Review: Of Triton by Anna Banks

Of Triton by Anna Banks

Book Two of the Syrena Legacy series

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Publication Date: May 28, 2013

Rating: 3 stars

Source: ARC won in a giveaway

Summary (from Goodreads):

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?

What I Liked:

***Potential spoilers for book one, Of Poseidon! You are warned. There shouldn't be any of book two, Of Triton***

What a fun sequel this was! I waited a really long time to read it, for some reason, and that was stupid. I'm definitely glad I read it now, before Of Neptune comes out! I will be reading Of Neptune - I wouldn't miss it. I don't read many mermaid books, but this series is one series that has held my attention. While my rating of this book wasn't incredibly high, I enjoyed this book and would encourage people who liked the first book to continue with this series. 

At the end of the first book, there was that HUGE cliffhanger, about Emma's mother. The book literally cuts off with the revelation that Emma's mother is Nalia, the lost Poseidon princess and original mate of Grom, the king of Syrena and Galen's brother. This book starts with Emma and Nalia fleeing - Emma, against her will. Nalia is quite sure that Grom is dead, and that Galen has been lying to Emma the entire time. And there are bigger problems at hand - like the fact that Grom JUST took a mate towards the end of book one - Paca - and that since Nalia is the Poseidon prince, she must mate with a Triton prince...

The plot of this particular book was not my favorite part of the book - it was entirely too simplistic and predictable (see more below). However, the book was still a fun ride, and the series itself has taken an interesting turn. Most books have a series climax in which the protagonists must save the world or the country or SOMETHING. In this case, the protagonists aren't necessarily trying to save anything, which is fine with me (because it's something different).

Galen remains my favorite character, but I feel like he isn't his usual self in this book. I really feel in love with him in the first book, but maybe he doesn't much page-time in this book, because I feel like he wasn't really there. Emma and Rayna are the primary characters in this book, and maybe Grom and Nalia. I didn't really love this change, but I rolled with it. 

I REALLY liked Antonius, Emma's grandfather and the king of Poseidon. He. Is. Hilarious. He's always saying or doing something incredibly ridiculous or strange and it is endearing. He was in self-imposed exile or something, since Nalia "died".

The climax kind of crept up on me and then exploded in my face. It wasn't particularly exciting, but the trial right before the climax was both exciting and funny. It's great to see that the humor in the series didn't decrease in this book - because it's one of the things that stuck out to me, that I really liked about book one.

While I enjoyed the first book more than I enjoyed this book, I liked this book well enough! I don't think it suffered from sequel slump too badly, and I'm glad I gave this one a shot! I hope to read the final book when it comes out!

What I Did Not Like:

There were several things that I didn't really like in this book, especially when you compare this book to the first book. In my opinion an author's books should get better and better, especially when they are within a series. That isn't quite the case with this series, in my opinion, which is sad.

For one, I wasn't a fan of the plot. It was really, really slow. Literally half the book was Emma being kidnapped by her mother - they were running away from Galen and Grom, because Nalia was SO SURE that Grom was dead, and that Galen was trying to arrest Nalia for her Syrena crimes. There is nothing wrong with this part of the plot, except that it dragged through half the book, and it was really boring and repetitive after a while. In general, the plot was kind of lag-y. The second half of the book focused primarily on who was allowed to mate with who, and why certain people couldn't mate with other people, and why some people had to mate with someone else. 

Honestly, it just felt like a soap opera, or some sort of drama. OF COURSE it's all about "arranged marriages" and love and who gets the girl. This book does not have any love triangles, within any of the relationships formed in this series. However, the drama and "excitement" in this book is due to Syrena rules about who can marry who and who can't. It just felt kind of old and repetitive. And a bit predictable. After a while, everything seems very obvious and you can totally tell what is coming next. That wasn't quite the case in the first book.

This book is so short, and I felt like this worked against Banks. For one, I feel like the characters did not get much exposure, like the first book. As I mentioned above, Galen definitely wasn't THERE like he was in the first book. One of the reasons why I loved the first book so much was because of the first book was because of Galen - he was really fun to read and follow. In this book, I feel like all he was doing was stressing out about Emma. Not. Attractive. 

This book just didn't have the spark and life that the first book had. It didn't FEEL the same as the first book, and I was sad to see that. I liked this book, but I didn't LOVE it. I'm glad I read it, but I'm hoping that the third book redeems the series a bit, because I wasn't really feeling this book at first. Hopefully, the third book is amazing!

Would I Recommend It:

Despite my rating not being super high, I would definitely recommend this book, especially if you've read the first book (and enjoyed it). It's a good series to start, if you haven't read book one! I like the slightly more original type of paranormal fiction, and I love the humor - it's not often that we find authors with a really great humorous writing style.

Rating:

3 stars. I would have liked to see a little more, but overall, I'm pretty satisfied with this sequel. I have a pretty good idea as to what to expect for the third book, and that's exciting! Hopefully, the third book blows us away.

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