What are they really up to? Can Rory protect Lorali? And who from? And where does she really belong, anyway?
Review
This is the first mermaid book ( discounting Elijah's mermaid which technically not a mermaid book but was still phenomenal and more people should read it!) I have read and now I am craving more. As a child I was always fascinated with mermaids and would dream of the magical underwater worlds they live in. This book was beautifully written and created such an enchanting world that none of it felt sensationalised or over dramatic in a way I feel a lot of mermaid based stories do nowadays.
The first thing to be aware of about this book is that it is told from three points of view- Rory, Lorali and the Sea. My favourite point of view was probably the Sea I loved the over-looking and omniscient voice that the Sea had. I though the Sea was also given some of the best stories to tell such as the Abelgares and several of the mermaids such as Opal and Carmine. I thought Carmine and Iris' story was so heartbreaking and loved that the book so seamlessly combined lightheartedness with sorrow and tension frequently throughout.
The beginning of the book was excellent and I was hooked straight away. The first chapter with the short, one word sentences was a brilliant writing style to use when describing Lorali's surfacing. The first time Rory saw Lorali on the beach was both hilarious and simultaneously sweet to read, I really like how Rory was so awkward around girls as it was so refreshingly different to the hunky and confident male characters often created in YA literature.
I was really surprised by the pirate aspect in this book- I wasn't aware ( as I clearly didn't read the blurb properly) that pirates took part in the novel. At first I was extremely confused about where they had come from and I thought that the Sea was narrating a piece of the past not a story that was happening present with the characters. It took me some time to get used to the fact that the Abelgares were living in modern day and that pirates played a part in the novel but once I did they swiftly became some of my favourite characters to read about. I really enjoyed how they weren't definitively good or bad and that they each had their moments. My favourite Abelgare to read about was Otto- for a large part of the book I strongly dislike Otto and was such he was an antagonist of the book but in the end I was happy that Otto emerged as something of a hero at the end of the book as he sacrificed himself for Rory and remained on the Liberty. One of the chapters which made me question the Abelgare's morality was the 'Siren/ Elvis chapter' where they give up Elvis to the Sirens in order to fulfil their promise to them, reading this chapter horrified and sickened me. I also found Rory's character to be inconsistent following this chapter because he was extremely quick to forgive the Abelgare's monstrosities which I thought was very out of character for Rory.
Another problem I had with this book was the ending which I found to be extremely abrupt and unresolved, the story of Rory and Lorali was very similar to Carmine and Iris' story which irritated me since the stories seemed to be unoriginal and too alike. The ending just left me feeling kind of unfulfilled and I would really appreciate a follow up book or even a sequel however I know this won'y happen.
On the whole, I loved reading this book I thought the world building of the Whirl and the Mer that lived there. I was beautifully written and I was hooked instantly. Apart from the ending I have no complaints about this novel and would highly recommend anyone to read it.
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