The Mermaids Sister by Carrie Anne Noble

Synopsis

There is no cure for being who you truly are...       

In a cottage high atop Llanfair Mountain, sixteen-year-old Clara lives with her sister, Maren, and guardian Auntie. By day, they gather herbs for Auntie’s healing potions. By night, Auntie spins tales of faraway lands and wicked fairies. Clara’s favorite story tells of three orphan infants—Clara, who was brought to Auntie by a stork; Maren, who arrived in a seashell; and their best friend, O’Neill, who was found beneath an apple tree.
One day, Clara discovers shimmering scales just beneath her sister’s skin. She realizes that Maren is becoming a mermaid—and knows that no mermaid can survive on land. Desperate to save her, Clara and O’Neill place the mermaid-girl in their gypsy wagon and set out for the sea. But no road is straight, and the trio encounters trouble around every bend. Ensnared by an evil troupe of traveling performers, Clara and O’Neill must find a way to save themselves and the ever-weakening mermaid.
And always, in the back of her mind, Clara wonders, if my sister is a mermaid, then what am I?

Review

I downloaded this book as it was offered as a free pre-release kindle book from Amazon, I presume to build up some reviews before it’s released. Despite this, it doesn’t influence my honest review.

The book starts with Auntie and her 2 girls Maren & Clara living in a small cottage on Llanfair Mountain. Maren is starting to transform into a mermaid, which is her destiny, and soon she must be taken to the coast and released into the sea or die. Clara and another character O’Neill agree to travel together to take Maren to the sea. The story is set in the 19th centuary and the 3 of them travel to the coast by caravan and horse, when they are accosted by the Phipps’ travelling show who covet Maren, to put her in their show.

The story is well written and will appeal to some readers but I found it very twee & difficult to get into, hence the longer than normal (for me) time to read it. The only reason it features in the fantasy category in my opinion is because it briefly mentions a mermaid (the description of her transformation isn’t great) and a couple of other mystical creatures such as a wyvern for example. There are also too many cliché’s in the book for example they travel to a town which is full of shoe makers and cobblers who turn out to be all elves (Think The Elf & The Shoemaker). The authors attempt to twist the tail as in Jasper is the real tyrant not his father was rather also crude and not particularly well done. It needed more twists and turns along with more development of the fantasy characters etc to give it more appeal to the young adult fantasy reader.

This book is aimed at the young adult market, but I would have aimed it more at the 10 – 14yr olds, the young adults I know wouldn’t touch this book. On the positive side, the description of life in the 19th centuary appears to be accurate and did add to the authenticity of the story. If you like fantasy books with depth of characters and storylines then I wouldn’t bother with this book.

I rate this book