Lost Voices

May 08, 2011

Wendy Darling rated it

Shelves: pn-sea-creatures, heroines-wimpy, young-adult, read-2011, ebook-egalley, annoying-main-characters, 2011-publication, cover-fraud

I don't like it when mermaids are mean.

This book has beautiful imagery of shimmering fins and tails and mesmerizing siren songs, as well as exciting near-misses with giant orcas. The author writes lovely descriptions that you can easily picture in your mind, and the book description sounds very intriguing--but unfortunately, neither the story nor the characters live up to the pretty words or the pretty cover.

Aside from juvenile dialogue and a slight plot, many elements of thi...moreI don't like it when mermaids are mean.

This book has beautiful imagery of shimmering fins and tails and mesmerizing siren songs, as well as exciting near-misses with giant orcas. The author writes lovely descriptions that you can easily picture in your mind, and the book description sounds very intriguing--but unfortunately, neither the story nor the characters live up to the pretty words or the pretty cover.

Aside from juvenile dialogue and a slight plot, many elements of this book are actually also quite disturbing. The mermaids come into being as a result of the extraordinarily cruel actions from the humans in their lives, such as attempted rape, "boiling babies," and slavery. These are serious topics that are mentioned in passing but never fully explored, and such casual treatment of such brutal topics seem both jarringly out of place and completely inappropriate in a book like this.

Luce, the 14-year-old main character, is meant to be seen as an admirable, kind heroine, but the anecdotes that demonstrate this aren't very convincing, and Luce herself seems painfully young and easily duped. The other mermaids, whose characters pretty much all blend together, spend their days playing power games and luring innocent people to their deaths just for fun--it's The Little Mermaid + Heathers with a dose of Mean Girls thrown in for good measure. And whether you're on land or in the sea, a story that primarily revolves around teenage back-stabbing and manipulation just isn't all that interesting to read about. I'd love to see another book from this author, as the writing is very beautiful in parts, but one that has a much more well-developed plot and fully fleshed-out characters.

Incidentally, I'm not really sure what the exact differences are between a siren and a mermaid (the quick research I did online seems evenly divided by those who think they are the same beings with different connotations and those who believe they are entirely different creatures), but regardless of what name they go by, the creatures in this particular book are strikingly cruel and immature. And while the sea they're swimming in is extraordinarily pretty, unfortunately it is also very lacking in depth.

This review may also be found in The Midnight Garden. An advance copy was provided by the publisher.

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Dec 23, 2010

oliviasbooks rated it

Recommends it for: fans of "Sisters Red" and "A Curse Dark as Gold"

Recommended to oliviasbooks by: Nic

Shelves: young-adult-fiction, thriller, urban-fantasy, mermaids-selkies, e-version, read-2010, cliffhanger, sequel-no-thank-you, in-love-with-the-cover

Mermaids are my favorite creatures – always have been. Consequently I notice with glee all those merfolk novels that lately have started popping up left and right. And I am very, very grateful to Hartcourt and to Netagalley for accepting my request for a review copy.

Mermaids and other humanoid water-breathers can be tackled from completely opposite angles, because there is always a mystery around them: the "We-above-the-waterline-cannot-know-for-sure-factor". Thus opposed to...moreMermaids are my favorite creatures – always have been. Consequently I notice with glee all those merfolk novels that lately have started popping up left and right. And I am very, very grateful to Hartcourt and to Netagalley for accepting my request for a review copy.

Mermaids and other humanoid water-breathers can be tackled from completely opposite angles, because there is always a mystery around them: the "We-above-the-waterline-cannot-know-for-sure-factor". Thus opposed to vampires (getting sucked dry can only end badly) and other monsters they can be pictured as cutish and harmless glitter-girls living in pink mother-of-pearl cities, but there are also selkies, who are not to lose their seal skins, and legions of inhumanly beautiful and alluring, but cruel, calculating, heartless and cold-blooded hunters - out to mesmerize the male two-legger. Face it, the majority of the European legends and fairytales does not present us with with wavy redheads singing happily along with the starfish chorus, but with death-bringing voices luring Orpheus into dangerous waters (Homer), hairy Lorelai distracting seafarers by shaking her booty on her wood-splitting rock (Brentano and others), clever waternixies persuading millers' sons to accompany them underwater and sending them back completely spaced out and clueless three generations later (Grimm’s), fairy-like undines tricking men into getting them pregnant and thus gaining a soul (de la Motte) and – certainly – unhappy fishgirls who give their voices and their lives for a futile shot at gaining the heart of a rich jerk (Andersen).

Sarah Porter grabbed the siren-theme from the Odyssey, recreated the unforgiving and bleak atmosphere of the European seas by moving the setting to even colder Alaska, cooked up a plausible reason for women to use their enchanted voices deathbringingly and wove a modern retelling for a young adult audience from the strings:

Girls of all ages who die from being abused or reach the point when stomaching more abuse and violence simply isn't possible anymore, turn into magical creatures with superhuman strength, sea-serpent-like glittery tails, angelic, persuasive voices and perfect faces (picture Luce as Alice Cullen with a tail) – if they are coincidentally in the vincinity of any source of water. Being disappointed from mankind and enraged for having been mistreated during their childhoods allows their bloodthirsty enchanted voices, who have a mind of their own, a good leverage. The girls find a home within one of the matriarchic mermaid communities, but spend their days dreaming of wrecking the next ship, of enthralling helpless sailors and tourists until they kill themselves joyfully.

Luce (Lucette) is different. It becomes clear quickly, that her voice is unusually powerful, but more important is Luce's attitude toward her "killer voice". Luce's experience with abusive adults didn't last as long as that of many of her tribemates. After her father’s death – at sea - she had only spent about a year with her alcoholic uncle - who had beaten her often, but had tried to rape her just that one time when she decided to jump. Even the lack of friends didn't matter so much to her during her nomadic life with her thieving father, since she had always felt loved and treasured by him. In contrast to the other mermaids Luce does not condemn humanity as a whole. She still can distinguish between good humans, bad humans and indifferent ones. And – at the latest when manipulating newcomer Anais arrives, who did not really have a reason to become a mermaid and sets a wave of envy and back-stabbing into motion - she comes to the conclusion that her fellow mermaids' souls do not really differ from the humans’ they all hate with abandon and that without their orally transmitted code of behavior everybody would be at each others throats.

