Review: Fathomless by Jackson Pearce

Fathomless by Jackson Pearce
Fairytales, #3
Hardcover, 291 pages
Published September 4th 2012 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Goodreads|Amazon

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

 

 

 

As I’m pretty sure I’ve said before, I have never read a mermaid book. That being said this is quite a nice change. The first thing I liked about this book was the multiple points of view. I really enjoy being able to see what other characters are thinking. This book switches between Lo and Celia each chapter. There is also a third point of view but I won’t say who it is because that is a little bit of a spoiler. You find out pretty early in the book though.

I liked Celia’s character. She is trying to find herself throughout the book instead of being just one of the triplets. She feels she is the one that stands out because you can tell her apart from her sisters. You get to kind of witness how she evolves throughout the book.

Celia’s sisters, Anna and Jane, are rather controlling of her and that is one reason why she is trying to find herself. They believe they are stronger with the three of them together because of their powers. They become almost offended when Celia tries to do things on her own.

Lo’s character is quite intriguing. The way the “mermaids”, if that’s what you want to call them, interact is so interesting. They refer to each other as “us”. I know that is a little bit confusing but you will understand if you read the book. Lo’s character is trying to also figure herself out but for an entirely different reason than Celia. Lo doesn’t remember any of her past.

The main male character in the book, Jude, is a little strange. I’m not sure why I’m not crazy about him but he does still fit well into the book.

The one part of the book that I was disappointed in was the end. I thought the ending itself was good but you find out who the “angles” are and I was not prepared for that. I was so disappointed when everyone found what they were. This book seemed to kind of mash multiple things together. I think the ending could have been better without that. (I’m trying not to include spoilers so sorry if it’s rather vague.) That specific thing actually dropped the books rating a little bit.

Overall though, I would recommend this book. Oh and this is the first of the retellings book that I have read but I was never confused with any parts. From some of the other reviews that I have seen they may interlock some.

My Rating: