Fathomless

Fairytale Retellings #3

by Jackson Pearce

Celia Reynolds is the youngest in a set of triplets and the one with the least valuable power. Anne can see the future, and Jane can see the present, but all Celia can see is the past. And the past seems so insignificant -- until Celia meets Lo.

Lo doesn't know who she is. Or who she was. Once a human, she is now almost entirely a creature of the sea -- a nymph, an ocean girl, a mermaid -- all terms too pretty for the soulless monster she knows she's becoming. Lo clings to shreds of her former self, fighting to remember her past, even as she's tempted to embrace her dark immortality.

When a handsome boy named Jude falls off a pier and into the ocean, Celia and Lo work together to rescue him from the waves. The two form a friendship, but soon they find themselves competing for Jude's affection. Lo wants more than that, though. According to the ocean girls, there's only one way for Lo to earn back her humanity. She must persuade a mortal to love her . . . and steal his soul.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Mermaids, Retellings, Fairy Tales, Paranormal, Romance

294 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2012

About the author

I am not very active on Goodreads-- this is largely a placeholder account! Therefore, I do not read Goodreads mail. If you want to get in touch with me, please go here: CONTACT ME!


Jackson Pearce currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with a slightly cross-eyed cat and a lot of secondhand furniture. She recently graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in English and a minor in Philosophy and currently works for a software company even though she auditioned for the circus (she juggled and twirled fire batons, but they still didn’t want her). Other jobs she’s had include obituaries writer, biker bar waitress, and receptionist.

Jackson began writing when she got angry that the school librarian couldn’t tell her of a book that contained a smart girl, horses, baby animals, and magic. Her solution was to write the book herself when she was twelve. Her parents thought it was cute at first, but have grown steadily more concerned for her ever since.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

dear jackson pearce,
consistency may well be the last refuge of the unimaginative, but cover-consistency?? we are booknerds. we needs it.

i am not sure what fairy tale this is based on. yes, obviously, the little mermaid,doofus. and that works for half of the narrative, but what about the other half? three sisters with the powers to see the past, know the truth of the present, and see the future? whose parents were a woodsman and a wealthy woman? this seems to have fairy-tale trappings, but i do not know it. and don't talk to me about the fates, because they don't create the future, etc, they can just see it. and werewolves??? what is this mishmash??

but for all my confusion and cover-disappointment, i really liked this book. mermaids without tails; what will they think of next?

this is a story of lo, a mermaid-like creature who is forgetting her human past living among her "sisters" in the water, and celia, one-third of a triplet unit with the aforementioned powers, her allotment being that she can see people's pasts when she touches them. after the two of them meet while saving a boy from drowning, celia will finally come to appreciate her power, and use it to help lo remember. but lo's got some secrets, and a bit of an agenda. and drowning boy only complicates things.

it is a fairy tale. there will be tests. and dilemmas. and nothing is quite what it seems.

pearce does a really good job blending the fairy-tale elements into a contemporary narrative. the "under the sea" bits are spooky and sorrowful with just enough danger to keep it interesting.

she also writes the sister-relationship very well. i assume. being sisterless myself, i can only comment on how it seems to be accurate, with the closeness and compassion and the infighting and the jealousy and the protectiveness and the insoluble bonds that wrap everything up together.plus, these are triplets, so...very close bonds, there.

the ending is pretty great. that's about all i want to say on that. she does a clever little reversal, just a flash and a flip of a fin in the water, and it is unexpected and very neatly done. had the ending not been as strong as it was, this probably would have been a three, but color me impressed.

jackson pearce - three for three...

come to my blog!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fathomless, why you no have no cover yet?


UPDATE:
Fathomless, why you no match the purdy covers of Sisters Red and Sweetly? No me gusta.
[image error]

After reading:

What other reader's reviews found shocking, I found merely amusing. Also, I expected this book to wrap up the other two, seeing how they are more interlocked than what meets the eye. Alas, it did not and I hope another book will be written, but so far that doesn't seem to be the case.

[Miss Bookiverse · Rating 5 out of 5]

+ So, so toll geschrieben <3 Ich liebe die Atmosphäre, die Jackson kreieren kann. Das Meer, die Sonne, alles wie zum Riechen und Fühlen.

+ Die Meerjungfrauen sind keine typischen Schwanzflossenwesen, dadurch aber nicht weniger bedrohlich-schön.