In the beginning Luce starts to "tame" her enraged, beautiful voice, gradually steering it to alternative uses, because she wants to shed her crave to kill with it. Later she notices that working with her voice also hones her singing skills as such. Her bottomless admiration for Russian Catarina, the tribe's ruling queen, secret code breaker and star singer, whose friendship she desperately seeks to win, hinders her from being open about her vocal experiments – until it is to late and the bullies' trap is asbout to snap.

Luce is – like Catarina and the orphaned sisters Violet and Dana, too – a strange and unfathomable character. Sometimes she is samarithian on the border to Sainthood, sometimes unreasonable fangirlish or naive, seeking approval and praise at all costs. When she has a real chance at acquiring a friend in depressive Miriam, she blows it without giving the possibility a thought. What puzzled me immensely was her quick acceptance of the so-called Larvaes’ fate: Larvae are abused infants who turned mermaids – and certainly do not age. If not for the code the older mermaids would ruthlessly kill the helpless, clingy babies, who end up in the orcas' jaws most of the time. Luce undertakes only one feelble attempt at saving a Larvae, before she capitulates. They could have easily fenced them in I thought angrily.

Sarah Porter's writing is beautiful, the setting well defined and easy to visualize, the story a little springy and frayed with a little too much stress on bullying and mean girl stereotypes. It also does not please me that the end was a complete hanger that even lacked a proper cliff.

Personally I like stories that do not avoid problems, but play a hopeful tune and end on a promising if not cheerful note. If you are into dark and evil modern fairytale retellings, which do not magic away the gritty and dirty parts like, for example, Sisters Red (Little Red Riding Hood) by Jackson Pearce or A Curse Dark as Gold (Rumpelstiltskin) by Elizabeth Bunce and you do not mind the complete absence of romance, "Lost Voices" might be just the thing for you. It is definitely an interesting addition the available selection of mermaid fiction.

A note to the cover designer: The cover is outstanding, but the tail is supposed to be much longer!
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Nov 27, 2010

Erica (daydreamer) rated it

Shelves: mermaid-siren-selkie, arc, beautiful-writing, coolio-covers, 2010-reads, netgalley, love-love-it, fairytale-reminiscent, release-in-2011, ya, would-like-to-buy

Lost Voices spoke to me like a dark reminiscent fairytale. It almost seemed like a very vague retelling of The Little Mermaid. Little things sometimes just reminded me of the classic tale. But Lost Voices brought a whole new world to mermaids, in a very compelling and ominously beautiful way. It was darkly fantastic, full of luscious intrigue and secret enchantments. Its foreboding melodious lull swept me into the world of these killer mermaid girls. The writing was beautiful, intricately woven...more

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Dec 10, 2010

Isamlq rated it

Shelves: arc-galley

It’s exceptionally well written. The first portion is haunting and so sad. All that said, I honestly had a difficult time getting into the whole mermaid mythology being offered. I was quite skeptical about this vengeful version of mermaids. Surprising given my penchant for anything paranormal. I can take any werewolf, vampire, faerie book out there... I guess, I’m just not into fish girls.

Like I said, the writing itself was solid. That the author prefaced the whole book with a son...moreIt’s exceptionally well written. The first portion is haunting and so sad. All that said, I honestly had a difficult time getting into the whole mermaid mythology being offered. I was quite skeptical about this vengeful version of mermaids. Surprising given my penchant for anything paranormal. I can take any werewolf, vampire, faerie book out there... I guess, I’m just not into fish girls.

Like I said, the writing itself was solid. That the author prefaced the whole book with a song from Radiohead also guaranteed I’d see it through.

Luce. God, how pitiful can one character get? Her father is dead; she doesn’t fit in. And her Uncle is a douche (of epic proportions.) After a very brutal attack, Luce has nowhere to go. She falls from a cliff but doesn’t die. Instead, finds herself turned into a mermaid. Only her type of mermaid isn’t the disneyfied likes of Ariel (Sorry, I just had to put her in.) Here, the mermaids are vindictive; creatures that use their voices to lure people to their death. This is where she finds herself. Should she lose what little bit of humanity she has left by doing as the others do? Or should she stay as she is and be forsaken by them?

The abrupt shift from her depressing human reality to another one peopled with creatures of unimaginable beauty tells me (a) that maybe, she might have fallen hard and been concussed, or (b) that the author is trying her darndest to fit the pieces together. Its just too much a stretch; one that I find a little INcredible. OK, maybe the abruptness can be explained away by the suddenness of her death as well. But still…

There is no way of reconciling my childhood’s notion of sweet Ariel and scary Catarina. On one hand, mermaids hold a dear and special place in my heart because that movie is one of my earliest memories. On the other, there are these creatures that exist solely because of human cruelty. The very cruelty that drives them to lure humans (good, bad, young and old) to their death. Scary? Yes. So, perhaps it’s just early childhood training that’s keeping me from swallowing this story hook, line and sinker (corny! pun intended.) Or maybe it’s the concept of an eye for an eye (and then some) that’s just pushing this book away from a solid 5 star rating.

But once you get used to this type of mermaid, things really start get interesting especially as the focus becomes one of friendship and of betrayal. It’s almost as if this book could be split in two, both parts of which would be pretty decent reads on their own: Luce’s relationships with Catarina, Miriam as well as her non-relationship with Anais; the tribe dynamic; Anais' manipulation; the mermaids' shame and Luce unwillingness to bend to any of it, made LOST VOICES much more than just a (vengeful) mermaid story.

