#Bookreview Deep Waters by Sophie Rhodes is a story about a girl who meets a merman.
Deep Waters by Sophie Rhodes is a story about a girl who meets a merman. They fall for each other, even though it is forbidden, and go on an environmental adventure to save Lake Huron from oil drilling. Here is the description from Amazon:
2 out of 5 Black Cats
Deep within the waters of Earth lives a mysterious species of mermaids, the Lemoso. Recent human environmental disasters have threatened the Lemoso’s way of life and forced their prince, Raymos Seabolt, to take a stand. Boundaries are tested and rules are broken as Raymos fosters his forbidden romance with a human, Julia Cork. Can their love transcend their differences in time to save the waters that they both hold so dear—the Great Lakes?
The story mostly takes place on the beaches of Lake Huron where teen, Julia, now lives with her environmental parents helping to build wind turbines in the lake to create environmentally safe energy. Not far away from them is the oil-drilling company that wants to set up oil rigs in the lake. While exploring the beaches, Julia meets the attractive, black-haired Raymos, and they spend time together and quickly fall for each other. What Julia doesn't know at first is that Raymos isn't human, he's Lemoso.
The Lemoso do not follow the traditional mythology of merpeople. Sophie Rhodes has created a completely new creature and mythos that humans have mistaken for traditional mermaids. Like sparkly vampires, this was disappointing for me. I wanted to read a book about traditional mermaids. These Lemoso were more like aliens living in the sea. Once I got used to the idea, the story was fine, just not what I was looking for.
The novel has a strong environmental message, and I do mean strong. You are hit over the head with it in the second chapter. I'm not against novels having a positive message. I can even relate to the environmental concerns of the book. I grew up in Florida on the Gulf Coast, and we were in a group called Secure that was against off-shore drilling. Sadly, the worst fears of the group came true, oil spill. I think the environmental theme could have been handled in a more subtle manor so it didn't feel like you're being force fed.
The characters are playfully written and at times enjoyable to read about, but then there are times when the character's reactions don't come across as realistic. When Julia first finds out the truth, she seems to handle and except it too easily, and when Raymos decides to let her in on the truth, the decision feels too easily made, too quickly made, especially considering the consequences. There are a lot of areas in the book that I felt this way about the character reactions.
This book is definitely for a younger crowd. I think 12 to 14 year olds will love this book, and the parents will, too, because there is nothing explicit for them to read such teens doing drugs, alcohol, or having sex. The only issue parents might have is the fact that Julia's parents let her drive a car alone with only a learners permit, technically breaking the law.
The writing style wasn't bad. It flowed and was easy to follow. There are a few areas that could have been handled better such as the part where Raymos and his family, and the counsel are all touching and the feelings are being transmitted. This section was choppy and repetitive, but there are only a few areas like this. I did come across several errors, typos; mostly words with -ed added to them that shouldn't have -ed.
Overall, I'd say young girls are going to like this story, but if you're older, like me, and like reading young adult, you may want to skip this one, it's too young.