+ Das Mysterium in diesem Buch ist wirklich spannend. Total verrückt, was Jackson Pearce aus ihrem Fenris-Mythos von Band 1 und 2 alles rausholt und was für absurde, aber irgendwie funktionierende Verbindungen sie mit den Mädchen aus dem Ozean knüpft (obwohl ich darüber gern mehr gewusst hätte, wozu müssen die Mädchen denn diese "Wasserkur" machen bevor sie Fenris werden? Nur um sich zu vergessen?).

+ Es gibt nicht nur Märchenelemente aus dem allen bekannten Disneyfilm sondern auch Details wie ein messergleicher Schmerz in den Fußsohlen, wenn die Meerjungfrau an Land kommt.

+ Die Verbindung zu Sweetly ist super. Man kann beide Bücher auch als Standalone lesen, aber wenn man sie alle kennt, macht es riesigen Spaß die subtilen Verbindungen zu entdecken. Lo war in ihrem früheren Leben Naida, Sophias verschwundene Schwester

+ Es geht um Geschwisterzusammenhalt und das Vertrauen unter Schwestern. Das sind die Menschen, denen man alles sagen kann, die immer für einen da sind und die wichtiger sind als jeder Junge der Welt.

± Apropos Jungs, Jude bleibt leider ein wenig blass, aber so wichtig ist er dann ja auch nicht.

+ Los Hin- und Hergerissenheit wird perfekt dargestellt. Sie will wieder ein Mensch sein und eine Seele haben, müsste dafür aber jemanden umbringen. Ist es das wert?

+ Die Szene, in der Naida am Ende aus dem Wasser kommt und beschließt Celia umzubringen war genial, weil sie genau parallel verläuft wie der Moment, den Naida zuvor bei einer anderen Meerjungfrau, die das Wasser verlassen hat, beobachtet hat. Mir ist ein kalter Schauer den Rücken hinunter gelaufen als mir über die Wiederholung des Szenarios bewusst wurde.


////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


first "review" // old
No beautiful illustrated cover like Sisters Red and Sweetly had? WHAT? NOOO!! PLEASE! I WANT A BEAUTIFUL BLUE/GREEN/TURQUISE MERMAID/WAVES/WATER cover with a secret image T________T Not this boring, standard stuff ;_;

[C. Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

I fell in love with this book, and it was literally hard to put down, which is why I finished in one day. Pearce added on to the world created in Sisters Red and Sweetly, but I love the feel of the ocean in this one. Based on The Little Mermaid (which I have read), this was a wonderful retelling; it was dark and mysterious, and I was totally not expecting the ending. Really, the last several chapters were so enthralling and just...wow. Though it was a little weird at times (such as how the ocean girls become "angels" and just what that means, but, then again, this whole book universe is sort of messed up, what with Fenris and all.)

Lo was such a unique creature; at times I wasn't very fond of her, and then I found something interesting about her, but by the end I liked her better than any other character. Celia, who can see the past, was unfortunately a character I didn't connect with as well, and she paled next to Lo/Naidi; she starts off as seeing herself as nothing more than Anne and Jane's sister, but by the end, I think she is firmly Celia, her own person. I would have liked to see a little more of her growth though, and compared to Lo, I didn't find her quite as interesting, but that's because Lo is this dark, tortured being torn between her new life and her old life as a human. It's funny, because originally, I wanted to read more of Celia's point of view than Lo's, but I ended up liking Lo a lot more. Celia's sisters didn't really make an impact on me either.

Surprisingly, the romance in this book wasn't touched on all that much; it's there, only not the main focus of the book, and part of me was a little disappointed, but a greater part enjoyed this. Jude seemed a little flat to me, no where near as interesting as the previous guys in this series, and I didn't really feel the love between him and Celia. Was it supposed to be that way? For me, the main focus of the story was the friendship between Celia and Lo/Naida, and I really liked this aspect.

I'm not sure if it's just my opinion, but I feel like the writing was a little weaker in this book than Pearce's previous works. The style just didn't flow quite as well I feel like.

On to the cover change. This one is iffy for me; yes, I do like the blue color and the font used, but the necklace doesn't play a part in the story! I wish they would go back to the gothic looking covers, especially now that Cold Spell has been confirmed.

I believe this is my second favorite so far, after Sister's Red.

[Misty · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75ish.

This was one of my more highly anticipated books of last year (because hello? Fairy tale freak. This is not news to anyone.), and it's sort of shameful that I am just now posting a written review. (Though yes, I did have a mini vlogged one here. But still.) I feel like I've talked about this book a lot, but nothing's all official-like until I write about it. So.

