Review: Fathomnless (Fairytale Retellings #3) by Jackson Pearce

 

WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

 

Goodreads:

Celia Reynolds is the youngest in a set of triplets and the one with the least valuable power. Anne can see the future, and Jane can see the present, but all Celia can see is the past. And the past seems so insignificant -- until Celia meets Lo.

Lo doesn't know who she is. Or who she was. Once a human, she is now almost entirely a creature of the sea -- a nymph, an ocean girl, a mermaid -- all terms too pretty for the soulless monster she knows she's becoming. Lo clings to shreds of her former self, fighting to remember her past, even as she's tempted to embrace her dark immortality.

When a handsome boy named Jude falls off a pier and into the ocean, Celia and Lo work together to rescue him from the waves. The two form a friendship, but soon they find themselves competing for Jude's affection. Lo wants more than that, though. According to the ocean girls, there's only one way for Lo to earn back her humanity. She must persuade a mortal to love her . . . and steal his soul.

 

Review:

 

This book caught my eye when I first saw it's cover. I love mermaids, and hello? Mermaid on the cover! When I read the summary, reading about how it's a retelling of my favorite princess, The Little Mermaid, I knew I had to read this. And I was expecting a lot. I usually do when I read mermaid books. I wasn't disappointed. Fathomless was dark, mysterious, and very surprising. The book had a familiar feeling to it, and yet a new wave of creativity with every page. I recommend it to everyone.

 

Plot: The plot is like and unlike the Little Mermaid. It's like it by Lo, one of the main characters, is wanting her soul back to become human again. To do this, she must convince a human boy to love her. But here's the catch, to get one, she doesn't have to do good deeds; all she has to do is drown her lover. Crazy, I know. And how does Celia fit in? Well, she and her sisters are gifted with one of three sights: future, present, and past. Unfortunately, Celia was gifted with past, and she feels unless. But here's the good part, the big twist. As a ocean girl, Lo can't remember who she is, and Celia uses her gift to help her remember; thus, Lo remembers being Naida.

 

One thing I liked about this book, and I've expressed this many times, is that there were many POVs. Ones from Celia, Lo, and Naida. What? Naida? But she's just a memory, you say. Well, when Lo remembers her past, she becomes Naida. And Jackson played up this double personality very well. You could tell who was who when he switched Lo and Naida. Naida was a more quiet, good girl type, where Lo was more wanting-the-ocean-than-land type. She didn't care for land, she just wanted to move on, but still remember who she was. The dark twists the circled Lo/Naida's past was entertaining to read. There are points where you root for one, but then turn around root for the other.

 

There were two things I didn't like about this book though.

1) The ocean girls weren't mermaids, just girls with different colored skin with no clothes underwater.

2) The people that turned these girls were werewolves, which I thought was a strange addition to the book. But their part in the story wasn't that bad, it was just strange.

 

Characters:

 

Celia: It's odd, with her situation. She the one triplet that feels useless, but later breaks free. She's like Cinderella, except without all the shoes and crap. She stands up and takes what she wants without her sisters there, but in the end, she realizes that despite finding an identity, it's good to have someone there. She gets a backbone, basically.

 

Jude: typical love interest, but with a twist. Will tell about it later. He that one guy that needed to get away from home because it sucked, and is trying to make it as a musician.

 

Lo/Naida: In the book, it says that it has to be twins that become ocean girls. One has to die so the other can live in the ocean. Well, my theory behind this is that Naida is Lo's past name, but the girl that embodies her is her twin sister wanting to be free. That or she just that crazy.

 

Anne and Jane: Both are manipulative of their powers, but they are both also protective.

 

 I loved the characters in general. Well developed and full of surprises.

Romance: In the book, both Lo and Celia are wanting Jude's affections. Lo/Naida to drown him, Celia just cause she likes him. In a way, it's insta-love for Celia and Jude, but not after they date for a few weeks of summer. One of the back theories of this relationship is "Nightingale Syndrome", since Jude thinks Celia saved him. I don't think that's the case, but think what you want. I think their relationship is fine, but rushed.

Ending: A good happy ending. Surprising a bit, good.

Future: Cold Spell is out sometime next year. Based on The Snow Queen.

Rating:

Cover & Ending:

 

 

*Won this book

 

 

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