Descent
Shea MacNamara's life just got complicated. When a freak tornado devastates his Oklahoma farm, fifteen-year-old Shea moves to Cape Cod to live with a grandmother he's never met. Struggling to make sense of his new surroundings, he meets a girl along the shore who changes his life. Forever. Kae belongs to an undersea world hidden from humans, where bloody war rages between opposing clans. A fragile peace accord hinges on marriage between the royal families, but treachery and magick lurk in every shadow. With Kae's help, Shea discovers his true heritage and finds that his destiny lies somewhere far below the ocean's surface.
My only experience with mermaids was Disney so I thought it’d be interesting to try this out since it seemed Katie O’Sullivan created an intriguing premise. She writes with a sense of beauty and vivid detail so you feel as if you’re actually walking around the Cape along with seeing the colorful ocean life flow before your eyes.
It’s a speedy plot with well-developed characters, it’s definitely the kind of book teens and middle school students will enjoy. So many books are told from the female perspective or female centered it was interesting to read one in this genre and with this storyline that had a male central character.
There’s plenty of dirty politics, intrigue, drama, fantasy, mystery, betrayal and just a bit of romance to keep things interesting; this novel was the whole package. It’s just the right book to get your kid to read this summer and you’ll enjoy it too. Even better it’s the first in a new series so there will be more to come.
Thank you to Netgalley and Backlit PR for allowing me to review this book.
*synopsis and pic from netgalley.com