This was my favorite Jackson Pearce book to date. I've enjoyed everything I've read by her, but there's always been something a teensy bit off for me, especially in her endings. As short as her books are, they seem to lose steam a bit at the end, which is disappointing on its own, of course, but more so considering how much I enjoy them up to the steam-loss. But while Fathomless isn't perfect by any means, its come the closest to being exactly what I wanted from it. It has this really good dark streak that is perfectly suited to both the original tale and to the world Pearce has set up in her retellings series. There's this quality of a car crash in remarkably slow motion, a great sense of foreboding over the whole story, that creates excellent tension, and Pearce uses that to get at the unhappiness and emptiness at the core of The Little Mermaid - and is it weird to say I was so very happy to see that? This aspect is one of the things I potentially love most about a fairy tale retelling (especially one as dark as TLM(1)), but it's also often one of the most disappointing and neglected aspects. Modern audiences are so out of touch with original fairy tales that retellings that make use of the actual endings and tones are considered novel and creative, rather than traditional. We've been Disneyfied, and I'm on a tangent, so I'm going to rein myself in and just wrap that up by saying, I love it when a retelling is more traditionally bleak(2)... Fortunately Pearce capitalizes on it, to which I say THANK GOD. This is what I wanted from a TLM retelling. It's a little off. It's a little disturbing. Perfect.

A big part of what makes this work is the characters. The sisters and the romance are means to an end, but the "3" main characters (one of them being a 2-in-1 deal...) are what make this story what it is. How they interact with/react to each other and their colliding worlds, and how they use each other to make sense of their lives - and in a desperate attempt to break away from the things holding them back - is what gives this story that car-crash feeling. It's impossible for them to all get what they want, to all have their HEA(3), but you're made to care for each of them, damaged as they are. And so you know pain is coming, and it's simply a matter of degrees... It leaves you a little conflicted(4) because you both see flaws and feel sympathy for each of them, which makes things excellently ambiguous. Add to this an overall dark tone and sort of desperate, lonely, magical atmosphere with not all of the loose ends tied up, and you've got a book nicely calculated to make for Happy Mistys.(5)

This complements the rest of the series very well, but can also be read completely as a standalone, which is excellent  for readers wanting who've been wanting to pick these up, or even just Fathomless specifically, but weren't sure about making a series committment. Though all of the stories are linked, and they will expand the readers understanding of the rest, they work perfectly as potential companion novels to be read on their own. You don't have to feel tied down by them, or obligated to read them (to know what's going on or to have closure), which is something I really like from a series of this type. So if you've liked Pearce in the past or have been wanting to give her a try, I think you can't really go wrong with Fathomless.


1. Originally, of course. I love me some Alyssa Milano-Ariel as much as the next 80s kid, but in case you didn't know, Disney changed the story a whole lot. Like, it's actually a real bummer...
2. Ok, nothing's going to keep me from sounding weird, so whatever. I like the sad, tortured feels.†

3. Happily Ever After.
4. Unless you don't root for non-humans, maybe?  I'm not always Team Human.
5. 1 out of 1 Mistys agree.
† What's this? A note within a note? Yeah, I only like those feels in fairy tales. Add 'em to some YA PNR and I might have to cut you.

[Lore]

Gah.

This is the book that I've been waiting for since forever.

The Little Mermaid retelling?

I'm sold.

Must. Read. ASAP.

[Dark Faerie Tales · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: There were no fins, under sea palaces, nor anything glamorous about life under the sea. Instead, Pearce fills the pages with descriptions of the dark abyss.

Opening Sentence: There are lights at the surface.

The Review:

In the Fairytale Retellings series by Jackson Pearce, Fathomless is a loose take on The Little Mermaid. Pearce’s take on mermaids wasn’t your typical run of the mill. There were no fins, under sea palaces, nor anything glamorous about life under the sea. Instead, Pearce fills the pages with descriptions of the dark abyss.

Fathomless follows the life of two special girls. Celia Reynolds is the youngest of very talented triplets. She can see the past, while her sisters see the present and the future. Celia has never felt important or special enough, especially when compared to her sisters. All until one day on the pier, when a young musician falls into the pier, does she feel worth. Coincidentally, it’s also when Celia meets Lo. Lo was once a human being, but now lives underneath the water. You can call her a creature of the sea, for she can’t really be called a mermaid or a nymph, or anything like that. Lo doesn’t remember her time as a human, and looks towards Celia for help. Together, Celia and Lo form a quick friendship, finding a kinship with each other and being able to share things that no one else can. Sadly, they also share the affection of that young musician. By doing so, one wants to gain individuality and the other wants him to love her, and steal his soul.