Solid writing (+1.)
Haunting start (+1).
Luce and her friends (+1.)
but just a tad unbelievable (-1)
___________
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Jan 09, 2011

Susan Shafer rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 28, 2011

Doskoi_panda rated it

Shelves: ebook

I'll begin this by saying that I have had an interest in mermaids for as long as I can remember, probably stemming from Barrie's "Peter Pan" and strengthened by the references in T.S. Elliot's "Love Song for J. Alfred Prufrock." And then again, they appear in Greek mythology as the sirens, luring sailors to their watery graves with their enchanted, bewitching songs and let's not forget the fairytale of the Little Mermaid, and Disney's sanitized film version. Jack Dann produce...moreI'll begin this by saying that I have had an interest in mermaids for as long as I can remember, probably stemming from Barrie's "Peter Pan" and strengthened by the references in T.S. Elliot's "Love Song for J. Alfred Prufrock." And then again, they appear in Greek mythology as the sirens, luring sailors to their watery graves with their enchanted, bewitching songs and let's not forget the fairytale of the Little Mermaid, and Disney's sanitized film version. Jack Dann produced an anthology of mermaid tales in the 1980s (Mermaids!) that had some tremendous stories. But rarely is the subject of origin addressed; mermaids seem to have simply existed. Some stories focus on their beauty, and their pain at being unable to join the human world, others demonize them in the way that does no credit to either side of the water's surface. But Sarah Porter's "Lost Voices" takes a slightly different tack - she tries to get inside their heads.[return][return]The story begins with Luce, who has been orphaned at the death of her father (he died before the novel begins, lost at sea as he worked on a fishing boat) and is now living with her uncle in a small seaside village. Luce is picked on for being different, and generally tries to minimize her presence. Her uncle, angry with his dead brother for 1) having stolen his girlfriend (Luce's mother), 2) for having "allowed" her to die due to his con artist's lifestyle and 3) for dying and saddling him with Luce, gets drunk and takes out his anger on Luce, molesting and nearly killing her. Luce decides that it's only a matter of time before it happens again, and that it would be likely to get worse as she grew older, decides to die, and plummets into the icy waters. Except she doesn't die, instead, she surrenders her humanity and becomes a mermaid.[return][return]Sarah Porter's mermaids have more in common with the sirens of Greek mythology, or the strangely cruel mermaids in Barrie's Peter Pan than Disney's Little Mermaid, Ariel. There is no kingdom under the sea, no comforting sea king to call papa. But there are other mermaids, other girls whose lives were so miserable from abuse, neglect or abandonment that they, too, rejected humanity. There are rules - mermaid laws and traditions made to protect the tribe- and there is work, of sorts, to use their voices to sing ships to the rocks and kill all the humans aboard by compelling them to jump into the icy depths. Luce is horrified by this aspect of what she has become and struggles against the compulsion to join in when her new friends attack ships. Luce's struggle to maintain something of her humanity/something of her own will and morality intensifies as more newly reborn mermaids join the tribe, and the tribe splinters into factions.[return][return]I really, really liked the book - it has a few problems, but most early novels have a few rough patches. The language is in that difficult middle ground that pops up in books for young adults, sometimes seeming too simple, and other times complex. The old lady in me has reservations about some of the subject matter being possibly too mature for younger readers, but at the same time the violence is considerably less than in the Harry Potter books. Another reviewer elsewhere seemed shocked or worried that the mermaids are not wearing bikini tops or shells or whatnot to hide their breasts, which I found to be an odd thing to point out as it's barely mentioned. There are passages that describe the mermaids as beautiful, but they don't focus on body parts particularly (except the faces), so I can't quite see that as an issue - If mermaids existed I am pretty sure they wouldn't bother with wearing shells. Honestly.[return][return]All in all, this was an excellent read, and I look forward to reading the rest of Luce's adventures in asserting her individuality. Despite the difficulties she is faced with; the cruelties of the fractured tribe, the knowledge that her gift of singing has murderous possibilities; Luce is a heroine learning to govern herself and discover her own strengths. [return][return]Copy supplied by NetGalley.(less)

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Jan 05, 2011

Stray rated it

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Shelves: arc, e-book, zzz-2010, in-english, aareviewed

This was an extraordinarily written book. The writing was beautiful and lyrical sometimes and the mermaids' voices' descriptions were some of my favorite parts.

I like this kind of mermaids too, girls who suffered enough to put their humanity aside. It would also explain why they hate people enough to drown them.

Luce was a nice character, though she sounded a little too mature for her age, I guess that's because of what she went through and thus she had to grow up very qu...more

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Jan 06, 2012

Emily rated it

Shelves: 2012, owned, paranomal, series

Lost Voices is a book about a 14 year old girl named Luce who's living with her uncle after the death of her father. However, her uncle is a terrible man and she finds herself tumbling into the ocean after he attempts to violate her. Soon afterwards, she discovers that she's become a mermaid.

Initial Ending Thoughts:
Ummmm....what?

Quick Review:
This book was interesting. I enjoyed parts of it and parts of it made me want to throw it at a wall. Though that might be...moreLost Voices is a book about a 14 year old girl named Luce who's living with her uncle after the death of her father. However, her uncle is a terrible man and she finds herself tumbling into the ocean after he attempts to violate her. Soon afterwards, she discovers that she's become a mermaid.

Initial Ending Thoughts:
Ummmm....what?

Quick Review:
This book was interesting. I enjoyed parts of it and parts of it made me want to throw it at a wall. Though that might be a good thing since that means I was feeling something towards the book, even if it was anger.

