Book Review - Deep Blue

Deep Blue
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Series: Waterfire Saga #1
Genres: Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 6th May 2014
Publishers: Disney Press
No. Pages: 320
Source: Review Copy - Disney Press
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

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.

Deep Blue had the opportunity of being a book that, pardon the pun, blew me out of the water. It had a premise I hadn't seen or read before, and plot that carried a sense of action of battle and plenty of room for world building, but Deep Blue's writing style, main character and entire premise turned out to be quite a let down, and because much of my irritation and frustration is from the main character, I'm going to do this review in a completely different style than normally, because this style works for myself and the disappointed of this book.

Serafina, princess of one of the many kingdoms that are almost entirely unpronounceable in this novel, this world you live in, what is it actually like, because I do believe that I got nothing from your adventures of the sea other than lots of water, lots of caves and lots of currents. Surely there is more to your world than dilapidated buildings, huge amounts of coral reef and a bunch of palaces dotted around the seas of earth? It just appears so boring and lacks any intrigue or interest, and I admit, I might not be vouching for the opinion of others here, but I can personally say I would have hated to live in your world. Not to mention I totally forgot you were even a mermaid on so many occasions I lost count; I only remember what I was told you were swimming everywhere! I know, how silly of me, but I think your adventure could have been written much better, with much less description on your clothing, which personally didn't interest me whatsoever, as long as you were clothed, I really didn't care what you were wearing, and more of your world, the actual caves you stayed in, or the views you had while travelling, and the bustling trading streets that were mentioned. I like to be able to see what it is you see in full clarity Serfina, as I'm not a mermaid myself and can easily assume these things, so if I ever do continue with your adventure, can we ensure that I actually know whereabouts in the sea I am and what exactly is going on? That'd be great.

Now that I've covered your world, can I talk a bit about you? Well, where to start; before your huge trek across the oceans and before you met Ling, you were an absolutely terrible character. I'm sorry if I've hurt your feelings but you were; you never did as you were told, which as a teenager I can let slip, but an attack on your home is happening and you want to stick around to die? Or when someone has sacrificed themselves for you, actually, a few someone's, you want to launch yourself into danger? Seriously, I know love is your strength and such, but you really needed to be much more practical and consider the fact that if you if you hadn't been shoved to leave by your best friend, a kind merman and an old songcastor, you would have died, numerous times! Sometimes, I really doubted your intelligence you know Serafina, especially in those moments, surely you could see how silly your actions were? Anyway, I was really happy when we actually got somewhere into your adventure and you started thinking like a leader, making the right choices and actually considering yourself more than a princess, and more than a moping, whining, love struck teenager and I swear I was actually over the moon when you started to think of some pretty good plans. You redeemed yourself a little, and by the end, you were a much more sufferable character; I'd even be tempted to say I liked your company a little, but no more than that. Can I ask one question though? What on earth was with your language? 'I've put my fin in it', 'swimming with the crowd', 'going shoaling' and 'swag'? I can't believe you mermaids had the nerve to insult us human beings when you're just switching up a few words from our own phrases; I'd watch your back if I were you girl.

There were parts of your journey that I enjoyed though. I loved the mirror scene, although you most clearly didn't, but before that scene, I was pretty bored and uninterested in your story, so I was extremely perky after that, and I have to admit, when you girls met Ava and her piranha, I swear I laughed for the first time throughout the entire novel, and it made me so happy you wouldn't believe, I thought I'd never smile until I'd finished reading! And why didn't nobody tell me to begin with that you mermaids love your mythology and your legends? I loved it when we got onto about Abbadon and Atlantis and how you girls are going to save the seas, granted, it was a little predictable at times, and your attitude towards Astrid was way out of order, but I love myself some mythology, and once you'd met the Iele and found out about your bloodlines, things finally got interesting. I have to say, I have my own theories on how you mermaids are going to plan this whole 'kill Abbadon' thing, but I won't go telling you my secrets, it's your story after all.

I know it sounds as if I didn't enjoy your story Serafina, and if I'm truthfully honest, I didn't enjoy around 70% of it, but the parts I did enjoy and find interesting were actually really good, and I don't feel as though I wasted the whole night reading about your adventure. I was put off by your attitude and reluctance to save your own life, but I did appreciate that you ditched your 'boyfriend' early on, you can do much better than him, trust me, and the relationship and connection you built with the other mermaids was really realistic and believable, even it I did constantly forget that you weren't human beings. I hope other people enjoy your story more than I did, and hopefully you manage to stop big bad Abbadon soon. Good luck!