Review: A great paranormal romance / adventure / fantasy read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 13, 2014
I have been excited about this book since I heard about its release. A good mermaid book is difficult to find.Characters: 4/5Terra definitely creates interesting characters, and they are easy to connect with right from the start. I am not even sure how to discuss these characters without giving too much away. Even the minor characters like Sasha and Cordelia are intriguing.Serena - Serena is the outcast in her society. I like her and admire her bravery. She is playful and easy to fall in love with. Her journey is a tough one, and I was asking a lot of questions in the beginning trying to piece all the elements of Serena's story together. As scary as her title is (werewolf liaison) I definitely think she does a kick-ass job of it!Ervin - Ervin is a childhood friend of Serena's. He is torn between his duty as a guard and his friendship with Serena. They have a platonic friendship, but a beautiful one. He really is a sweet character.Kai - hmmm, intriguing. I like him!! Wow I hope Kai and Serena get a chance at love and make little painted mer-babies!Liam - I love Liam to pieces. He is definitely my favourite character in the book and I am looking forward to seeing more of him in the rest of this trilogy.King Merrick - what a tough position it is to be King. The king's role and the decisions he has to make tugged at my heart strings when I finally understood where his story was going.Plot, Pace, Writing style: 4/5Terra's writing style has definitely improved and smoothed out since writing the Akasha saga. Her style is more rounded and complete. The first half of the book was the ground-laying part, but the second half of the book hooked me and tugged at my heart strings. The plot is original and the pace is perfect. The ending is quite shocking and I think awesome stuff will follow in the next book.Some of the smaller details I enjoyed about The Rising are the last names Terra has chosen: Moon-shadow, Air-spirit, Sea-fire. Another detail I enjoyed was how Terra incorporated the title and series name into the story.Cover talk: 5/5I love everything about the cover. It suits the story perfectly and it is definitely one of the prettiest I have seen for a while. I wouldn't mind having a paperback copy of this on my bookshelf.Final Thoughts:  I enjoyed this series and will definitely be continuing with it! This is one of the best mermaid books I have read so far.