Review: A Creative And Unique World But Some Inconsistencies
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 11, 2014
THE STORY:Firstly I must say this story is not what I was excepting. Call me crazy, but when I read 'underwater world' and saw the cover I naturally assumed this was a mermaid story. Well I'm disappointed to say, from early on we learn that's not the case. Instead, we are taken into a world under a crystal dome in the depths of the ocean, where Humans live. Although there are no mermaids, I did love the creativity of the story. Marin is a city, with it's own population, laws and a King - Marko. The live down there happily, occasionally surfacing to trade in the normal world. However after three generations, the women of Marin can no longer have children, (possibly because of lack of moonlight and time spent under the ocean) and it's up to Marko to save the city and dwindling population.Marko's sister, Syliva, pressures him to find a human girl from the land above and bring her back to repopulate Marin. So Marko's bodyguard and best friend Robbie, does just that - essentially kidnapping the poor innocent Miranda and taking her back to live in Marin. She's held captive until it's time for her to marry King Marko, and have his children (artificially - no actually baby making activities will be forced on her thankfully)THE CHARACTERS:I liked Miranda a lot. She's different from the average YA heroine, she's a little chubby and has a relatable personality. Her character was developed well, with a strong background about her guilt over her parents death, and a strained relationship with her sister. It gave her depth and substance, as well as a darker side.I struggled to connect with Marko at first. He's not exactly the warmest of characters when we meet him, and I felt he showed very little kindness to Miranda at first. However of the course of the story, we get to know him and he grew on me. He has a lot of pressure on him to save the city and being so young, he's struggling to deal with it all. He tries to connect with Miranda and show her kindness.Robbie was a sweet character, and I actually preferred his character over Marko. He had remorse over the fact that he was the one that kidnapped Miranda, and he showed great care towards her. He wanted to help her escape so badly, but fear and loyalty to his best friend Marko prevented him from doing it.THE ROMANCE:For me the romance was something I struggled with. The fact that the 'hero' and love interest, Marko, kidnaped Miranda, didn't work for me. Even though it's suggested he's not happy about it, he still did it and keeps her there against her wishes. And when Miranda starts to have feelings towards Marko, I couldn't help but feel she was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, which just prevented me from truly accepting their relationship. Marko did grow on me, and I think in the 2nd book I might be more accepting of their relationship, but the way it started just felt wrong.THE WRITING:I really enjoyed Garden's descriptions of the underwater world. I could see it all in my mind, and that was probably my favourite part of this book. But while this was a fun and creative story, there where a few inconstancies that I couldn't ignore.For example the whole point of Marko kidnapping Miranda was because she's able to have children, while the all the third generation women in Marin can't. But it's pointed out that two girls, Poh & Henrietta, (and many others) are 'Drowners', meaning they almost drowned in the ocean and were rescued and brought back to Marin to live. Therefore, since they where born and lived up on land, shouldn't they be able to have children still - why do they have to kidnap some innocent girl?Also how is one girl going to save the entire population of Marin, is she supposed to pop out an entire generation of children? If so, then what happens? They'll all be related, so they can't reproduce with each other. Do they continue kidnapping women to make more babies?FINAL WORD:While I did struggle with the romance and some inconstancies, I still enjoyed the story and I do plan on reading the sequel. The idea is quite unique and I look forward to seeing where Vanessa Garden takes the story next!CONTENT:Sexuality: medium / some kissing and suggestive conversations about sexViolence: medium / punishment is death by shark - descriptions of person killedLanguage: mildDrugs & alcohol: mild-medium / Miranda is drugged when kidnapped, main characters drink wine