Mermaid Lit Summer Challenge Week 3 + Follow Friday

Here's to two weeks of mermaid lit! Below is my review for this week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up with us and be sure to visit the others to see what they thought of their reads for this week!

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This week I read Above World by Jenn Reese. I'd heard great things about this book, but I confess the beginning was a bit slow for me. It took me a while to figure out why. First and foremost, I think it was just me. The book was well-written, the characters and setting are great, the stakes of the major conflict were high enough. The main characters are only about thirteen--a bit younger than I prefer--but even that didn't really bother me. In short, there was no reason for me not to like it. But I had just come off vacation. I was trying to catch up on everything plus trying to get back in the swing of things. On top of that, I'm still recovering from a head cold, which just makes me sleepy all the time. I think I just had a hard time getting into the book. But that would have been the case with anything I picked up this week.

The other thing that would have helped draw me in quicker, but given the structure of the story, really couldn't be helped, was the fact that, while the conflict was introduced at an appropriate time in the story, and, for the characters, it was really important, they didn't know the full extent of that conflict. This is a quest story, at it's core, and as they went along, they discovered that the problem went higher and higher and became bigger and bigger. While the stakes were definitely high enough for the characters at the beginning, I don't think they were high enough for me to care. By the end, they were huge and I really  cared. Believe me! But had there been more of hint at the beginning what the end game would be, I think I would have been drawn in much more.

Once I got going, though, and got more into the my regular momentum, I really enjoyed the book. By the end, I couldn't put it down. The action really picked up the last third of the book. Oh, and this book has one of the best villains I've come across in a long time! Totally loved him! If there's a second book (and I think there will be) I'll definitely be reading it!

Aluna and Hoki are very well-drawn characters, and many things--such as their relationships with their respective love interests) have been left open-ended, so this will be a fun series to follow. It's a quick, easy read, with lots of fun and adventure. The world-building is quite unique as well. The world itself is almost post-apocalyptic, but to overcome the apocalypse, the human race took charge of itself, giving itself either mermaid tales, wings, or an array of other animal parts so they could survive. It feels almost stone-aged, except that they have electronic gadgets--called "Tek" to survive. Sounds weird, I know, and it's the kind of thing that's hard to pull off, but Reese does it just...ahem, swimmingly.

 I'd recommend Above World to lovers of YA and middle-grade alike (though it really is a YA) and anyone who likes adventures, both on land and under sea, kids who are wiser than their elders, fierce heroins, sweet heroes, awesome villains, and fun hybrid species. This is definitely a fun summer read!

Click on the icons below to add to goodreads or check it out from Amazon or B&N! :D Happy Friday!

 

Follow Friday Blog Hop

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs! 

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

Q: What blogger would you most like to meet in real life? Tell us about him or her.

Hmm. Such a hard question! There are so many I'd love to meet in person. I think, though, I'd like to meet Julie Luek. She's one of my most loyal followers/interacters (I follow her too) and we chat all the time. She has a lovely blog over at A Thought Grows and is simply delightful! Hi Julie! ;D

How about you? Which blogger would you like to meet the most?

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