UpDrift

[image error]Updrift (The Mer Chronicles #1)

By Errin Stevens

A Three Star Rating

 

There were things about this novel that I both liked and disliked. With that in mind, I will start with the things I liked. The premise was original and it was clear a lot of thought, research, and imagination was put into this tale. I found that to be completely refreshing. The characters were believable and very likable as well. The emotional arc that each character displayed was both realistic and genuine. This author is gifted in making the characters seem incredibly life like to the point that you grow rather attached to them. There were times where I was emotionally drawn into the story as well because of how realistic these characters actually were. There was sweet romance, as well as romantic tension, action, scandal; criminal motives, jealousy, and the list of all the amazing elements crafted to the page can just go on and on. The way that the Merfolk were portrayed and brought to life was truly a work of art. I was absolutely enchanted with their rendering by the author. With all these positive things this book would have easily rated a four or better in my opinion, however there were a few things that kept me from a higher rating.

The book started out with the main character being five years old and then through the course of the book she grows into a woman in her twenties. That is a great feat to accomplish in any one novel without skipping over the majority of the childhood. I originally went into reading this book thinking it was a YA novel…which it is not. The vast jump in the first half of the book makes it very hard to stamp this book with one particular age genre. Furthermore, for the first third to half of the book I was confused as to who the main character actually was, Kate (the daughter) or Cara (the mother). Needless to say there was a decent amount of head hopping through all of the characters which is fine if it is done just right. I found myself having to reread passages twice sometimes even three times to understand whose point of view the narration was coming from. The last issue I had is more of a personal preference tick than anything else and not necessarily a problem with the story. The beginning seemed to drag and drag for me seemingly not going anywhere. I get the need to build a history but it took almost half the book to see where the plot was actually leading and then once it took off boy did it ever. The last fourth of the book took a turn so sharp that I was left a little blindsided. So in short this book started off incredibly slow and then once the pace picked up it was sudden and left you hanging on for dear life.

I couldn’t put this book down once the intended plot started moving which by all counts is a fantastic quality in a book, unfortunately for me, it took too long to get there. I’d recommend this book for someone who likes being slowly eased into a story and walked through an entire childhood before the adventures of adulthood whisk you away.