Full review:
Ok so Luce is miserable with her life and her life does kind of suck I'll give her that. Then there was a very vague scene after something very bad almost happened and suddenly she's a mermaid! Awesome! Mermaids are awesome right? (Personally I absolutely adore mermaids and books about mermaids). Well turns out that in this book mermaids are also sirens (you know, the mermaids who sing sailors to their deaths). Well Luce isn't like the other mermaids. She doesn't want to kill people. She just wants to live a happy life playing in the water all day and hanging out with all her new friends. And she really appreciates the friends because she's never really had friends before. However this leads to a simple problem. Her new friends are all bitches. Yup, all of them. That's ultimately what annoyed me about this book. Really? They're all insecure greedy little bitches? Does becoming a mermaid automatically make you lose all your redeeming qualities? Do you immediately become uncaring and selfish? Well apparently not always because our girl Luce is a good person who doesn't want to kill anyone and saves a bunch of lives! But that doesn't seem to stop any other mermaids from being a good person. Or even being nice. I would have taken nice. Then, of course, Luce is so enchanted by them (the queen, Catarina, especially) that she has no problems with them. At least at first. After a while she starts to see how they really are thank god, but she doesn't really act on it, she just spends a lot of time avoiding them all. Sorry for the rant there, but they just really rubbed me the wrong way.
Granted maybe the point was to make Luce completely isolated, but I feel like it could have been done in a way that didn't annoy me so much. If I was feeling really bad for Luce, and really hated the other characters because of that, then the author would have done a good job making me hate them because that means I'm really feeling something for the characters and I was really invested in the book. However, if that's the case then this entire book was just a set up for the next book, and an entire book just as set up seems like an awful lot. I mean this book is about 300 pages so I think that's a bit much. The other option is that I just generally didn't like any of the characters and they should have been developed more. Maybe some other mermaids could have felt the same conflicting emotions as Luce did about killing humans but chose to ignore it or something a bit better developed than all the characters just being insecure jerks. Especially after they were all portrayed initially as these strong, happy, self-confident girls.
There were also a few plot holes. In the beginning when the mermaids are first explaining things Catarina says, "So many of us die because of things no one can help! They get tangled in fishing nets and drown, or the orcas...I'm fighting all the time to try and keep everyone safe". Really? That's interesting, because this is then never mentioned again. None of them every just randomly die because of a fishing net or orcas. This is never an issue ever again. Heck, the orcas only ever even show up once, and all the mermaids act like they aren't even something to worry about. The author says, "orcas,' Kayley said. Luce couldn't understand why the other mermaids didn't seem more worried. 'They're pretty far off still. And we can outswim them, easy."
Oh really? Then why exactly do you lose so many mermaids to orcas? No fishing nets are ever mentioned again either, just saying.
Then there's Catarina. She's the queen of the tribe of mermaids and she loves all of the mermaids so much! But she's also a bitch. For about half the book she switches between being kind and caring and being nasty and uncaring. Is she suddenly bipolar? What happened? There was nothing truly significant enough that happened before that to have that effect for that long. And of course Luce is all confused but still cares about her! Because how could she possibly be mad at Catarina? I mean, she's Catarina for goodness sakes!
And I feel bad for Luce, really I do, but I didn't really connect with her. I felt sad about what had happened to her in her life, but I didn't really feel that ache for her. I got kind of annoyed with her actually. She always got mad at the other mermaids when they were being little bitches (well, most of the time) but she almost never acted on it! Yes your mad, and you have the right to be mad. Now go and bitch that bitch out! Don't just go sit in a cave alone singing, get some payback! Be a bad ass mermaid! Show some fighting spirit! At least she made decent choices a couple of times. She really only stood up for herself when she was being mocked about her human life, and this is after all the other mermaids assured that there was nothing to be ashamed of and that nothing was her fault yada yada yada, so that's not even that much of an accomplishment. Not the strongest character. Not the weakest either but not anywhere near the strongest.
I was really excited to get this book too because it'a about mermaids (who just might be my favorite mythical creatures) and the idea just seemed so different and awesome. But the book really just annoyed me more than anything else. If I had read this book last year, or even a few months ago, I probably would have given it four stars, maybe three if I was feeling picky, but I've been trying to really read books lately. Not just enough to find out what happens and then move on to the next book, but I'm trying to really judge them better. If you look at all my books on goodreads, (http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/28215...) you'd probably notice that they're almost all marked at four stars, with some at five, and a rare few at two or three. Now I'm trying to be more critical because there's no way all those books I read were four star books. It's just not statistically possible. Writing these reviews really helps me to do just that. I was going to give this book three stars, but after ranting about it for a while, I've decided to give it just two. Normally a two from me would mean, "Oh my god this was the single worst book I've ever wasted time on in my life!" but I'm trying to change my idea on what a two star book is, and what a three star book is, and so on. For me now, two stars means that I didn't really connect with any of the characters and the plot had holes in it and the book just generally annoyed me quite a bit, but it was still decently fun to read.
This book really made me want to read a book now with a kick ass main character. Like The Knife of Never Letting Go. Maybe I'll go reread that next.
2 Stars! (less)

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Jan 06, 2012

Stefanie rated it

Shelves: ya-fantasy, 2011, ya

I expected to read this and scoff, but was surprised that I found myself liking it. Teen girls who like magical creatures and fairy tales will eat this up and look forward to the second installment, where there is sure to be some Sam/Grace (Shiver trilogy) type of romance. Note: I just read the ARC of book two and it is even better than the first book.

Luce is fifteen, has never had a friend in her life and her father, the only person she loved, drowned in a shipwreck a year ago. Now...more

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Dec 23, 2011

Kym Mcnabney rated it

Fourteen-year-old Luce isn't just shy, she's also afraid to speak her mind. Luce lives with her alcoholic uncle, and when things go from bad to worse, she dies as a human and becomes a mermaid.

Luce is welcomed into the tribe of mermaid where she learns the rules of being a mermaid. If she breaks any of them, she risks being expelled from the group. The thought of being alone is too much for Luce to comprehend.

An important part of being a mermaid is their singing voice. ...more

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Oct 04, 2011

Hylary Locsin rated it

Originally posted on my blog: http://libraryladyhylary.blogspot.com ! Check it out for more reviews!

Fourteen-year-old Lucette “Luce,” lives in a small Alaskan fishing village. Luce’s mother died when she was four and her father disappeared a year earlier when the boat he was working on presumably sank. Luce was left to live with her drunk and abusive uncle who is constantly beating her and making her feel worthless. One afternoon, Luce’s uncle attempts to rape her on the cliffs near ...moreOriginally posted on my blog: http://libraryladyhylary.blogspot.com ! Check it out for more reviews!

