Fathomless by Jackson Pearce

Title: Fathomless (Fairytale Retellings #3)
Author: Jackson Pearce
Format: ARC
Pub. Date: September 4th 2012
Source: Jen Ryland and YA Romantics

★★

Two stars.

Lo is no longer human. Her identity gone with the waves, she knows only what the angel and her sisters under the sea have told her. Her new life has started in the ocean, and will continue until the angel comes back to take her away. A mermaid, the ocean is now her home.

Celia is a human triplet, with a special gift. She can see into peoples' pasts, just by touching their skin. Her and her sisters, both gifted as well, keep this a secret between themselves. After all, who would believe them anyway?

Naida no longer exists, save for in the mind of Lo. Naida is what she was once called, before the ocean claimed her. She fights the mermaid Lo, forcing her to remember her human life, no matter the cost or the pain that it puts them through.

When a boy, Jude, falls off of the pier, Celia and Lo are there to save him. When Celia accidentally touches Lo, she sees into her past, learning her human name, Naida, and hears a blood curdling scream... And then everything is black. Lo wants to remember her humanity, wants to claim it back. But the only way to do this is to make a human boy love her- then steal his soul. Perhaps Jude is not as safe as he believes....

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I am full of so much disappointment after reading this. I had never read any of these retellings, and was super excited when I got the chance to read about mermaids. But overall, this book just fell flat for me.

+ The chapters alternate between Lo, her human personality Naida, and Celia. This makes for a well rounded story perspective.

+ It's an interesting twist to the mermaid lore, taking away their humanity completely.

- It was very odd reading about a mermaid who pretty much has multiple personality disorder. Lo is everything oceanic and mermaid. Naida is her human self. Both are in the same body, and one voice often interrupts the other. It was interesting, but didn't quite work for me.

- I was disappointed by the lack of... Well... Mermaidness. This is a darker version then, say, Disney's The Little Mermaid, and I'm fine with that. But, the only real difference (physically) between them and humans is their skin color.

- And on that note, when Lo walks on shore, blood oozes from her feet. I understand this is to show the pain she's willing to go through to learn about herself. But, I couldn't help but to want her dead. She's a mermaid. On shore..... No thanks.

- The triplets all have powers. While necessary for the plot, I couldn't help but to feel that it's a little much when combined with a story that already contains mermaids.

- I felt a disconnect and dislike for all of the female characters. Celia came across as antisocial and awkward, and Lo has that whole personality conflict that made it hard to follow at times, and it didn't really make me cheer for her to be human, the way I think the author intended.

Over all this book felt clumsy and anticlimactic. I didn't care what happened to either leading lady, and I feel that's just a bit important in a good book. If you're gung-ho into mermaids and fairy tales, maybe you'll enjoy this book. But for me, it's a pass.

Thank you to Jen Ryland and YA Romantics for my copy of this book.