Monday, September 24, 2012

Paul's September Book: Fathomless (Ashley's Pre-Reading)

Title: Fathomless
Author: Jackson Pearce
Year Published: 2012

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Synopsis: FATHOMLESS is a companion book to SISTERS RED and SWEETLY, and is a retelling of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid.

Celia Reynolds is the youngest in a set of triplets, and the one with the least valuable power. Anne can see the future, Jane can see the present—therefore essentially read minds—and all Celia can do is see the past.

Lo doesn’t know who she is. Or who she was. Once a human, she is now almost entirely a creature of the sea—an undine, a nymph, a mermaid; all terms too pretty for the soulless creature she knows she’s becoming. The other ocean girls, her “sisters,” tell her there’s only one way for her to earn her soul and humanity back—convince a mortal to love her, and steal his.

Lo thinks a soul is within her grasp when she saves a guitarist, Jude, from drowning. When Celia intervenes, she accidentally reads Lo’s past, calling out Lo’s long-forgotten human name. The two forge a friendship, meeting by the shore to remember Lo’s old life, to talk, to share secrets they’d never tell their “real” sisters.

Yet remembering makes Lo more desperate than ever for a soul– and despite Jude’s blossoming romance with Celia, she can’t resist longing for his. Straddling the line between humanity and darkness, Lo struggles to find her place on either side, while Celia wonders just what she and her power have unleashed. But the sister you choose can be more powerful than those you’re born with– in a fight against Lo’s sisters and the waves themselves, Jude and Celia risk their lives to save Lo from her own darkness. But is a soulless, wanting existence better than none at all?

Why?:
 I've read both Sisters Red and Sweetly (my reviews are here and here), and loved both of them. I love the world Pearce has created, and I love how the books are connected in very subtle ways. Plus, I love the Little Mermaid story, and I'm interested to see how Pearce takes it back to the original fairy tale.

Expectations: I expect a dark retelling of The Little Mermaid, complete with a little bit of magic. And definitely some conflict with the Fenris. I also expect the Reynolds family to be a huge part of this book, and the missing younger sister from Sweetly to be pretty important.

Judging a book by its cover: I'm not really as in love with this cover as I was with the ones for Sisters Red and Sweetly. I do think it's still a very pretty cover though, and it would definitely catch my eye if it were on a shelf in a bookstore. I just wish it looked like the original hardcovers of the first two books in this set.


--Ashley

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