Not only is this book written for pre-teens, it sounds like it was written by one too:Example 1"I am an Empath like my mom- remember." Tage's mom had been an Empath. She could read the emotions and true intentions of the soul, and Tage had this gift as well.Example 2"I didn't mean to," Halen said. She hadn't meant to at all."Yes, the author has built multiple worlds with a (rather short) history, but that's about as far as it gets. The narration lacks creativity and there's just cliche after cliche. A girl grows up completely in the dark about her magical past, is more powerful than anyone thought, miraculously manages to save the world. Oh and she had a twin sister she never knew about. Actually, it's not so much the cliches that bother me, it's that the author doesn't bother to take it any further.The story doesn't draw me in and the characters are even more lackluster. In fact, the only characters I was interested in barely had a role.Anyhow, this bit of psychological damage really ticked me off:"You told me every time I got angry a bird would lose its feathers and if I wasn't careful they would lose so many they would freeze and die."So, between the poor storytelling and the lack of editing (mostly to do with punctuation), this just didn't do it for me.Mermaids, sirens, magic, shapeshifters, along with absolutely nothing to make with the love story believable and the contrived friendship...read if you're bored. First off, I have to warn potential readers that this in fact is not a stand alone. I thought it was, and as I was nearing the end I was wondering how they could possibly fit everything in. So just so you know, there is one, and this book has the best cliff hanger ever! I could not believe how it ended!This has to be my favorite mermaid book of all times. The way this world was presented to the reader was well done. It felt like we were really connected to the main character, Halen, since we are learning things at the same time as her. So the beginning is kind of confusing before everything finally gets sorted out. And it was explained quite simply and only the necessary information was given. There was the perfect mixture of dialogue and narration through out this book. It kept me on edge from the very first page. And the book isn't very long, though it is packed with adventure and action. The conversations that the characters have are very believable and the flow seems very natural. And the characters themselves are all very fun and you really start to root for them almost the moment they are introduced. They're just hilarious and great. I wish that I could be friends. I have not read a book this fun in such a long time and I really enjoyed it. There were some very clever plot twists along in this book that I never would have predicted. They are just so well done that afterwards I just kept asking myself how I didn't see that before. I definitely need to pick up the next book and find out what happens to them. There are just so many unanswered questions...
What do You think about Coral & Bone (2014)?
If you like mystery and adventure...don't miss this book!
—michelle_smith