Fourteen-year-old Lucette “Luce,” lives in a small Alaskan fishing village. Luce’s mother died when she was four and her father disappeared a year earlier when the boat he was working on presumably sank. Luce was left to live with her drunk and abusive uncle who is constantly beating her and making her feel worthless. One afternoon, Luce’s uncle attempts to rape her on the cliffs near their home. When Luce fights him off, he tells her not to come home and abandons her in a raging storm. Luce is bewildered and unsure of what to do, when she suddenly slips off the cliff and into the ocean below. She should be dead, but instead, Luce is transformed into a mermaid. She discovers a tribe of other teen girls who were also abused or neglected in their human lives, causing them to also turn into mermaids. The tribe is lead by Catarina, a beautiful and charismatic mermaid who transformed when she was sixteen. At first, Luce is enchanted by her life as a mermaid: the girls are strong, beautiful and have the ability to hypnotically enchant humans, and each other, with mesmerizing songs. Soon, however, Luce learns how the tribe uses their singing abilities: to sink passing ships in an effort to punish humans for how they were treated in their lives on land. Luce feels a primal urge to participate in the activities of the tribe, but isn’t sure if she can cope with a life dedicated to murdering the innocent. To make matters worse, a new mermaid enters the tribe, one who threatens to destroy the first family Luce has called her own.

Well-written and utterly unique, this first installment in the Lost Voices trilogy is made even more impressive by the fact that it is author Sarah Porter’s debut novel. Mermaids are an interesting topic for a young adult novel in their own right, but the back-story the author has created for the lives of the mermaid tribe, from how they are created to the rules that govern their lives to their eating habits, take the plot to a more sophisticated level. Certain aspects of the storyline are quite sad: Luce, and the rest of the mermaids, have all suffered inexplicable horrors in their lives on land that caused them to transform. The first several chapters of the novel chronicle Luce’s abuse at the hands of her uncle, and these are some of the most tense in the story. Roughly the first half of the novel focuses more on Luce and her transformation, and this is more poignant and, in many ways, enjoyable than the second half of the book. Porter introduces other characters into the novel, including an annoying and shallow mermaid who threatens the entire tribe, creating more melodrama that waters down the emotional response invoked by the first half of the story. This is the first installment in the trilogy, so Porter did have to create some plot points to keep things moving, and hopefully she can return to the more character driven aspects of the story in the next installment. Overall, Lost Voices is an emotionally charged by enjoyable beginning to a very unique series.

I was looking forward to reading this novel and I was not disappointed. When I first read the jacket I was thinking the book would be much lighter fare than it was. There are some very serious and tense issues in the novel, and the whole concept of the “mermaid” is actually very thought provoking beyond the typical “girls with tails” mystique. The characters are well thought and intriguing as well. I look forward to the second installment in the series!(less)

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Sep 19, 2011

Jasmineluvsjb rated it

Shelves: sept-reads

One of the best books I thought I wouldn't like at all (because it's a bit on the fantasy side) but turns out to be one of the best books I have ever read. It is about a girl named Luce, who lost her mother when she was a toddler so does not have tons of feeling there but then it was just her and her father She loved him dearly but one day he went on a fishing trip and was gone just like that. Forced to live with uncle, who is a alcoholic and he abuses and he tortures her. What a life and with n...more

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Sep 03, 2011

Kaleigh Hvizdos rated it

As a mermaid fanatic, I can say that I have put up with a lot of crap from mermaid books just to get my fix before I give up on them. That being said, this book didn't end up on the reject pile, but I'm not sure if I'm going to read the sequels. This book certainly delivers in delicious dark mermaids and lavish descriptions of a bleak, beautiful cold sea. However, the characters are capable of extremely gruesome and cruel acts as well as frustrating social "drama" among themselves that...more

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Jul 25, 2011

Lydia Presley rated it

Shelves: 2011, 2011-debut, fantasy, fiction, young-adult

With all the stories of vampires, werewolves, angels, demons and witches/warlocks out there - of course the time of the mermaid was bound to come.

I've read a few mermaid novels in the past year or so, and Lost Voices has to be the best of the bunch, but that said, it still lacks that extra umph I was hoping for.

Sarah Porter does a beautiful job with crafting a thought-out version of mermaid lore. Gone are the beautiful mermaids in The Little Mermaid a la Disney and, ins...more

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Jul 21, 2011

Sue rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I was hoping for a book that would enchant me with the world of sirens. But perhaps this is more of Mean Girls with fins. It lacked the mystical side of mermaids and focused mostly on social cliques. Lost Voices left me wondering "what is the point?" I read so many good reviews about this book that I kept trudging along hoping to get to the part that inspired them. Unfortunetly, I never reached it.
Something that bothered me throughout the whole book was trying to understand why ...more

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Jul 20, 2011

Sheila rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: coming-of-age, current_issues, paranormal, relationships, young-adult

Complex issues of guilt and forgiveness, communication and despair are beautifully treated in this deceptively simple young-adult novel, Lost Voices, by Sarah Porter. First of a trilogy, it introduces the seemingly implausible concept of abused girls turning into mermaids, and turns it into an intriguing tale filled with very real characters and complicated emotions.

Lucette is darkly drawn in the first chapters, struggling at home and school, forced to live with an abusive uncle after ...more

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Jul 20, 2011

Karly rated it

Shelves: netgalley

Luce is fourteen-years-old and stuck living in Alaska with her uncle who she tries her best to avoid, especially when he’s been drinking. After nearly being raped by him one evening, Luce abruptly finds herself being rescued underwater. She discovers that she is now part of a group of mermaids that were all transformed after something equally horrible happened to them. Luce discovers that the mermaids use their voices to enchant people on boats, but no human ever seeing or hearing a mermaid can ...more

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Jul 15, 2011

Amy Jacobs rated it

Shelves: books-i-own

I have mixed feelings about this book. There were parts that I liked and parts that were not my favorite. I loved the darker feel of Mermaid lore in Lost Voices. I loved how the mermaids are like Sirens in a way that they sing for their victims to lure them into the sea. I liked the characters of Luce and her spirit. I was happy when she got away from her abusive Uncle who didn't deserve the right to take of her.

