💬 Review Waterfire Saga: Deep Blue - Jennifer Donnelly

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Rosie54321

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Name of the eBook you are reviewing: Waterfire Saga: Deep Blue - Jennifer Donnelly



Deep blue follows the adventures of Mediterranean mermaid princess Serafina as she prepares for her royal marriage, but strange prophetic dreams keep her up at night; when chaos ensues she must follow where her dreams lead and find six other mermaids scattered about the seas, if she wants to avoid a catastrophic sea war. This is the first installment of the Waterfire saga.

Review:
I started this book when I was quite young but over the years finished the four books coming along with it. I have to say, this one did an expert job at setting up the complicated world Serafina lives in. Many times the story feels close yet far away, since the entire civilization of mermaids and their way of life is so fleshed out and similar to our own, but at the same time retains its mystical powers and fantastical elements. Mermaids use a magic called songspells or songcasting, probably playing upon the legends of sirens and singing creatures of the ocean; to cast magic, merfolk have to sing. It made the story very interesting, especially when it came to stealth and cover. Jennifer Donnelly's world-building was absolutely top tier in this novel, and retains this complexity throughout the following books. There are so many legends and folktales within the merpeople's kingdoms that sometimes I forget this is an imaginary world. Foods, transportation, technology; all of it gets explored while we follow Serafina's journey. Speaking of Serafina, I really liked her as a character. She's a princess but not spoiled, and fights her good fight in these troubled times. She's pushed down and at the end of the line multiple times, but every time she always remembers a piece of advice to "play the board, not the pieces", and finds a resourceful way to save herself.​
The only thing I'd say I didn't enjoy was sometimes the length it took to get out of certain situations, since point-of-views change and something unresolved in one might go on longer than I anticipated it to. Also, no spoiler, but the villain was a bit confusing to me at the beginning, but that might just be because when I read it I was a bit younger.​

Would you recommend this to other users? Yes, I would! It's an adventurous book that lives up to my expectations and even surpassed some. I didn't get bored of the characters or the story, and every challenge was written well and made sense in the story. Although a chosen ones storyline is sometimes overused, I think Jennifer Donnelly wrote it in a unique and fresh way.

Rating(1-5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐
 
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