Tidal by Amanda Hocking

The Watersong Tetralogy Reviews

Wake and Lullaby

 

Published: St. Martin's Griffin

Publisher: April 16th 2013

Series: #3 Watersong
Website: Author’s Blog 

Introduction

Gemma can’t cope with being a siren, so she is desperate to find a way out. She discovers that she needs to find the scroll with the siren curse written on it to put an end to it. Unfortunately, if Gemma returns to normal, it means the death of the other sirens. Therefore, the other sirens will not willingly hand over the scroll. On the other hand, Penn wants to replace the whining Gemma, and Penn also has her sights set on Daniel, a man who is immune to the siren’s seductions. Daniel is dating Harper, Gemma’s sister, and there is only so long before Penn will get what she wants.

Story

This installment is more concerned with backstory and…talking. A lot of talking. There is some heart-crunching action at the end, and that is by far my favourite portion. Unfortunately, the characters are more concerned with talking, driving, whining, participating in a play, and doing some awful things to Gemma’s mother.  This series should be a trilogy, and all the useless talking in circles should have been cut from this book.

If you were interested in the backstory of the Sirens, then you’ll enjoy this book, or at least the parts that deliver a segment of their long lives. Although the reason why the tale of Bastian and the sirens was given to the reader was because Penn thinks about a descendent of Bastian may be in Capri. However, this is just dropped and forgotten.

The story is slow, yet there are some interesting concepts that are introduced, and I am sure they will be explored in the final book.

Gemma’s Siren Attributes

                The sirens have silky voices that are (generally) irresistible and they have an allure that gets them what they want. Perhaps Gemma hasn’t been a siren for long enough, but where is her charm? I find her dull. In this book she does seduce men, though the whole glamor isn’t there for her. Men just throw themselves at her, even when she is being the same dull wooden plank that she always is. The book would have been much more interesting if she exuded some sensual witchcraft, willingly or not.  

Harper

                In the other books, I liked Harper. She reminds me a bit of myself: I worry way too much about other people. However, in this book, it’s all Harper does. I get that she has a lot on her plate. At what point do you let you let a character do nothing but fret about other people? This is all she does. She worries about her boyfriend, the other sirens, her sister, her mom, the library, Marcy, and school. I know she has a nurturing complex, but I lost interest in her efforts because I wasn’t invested in her character anymore.

Cover

                I hope I’m not the only one who hates this cover. Showing a depiction of Daniel and Penn is bad enough, but look at Penn’s face! Now look at Daniel’s. He looks like a photo that has been imposed in some water and it looks fine. Now we all get to hear my theory about what happened to Penn’s face: Penn was like Daniel; a photograph. But to get the lighting correct from the lighthouse in the distance, they had to add some shadows onto her face, and the artist overdid it. Severely. Her eyes and eyebrows are unrealistic, and the shadow along her jawline kills me.

            The lighthouse in the distance also bothers me. Where is this lighthouse mentioned? I suppose it is just a standard nautical image, but it should have something to do with the story if it is on the cover.

The feathers in the splash behind Penn are a nice addition, though.

Final Verdict

                Because this is an installment in the Watersong series that is four books long, I have to say that if you enjoyed the first two, you should read this one. My hopes are that the fourth one will end with an amazing sense of satisfaction for the reader. This book, by itself, was a tad boring and simply too long for it to warrant its own installment. All this book did was eliminate characters and introduce new characters and concepts for the final book. I have high hopes for the finale of the Watersong trilogy, and if your library already has the first book, you kind of have to get this one too.

Lullaby by Amanda Hocking

The Watersong Tetralogy Reviews

Wake and Lullaby

Published: December 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Series: #2 Watersong (sequel, Tidal coming “Spring 2013”, as per the back of the Lullaby)
Website: Author Blog 

Introduction

             Gemma, the newest member of the siren quartet, has left Capri with the sirens to protect her loved ones. She learns about what it means to live as a siren, and what happens when you refuse the pull of the watersong. The hunger is swelling inside of her and her resistance will only last so long. Meanwhile in Capri, Harper, Daniel, and Alex search for Gemma and a way to break the curse, going on very little. Gemma desperately wants to return home, but there is no way the sirens will, or can, allow her to go back to her old life. Unless they want to replace her.  

Cover

            The cover of the book is nice, but it isn’t like the first book. With Wake you have the girl underwater, and while she doesn’t have a tail, you know something’s up. Lullaby has a girl standing on the rocks and she’s holding feathers. The feathers are obviously from the “bird-monster” form, though I don’t recall that form having yellow feathers. I know the cover is trying to convey the water and the air components, but it would have been better if the girl was interacting in some way with the water. While the “bird-monster” form is featured more in this book, it’s still really a book about mermaids. 

Mermaids

            In this installment we get to see more about what mermaids do-how they nourish themselves and how the live in general. We also get to see more of what is described as their “bird-monster” form, what is probably similar to a harpy. I enjoyed those moments a lot, though most of the book is them chilling out/arguing in human form. My favourite part of this book was when Gemma was living with the sirens. It was more interesting than when she goes back home. 

Pacing

            This book has much better pacing throughout the story. The last book had a boring and slow beginning and this one is pretty consistent in delivering action or interesting dialogue. I did like the second book, and I could not bear to put it down...most of the time.  

Gemma

            I still think the protagonist has a startling lack of personality. I think the author is trying to use a wide brush to make her “typical”, without actually describing what she thinks a typical teen is. And if you knew anything about teens *coughcough you’d know that there is no such thing as a typical teen. What do we know of Gemma? She thinks houses that have white painted/themed interiors are boring, and that she likes her blue room. And she swims. She likes the boy next door, though they do not share interests, at least none that I can remember. Alex is interested in what we would probably call geek culture (yay!) and he is a nice/helpful guy in general. Gemma does work hard at swimming, until she becomes a siren. So she’s dedicated, until she has to stop. And...nothing else.   

Harper and Daniel

            As I said in my Wake post, I liked these two characters a great deal. Both characters have personalities-unlike the protagonist-and they like each other. What I couldn’t stand is the constant back-and-forth between the two that happens in this book. Yes, she has to find her sister, so love would complicate the mix slightly, though he is already involved. What, are you going to tell him to forget the climax of the last book and go away? Returning Daniel’s calls doesn’t take much time or make things more complicated. You know if you call a boy you don’t have to get married, right? It makes me feel like Harper is being a jerk. And Daniel tries to take it in and accept that nothing will happen and Harper...gets upset? Well, what the hell did you just tell him?    

 Ending

            I spoke with a teen who had read Lullaby with me, and she was also disappointed with the ending. Everyone ends up where they were in the beginning with very few variances, and a lame excuse for arriving at the conclusion is given. It left me asking, that with everything that had happened, that’s it? There is an amazing climax where you’re wondering how this will all turn out and...it ends in disappointment.

For her, the ending upset her feeling about the book as a whole. For me, it’s a great book that has a sucky ending. It happens. 

Verdict

            I highly recommend this book, and I would even go so far as to say that it is better than the first. If your teen book club has read the first book and enjoyed it, this book is sure to please (except maybe for the ending). I do not recommend reading this book before Wake, as I feel that authors establish stories right from the first book (though there are a few exceptions). It might be weird to jump in, wondering what/who these sirens/other characters are, and how they got where they are.