The author does go into quite a bit of details in the book....more

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Jul 12, 2011

Jennifer rated it

I thought that overall this was a beautiful book and I really enjoyed the overall story, though the ending was lacking in what I would call Satisfying. I know that it is part of a trilogy, but I think that it could have been ended in a better way instead of leaving you hanging, wondering where Catarina went and why she would leave Luce, when Luce asked her to stay where she was until she returned. I think that this series has a potential of being great, it just depends on where the author deci...more

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Jul 05, 2011

Richard rated it

Shelves: 2011

Mean Girls - Underwater

Book one of a trilogy in which our heroine, fourteen year old Luce, suffers the loss of her parents, the abusive guardianship of her alcoholic and badly damaged uncle, and her metamorphoses into a mermaid. After her uncle sexually assaults her on some wild Alaskan cliffs, Luce falls into the ocean, is changed, and adopted by a band of wild mermaids. These mostly teenage girls are gifted with siren songs that not only lure sailors into crashing their boats, but se...moreMean Girls - Underwater

Book one of a trilogy in which our heroine, fourteen year old Luce, suffers the loss of her parents, the abusive guardianship of her alcoholic and badly damaged uncle, and her metamorphoses into a mermaid. After her uncle sexually assaults her on some wild Alaskan cliffs, Luce falls into the ocean, is changed, and adopted by a band of wild mermaids. These mostly teenage girls are gifted with siren songs that not only lure sailors into crashing their boats, but seduce passengers into jumping over the rails to a blissful death. Luce is torn. Part of her believes the drowned humans deserve their fate, the other part wants to use her song as a spiritual balm that grants forgiveness for herself, all abused children, and the misguided humans who do evil in the world. She'd like to teach the mermaids to sing in perfect harmony. Added to this dilema is her affection for the queen of this particular tribe of mermaids, the unwanted competition over who is the better siren, and the arrival by drowning of the mean girl, Anais - a spoiled, jaded, materialistic, and boy-crazy rich kid from a passing yacht. Anais's arrival is the hinge upon which the plot then rotates. It's also the event that turns a magical exploration of the mermaid/siren myth into a mean girls, high school soap-opera in which the sleeping cave becomes a home room of sorts, and the feeding beach the, you guessed it, cafeteria where who you sit with delineates social and class standing.

Author, Sarah Porter, does some wonderful and sophisticated things in this book. The outline of the mermaid moral code, and the mermaid relationship to humans lays the groundwork for a high stakes game of good vs. evil; mermaid lore, and the existence of other tribes set up lots of future opportunities for magic and conflict; and the exploration of siren song provides beautifully written passages that touch on the nature of seduction, beauty, and power. There's a lot to be said for this book, and the possibilities for the trilogy, my only objection is the triteness of the mean-girl as a spur to the plot.

I hope the intended young adult audience goes for it, because there's a lot here, much of which I've left unmentioned. The wonder bodes well for the trilogy - the mean girls are unfortunate cliche.(less)

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Apr 25, 2011

Christie Hagerman rated it

Girls so mistreated in their human lives that they liquefy in their deaths. So unloved that they become shed their humanity and morph into mermaids. So desperate for connection that they form tribes and seek vengeance on the race that wounded them.

Lost Voices is the haunting tale of a girl-turned-mermaid who finds herself part of one such tribe, struggling with the new desire for revenge and the old desire to be accepted. She faces many challenges in adjusting to her new life, whi...more

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Apr 21, 2011

Bethany Huang rated it

Thank you, Netgalley for sending me this book.

Luce is a teenage girl who has been wronged in so many ways-especially by her uncle. Her mother left when she was younger, and her father died of a shipwreck onThe High and Mighty. But the night the final wrong comes down, Luce is left abandoned on a cliff where she had found a girl's cold dead body. She sits there, reminiscing her past of not fitting in and realizing that if she goes back to her Uncle, she'll live in fear ev...moreThank you, Netgalley for sending me this book.

Luce is a teenage girl who has been wronged in so many ways-especially by her uncle. Her mother left when she was younger, and her father died of a shipwreck onThe High and Mighty. But the night the final wrong comes down, Luce is left abandoned on a cliff where she had found a girl's cold dead body. She sits there, reminiscing her past of not fitting in and realizing that if she goes back to her Uncle, she'll live in fear every night of the same horrible thing happening to her again. Through her tears and turmoil, she comes to a final decision-not to go back.
But Luce is suddenly falling, and she eventually realizes that she's falling off the cliff. She thinks of how much alike the feeling of falling off is like experiencing the arms of death enclosing around her. She suddenly hears the lulling sound of music-beautiful, stunning, music. Moments later, Luce realizes the truth. Along with many other girls who have changed into mermaids because of what human beings did to them, she becomes close to the tribe's queen, Catarina. The tribe of mermaids sing with their beautiful voices and bring ships down as vengeance to their past. But Luce starts to think about how her father died on a shipwreck-possibly one caused by the mermaids?
Living in the tribe isn't perfect-there's still rules. The timahk forbids that you have any human contact at all, hurt any other mermaid (including larvae), banish any mermaid unless they've broken the timahk first, and if you saw another mermaid in danger, you had to help her unless it was a situation where if you helped, you could be killed, too. Luce is fine with those rules until she finds out Catarina's stealthy secret-one that could get her kicked out of the tribe-permanently.
Newcomers eventually come to the tribe named Dana, Jenna, Rachel, Violet, Becka and Hilory are orphans who have been nearly killed by their orphanage keeper. Both Catarina and Luce, who are both amazing singers, do the hard task of changing a girl named Anais, who starts to bring out the worst in everyone. But when she and Samantha, a bitter mermaid who seems exactly like Anais's follower find out what Catarina's secret is-what will they do to her-and Luce?
Intriguing and spellbinding, this book is for sure a sweet read. It's wonderfully descriptive and detailed, which lets you picture everything that's happening in the story. Every twist and turn of the story is intensive and secretive, which gives you the running thrill of suspense. If you read this book, you definitely won't regret it.

Rating
A+ (amazing!)

