Book Review: Of Triton

In this sequel to OF POSEIDON, Emma has just learned that her mother is a long-lost Poseidon princess, and now struggles with an identity crisis: As a Half-Breed, she’s a freak in the human world and an abomination in the Syrena realm below. Syrena law states that all Half- Breeds should be put to death.As if that’s not bad enough, her mother’s reappearance among the Syrena turns the two kingdoms—Poseidon and Triton—against one another. Which leaves Emma with a decision to make: Should she comply with Galen’s request to keep herself safe and just hope for the best? Or should she risk it all and reveal herself—and her Gift—to save a people she’s never known?  Quoted from Goodreads

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Okay, so you want to know hands down what the best part of this book is?  It's that it actually resolves and ties everything up kind of nicely.  Not everything is perfect, but things are worked out.  And it's only the second book. Seriously, I was wondering whether or not there was going to be a third on to this series (which there is) it ties up so nicely. I love that.  So many second books are torture to read because they a) suffer from sophomore slump or b) leave you with a cliff-hanger ending so horrible you want to curse the author's name for making you wait a year or more to find out what happens. Fortunately this book doesn't do that.

In fact, this book is pretty much up to par with the first one, if not better.  Anna is a bit more mature about the way she handles things, and she's not so traumatized by her best friend's death.  Granted, she has all sorts of other issues she has to deal with, but I feel like she handled things a bit better in this book.  Plus, there was very little (maybe even no) high school drama, which sort of distracted from the whole underwater plot that was going on.

Plus, we get a bit more action in this book. Of Poseidon was all about the mystery of where Emma came from and discovering her heritage/abilities.  This book  has more conflict.  First we get Nalia running away from Grom (who she is convinced is dead and that she's wanted for murder), having tied of Reyna and kidnapped Emma.  After that, we have a political conflict involving Nalia's return and the position of all the royals, really, and their right to rule.  Finally, we have the whole humans discovering the Syrena problem.  All in all, it keeps the book moving.

I just have one major complaint.  It's sort of established that the two underwater kingdoms (Triton and Poseidon) are having conflicts.  But when Nalia comes back there's not the conflict between them like the synopses suggests.  Instead, a slimy political maneuver sort of puts all the royals on trial for their right to rule, and you can't really tell where one kingdom ends and another begins.  It didn't really make sense, especially if they really are two kingdoms.  Maybe they didn't explain enough about the underwater society in the first book, but half of it is from Galen's POV, so that's not really an excuse.   

All in all, this is a great 3.5 stars for me.  It's also one of the better mermaid/sea creature type book I've read recently.  So if you're looking for a great beach read, you really should check this out.  I'll admit, I kind of wish I had waited to read this by the ocean.  Then I wouldn't have to be so jealous  reading about sand between their toes and swimming in the ocean.