Review: Intriguing Story, Flat Characters
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 4, 2011
Getting into this novel was a bit difficult for me, but once the main conflict started, and once Marina discovered the mermaids, things really began to pick up. I really like how this is a sort of exciting, suspenseful mystery that mixes in a good amount of action. The action sequences are well done, and I wish there were more of them.I had a little problem with the writing. For first person, it was very passive. There are a lot of times where instead of making a statement, Marina would say, "I realized so and so was doing this because of such and such," or "I knew this was happening because so and so felt that way." Firstly, these sorts of phrases are repeated constantly throughout and got very repetitive. Secondly, I like first-person narratives to have a stronger voice. It would have been better if she had noticed a facial expression or personal tic to tip her off instead of all this realizing and knowing.The characters also need some fleshing out. None of them have very many flaws -- I would have liked to see bad habits, more tempers being lost, or some sort of activity that they're bad at. Instead, these characters are virtually perfect. Most of them come from bad family situations, broken homes, or single-parent homes (which was also somewhat strange -- there's not a two-parent family anywhere in the novel), and maybe they are socially ostracized, though we don't actually see a great deal of first-hand accounts with that either, but that's it. They're all nice, happy people who succeed in anything they try out.With that said, the story is intriguing. I like the idea of mermaids and I like how Anderson has portrayed them. They're flighty, carefree sorts of creatures, and I can see why Marina is attracted to them. The last half of the novel is pretty suspenseful, and I thought that it was great how Marina's problems brought her closer to Ethan instead of pushing him away, which is a theme that runs throughout -- there are very strong friendships in Between the Land and the Sea, and all these friends are very loyal and supportive of each other. I thought that was a nice thing to throw in a young adult novel. I also liked how it ended -- there are a lot of opportunities for this series to grow and develop.Overall, I enjoyed this book. Like I said, I had some problems with the writing, but once the story got going, the style was fairly easy to overlook. I think that most people can find something to like in Between the Land and the Sea. Best of all, there is no love triangle! That's a thing to appreciate in a young adult romance.*Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for writing a review. My opinion is not influenced in any way by this.*