Find more book reviews @ http://www.bookablog-bethany.blogspot.co...(less)

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Apr 20, 2011

Wendy rated it

I was fortunate enough to receive Lost Voices by Sarah Porter to review through Net Galley. Don't know where to start with this one as I have mixed feelings about this story. I went into it with an open mind as I usually don't read novels about mermaids. Luce is a fourteen year old living in a fishing village in remote Alaska with her uncle. He's not very nice as he abuses her and takes advantage of her. On one particular night, the abuse escalated. When Luce woke up, she finds herself in ...more

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Apr 13, 2011

Karla rated it

The Book: LOST VOICES

The Author: Sarah Porter

The Publisher: Harcourt Books (an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Release Date: July 4, 2011

Summary:

Fourteen year old Luce has not had an easy time since her father's death a year ago. Having no family to lean on other than a drunk uncle who enjoys slapping her around, Luce lives in the shadows with the hope that she won't draw unwanted attention from anyone, but especially ...more

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Mar 28, 2011

Rex Robot Reviews rated it

Reviewed by Shannon at RexRobotReviews.com

I have read a lot of fairy, vampire, werewolf books but I had not yet read a mermaid book. It was really interesting to see how the author handled it. I have to say I was very surprised by this book!

Luce is the main character. Her mother died when she was young and her father died in a shipwreck. She is living with her uncle in Alaska who abuses her. One night he gets really drunk and tries to rape her on the way home from the ba...moreReviewed by Shannon at RexRobotReviews.com

I have read a lot of fairy, vampire, werewolf books but I had not yet read a mermaid book. It was really interesting to see how the author handled it. I have to say I was very surprised by this book!

Luce is the main character. Her mother died when she was young and her father died in a shipwreck. She is living with her uncle in Alaska who abuses her. One night he gets really drunk and tries to rape her on the way home from the bar. He realizes what he is doing and runs off. Luce is left alone in the dark and falls off the side of a cliff. It is there that she turns into a mermaid. At first, she doesn't understand what happened to her but she is taken in by a tribe of mermaid headed by Catarina, their Queen. Luce discovers that being mermaid means that she is now more beautiful and stronger than she has ever been. It also means that she is more savage and impulsive than before. Having suffered at the hands of humans, the mermaids seek revenge by drowning ships with their singing. They are like the sirens of greek mythology. The desire to sing is so strong that they almost can't tame their voices. Luce struggles to reconcile her uncontrollable desire to sing with the destruction it causes. New mermaids appear and rifts begin to form within the tribe. Luce finds herself in the center of the conflict and tries to keep the tribe together.

The concept of the story is really intriguing. The author takes her time to set up the backstory and the plot. She does not rush, but instead the story builds slowly but surely. Her writing is very fluid and imaginative. But this is also a dark story. I was surprised by how dark it actually is -darker than most young adult I've read. There are some awful and disturbing events that happen both to the girls and because of the girls. I actually liked that aspect because it gave real weight to the events that take place instead of being glossed over. It made a much bigger impact on me because of it. Not a book for the faint at heart! This is no "Little Mermaid!"

The only thing I didn't like was the lack of resolution. There was a lot of build up and references to past secrets and lives, but not much was revealed in the end. I found the ending a little abrupt. I was expecting more. But then I discovered this is the first book in a trilogy and the plotting made a lot more sense. I am definitely looking forward to reading the next book because I want to see how things get resolved!

Definitely recommend this book!(less)

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Mar 20, 2011

cecilia rated it

Shelves: blue-covers

I am not sure what to make of Lost Voices, especially given the peculiar ending that does not really end and leaves you floundering like a beached mermaid. Sarah Porter's writing has a haunting quality, and Luce will appeal to the many of us who feel out-of-place in a world full of unnecessary sorrows and yearn for another life that promises new beginnings and new hopes.

Yet the new life that Luce finds is not without sorrows either. Rather, it provokes a series of questions of whe...moreI am not sure what to make of Lost Voices, especially given the peculiar ending that does not really end and leaves you floundering like a beached mermaid. Sarah Porter's writing has a haunting quality, and Luce will appeal to the many of us who feel out-of-place in a world full of unnecessary sorrows and yearn for another life that promises new beginnings and new hopes.

Yet the new life that Luce finds is not without sorrows either. Rather, it provokes a series of questions of whether Luce should play God, if given the power to lure unsuspecting people to drown. Should the mermaids punish the entire human race for the wrongs done by a few people? If their voices are not meant to be weapons of mass destruction, then what purpose do these mermaids have since they are unable to return to the human world and do not age whatsoever? Why do their voices seem to take on a life of their own and seem to resist being controlled by the singers?

Lost Voices spurred all these questions, but I am not convinced if any of them get answered. This book was more of a set-up for what's to come, a careful and cautious introduction into a different world where mermaids are more fearsome than sparkly. In the middle of the book, there is a chapter that totally threw me off-guard - and for a second, I thought Lost Voices was not a single story but a collection of short stories since we get randomly thrown into a different story with new characters. Do not be alarmed, dear Readers, this story is one and the same. For whatever reason, Ms. Porter chose to take a quick dip into another story that will eventually lead back to Luce.

The ending, as I mentioned earlier, stops rather abruptly. I reached the last page and thought it was a mistake because surely this is not the end of Luce's story! Lost Voices seemed to be just taking off into even deeper waters and ended far, far too soon! So now I'm hoping that Ms. Porter will shower us with many answers and blow us out of the waters with her sequel. (less)

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Mar 05, 2011

Stephanie rated it

Singing the Sirens Song, Lost Voices is as Dark as the Sea

Lost Voices

by Sarah Porter
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(Harcourt Children's Books (July 4, 2011))
Imprint: Harcourt Books
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publication date 07/04/2011
Ages: 12 plus, Grades 7 plus
Not yet available for pre-order in e-book format
Provided by Publisher through NetGalley.com without expectation.
While Net Galley is certainly paid for its servi...more

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Mar 03, 2011

L. Blanchard rated it

A debut release for this summer, Lost Voices is not for the faint of heart. It takes the darker side of the fairy tale of Mermaids or Sirens who sing sailors to their deaths, and spins it tragically. Siren’s aren’t born that way, they are made beautiful killing machines by the very abuse they suffered by the adult humans who should have protected them, and who they now kill with their magical voices. If a human somehow manages to throw off their magical thrall and survive the boat crashing onto ...moreA debut release for this summer, Lost Voices is not for the faint of heart. It takes the darker side of the fairy tale of Mermaids or Sirens who sing sailors to their deaths, and spins it tragically. Siren’s aren’t born that way, they are made beautiful killing machines by the very abuse they suffered by the adult humans who should have protected them, and who they now kill with their magical voices. If a human somehow manages to throw off their magical thrall and survive the boat crashing onto the rocks, the mermaids don’t mind getting their hands a little dirty and will drown those who are might survive to tell the tale. (No pun intended)

Luce’s father was a thief and a rambler but she adored him. After his death at sea, she was forced to live in Alaska with his abusive alcoholic brother who one night nearly rapes her on the cliffs and leaves her. She has no one now and thinks of killing herself, when somehow in the fall off the cliff she transforms into an inhuman gorgeous and magical Mermaid.

She finds herself enraptured in a song she doesn’t realize she is singing. One so powerful it lures a large ship to the rocks and people drown all around her, lost in the bliss of her music. Mermaids have to come up for air periodically and being in a state of shock at what has just happened, she drops to deep into the sea and almost drowns. Caterina, the Queen of the local mermaids, a beautiful Russian red haired mermaid, saves her and drags her to a cave where a tribe of mermaids all wait to find out who the new kid with the amazing pipes is.

Luce goes through the standard period of learning the ropes, making new friends, finding out what the rules are. You can never hurt another mermaid, you can’t completely leave the water because your body will transform back to human and the excruciating pain will kill you, and you can never speak to another human again. Also…you have to be willing to be a mass murderer cause that is how mermaids roll. Caterina practically rubs her hands together with glee at the thought of being able to take down a big ship. You are never really given a good explanation for if it is the magic that makes the Mermaids so brutal, or if it is simply the brutality they suffered as humans that strips them of any humanity once they become Mermaids. The mermaids are forever stuck at the age they were when they turned. In a way, it reminded me of the movie Lost Boys. .

Everything is great at first, until new arrivals shake up the status quo, and Luce begins to hate the thing she has become.

Porters descriptions are incredible and haunting. She turns a phrase beautifully. I’m a singer, and I think music is one of the hardest things to describe as a writer because it is ephemeral and subjective and I rarely find any writer who comes close to describing the feelings that singing can cause inside the vocalist, but Porter creates music with her words. That part of the book was sheer magic, the way she described what it felt like to sing and have that kind of effect on people.

Unfortunately, other than a few side characters who we see once or twice then they disappear, I thought Caterina was the only truly interesting member of the tribe. Everyone else blended into a homogeneous cloud of tails and long hair and bitchy remarks, until the spoiled and wretched Anais shows up and really turns things on its tail (okay that pun I intended!)

Luce took too long to realize or at least acknowledge it was likely her new friends caused her father’s boat to crash, causing her to experience the very anguish that caused her transformation, and she never seemed to get that she was just as bad as they were. Luce’s personality shifts wildly from quiet introvert who loves and idolizes Caterina, to a isolated loner with a cold hunger for power that causes her friendship to seem insincere, something the reader and Caterina pick up on. She goes from an almost pathological desire to be loved and accepted by Caterina at all costs, to wanting to steal the power and take over as Queen. These quick shifts in temperament and tone shake the reader out of the dreamy world Porter has created.

I didn’t like how Luce was willing to follow everyone’s example and not help the baby mermaids or larvae as they called them, and so unwilling to verbally attack the order of things when she felt guilt over luring people to their deaths. She doesn’t seem to feel the kind of remorse the character you meet in the beginning of the book should feel at killing innocent people. Although she realizes not all those who die are evil and wicked, she doesn’t stand up to Caterina who is a blood thirsty little wretch whose jealousy of Luce blinds her to treachery from another direction. Luce is so in awe of Caterina and wants to be the Queen’s friend so desperately, she ignores Miriam, someone with less rank in the group but whose friendship would have been much more meaningful. Once the wicked Anais shows up, all bets are off and the tribe turns into Lord of the Fly’s. The inevitable clique forms, testing loyalties and leadership with the usual results.

This is the first book of a trilogy and I look forward to reading book two as there were several events that happened towards the end that will obviously have significant consequences. There is no romance in this book but it is clear there is potential for one later in the series, but given how heartbreaking this book is, there is no way of knowing how it will end. While I think some character development might have been lost to the beautiful descriptions, Lost Voices a gorgeous book full of the textures and qualities of music, the sea and magic.(less)

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Mar 01, 2011

Constance Pappas added it

Recommends it for: it's a good story... anyone who likes a good, unusual story.

Recommended to Constance by: advanced reading copy

Reading this book is like being engulfed in a breaking wave. In this first of an expected trilogy author Sarah Porter does for mermaids what J.K. Rowling did for wizards and Stephanie Meyer did for vampires. The Clique series of the underwater will mesmerize readers and you definitely want to include it in your collection. Meet Luce, a 14-year-old girl who’s uncle is a lecherous drunk who pushes Luce to the brink with his debauched behavior. When he crosses the unspeakable line, so does she; int...more

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Feb 18, 2011

Chelsey C. rated it

I hadn't read any mermaid fiction before, so I when I saw this book I was so excited.

We're introduced to Luce, who lost her mom very young, and later her dad to the sea. She now lives with her uncle and is an outcast at school. Personally, I felt that no reason was given for Luce being an outcast, other than her father disappearing at sea, which I would think would be an unfortunate, but common occurance where they live. I feel that little point was thrown in there and then forgotten.

I had some...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Why couldn't Luce see into Anais's past?	2	3	Feb 12, 2012 05:08pm
Resolution anybody?	3	14	Oct 18, 2011 07:24am

title link	preview: Lost Voices
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Lost Voices (Lost Voices #1)

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