Celia’s gift has failed her many times in the end, causing a rift from her two other sisters. Longing to belong to something more, and looking for the love and companionship that she lacks from her sisters, Celia is someone to sympathize with. Celia felt like the anchor of this book, and while everything changed, Celia stayed the same.

Lo is an underwater creature, quickly losing her identity and any human memory that she may have had. She follows her sisters, simply existing underneath the surface. Lo is filled with sorrow and melancholy, giving up any piece of individuality. It’s only when she meets Celia that she slowly wakes up. So of course, I can’t talk about Lo without talking about Nadia. Nadia is the alter ego, or Celia’s human self. Nadia is what Lo holds on to with ferocity, trying so hard to remember the name, the memories, everything. For a while, I didn’t like the duality of the voices. It wasn’t that it was confusing, but it was a lot to take in.

Sisterhood is a huge theme in Fathomless. Both Lo and Celia discover what is missing within each other’s lives and within their own. Both are unique, and both need to face their futures. But I felt that there were a lot of scenarios that were predictable, and when there was a twist thrown my way, I felt like I knew it was going to happen all along.

It’s hard to gush about the world that Pearce created with Fathomless. There wasn’t anything spectacular about this one, at least when I compare it to Sisters Red and Sweetly. There wasn’t anything that tied this book to the others, like the first two did. I felt disconnected to Pearce’s writing, much more than I did with the others.

There was a point where the novelty wore off, at least for me. I became too focused on keeping the details straight that I lost sight of what was going on in the story. I felt confused at times, and I couldn’t keep my focus.

Notable Scene:

But when the night ended and most of her sisters covered themselves with sand and went to sleep, Lo stared at the sun from deep beneath the waves, at the tiny threads of blue light that made their way through the water, down to where she was.

Her soul was gone for good. The boy was dead, the girl left alone on the shore. And for nothing, nothing at all, other than a fairy tale and a few scattered memories of life on land. Let it go. Let it all go.

And she allowed herself to forget

FTC Advisory: Little, Brown provided me with a copy of Fathomless. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

So Fathomless is like a dark twist on The Little Mermaid. I was really confused at the beginning. I mean I had a hard time not mixing Celia and Lo up. Lo was the mermaid and she really wanted to remember her life as a human but she didn’t remember, she just couldn’t remember. Celia was a human who was one of a set of triplets who all had some special powers. One could see the future, one could see the present, and Celia could see the past, she really thought she had a pointless gift because you can find out the past by asking someone. It wasn’t as cool as her sisters gifts. I had a hard time with Lo, the way her POV was confused me it was so jumpy and reminded me of a super excited toddler, who can’t seem to get their words out correctly.

So then we have Jude. Love interest for not only Celia but Lo as well. I really liked Jude with Lo but that may be because I felt bad for her. Celia was whiny to me and that got really annoying. Lo as hard and confusing as she was to read I felt bad for her. One thing I don’t understand is the romance in this book. It didn’t really seem to me as a romance, more a mystery, suspense type book.

I feel like a book with mermaids should be light and fun but this one was the complete opposite. It was dark and very twisted. Overall it was ok. I think if I could’ve not been so confused by Lo I would’ve enjoyed it more.

[Jillyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lo is no longer human. Her identity gone with the waves, she knows only what the angel and her sisters under the sea have told her. Her new life has started in the ocean, and will continue until the angel comes back to take her away. A mermaid, the ocean is now her home.

Celia is a human triplet, with a special gift. She can see into peoples' pasts, just by touching their skin. Her and her sisters, both gifted as well, keep this a secret between themselves. After all, who would believe them anyway?

Naida no longer exists, save for in the mind of Lo. Naida is what she was once called, before the ocean claimed her. She fights the mermaid Lo, forcing her to remember her human life, no matter the cost or the pain that it puts them through.

When a boy, Jude, falls off of the pier, Celia and Lo are there to save him. When Celia accidentally touches Lo, she sees into her past, learning her human name, Naida, and hears a blood curdling scream... And then everything is black. Lo wants to remember her humanity, wants to claim it back. But the only way to do this is to make a human boy love her- then steal his soul. Perhaps Jude is not as safe as he believes....

----

I am full of so much disappointment after reading this. I had never read any of these retellings, and was super excited when I got the chance to read about mermaids. But overall, this book just fell flat for me.

+ The chapters alternate between Lo, her human personality Naida, and Celia. This makes for a well rounded story perspective.

+ It's an interesting twist to the mermaid lore, taking away their humanity completely.

- It was very odd reading about a mermaid who pretty much has multiple personality disorder. Lo is everything oceanic and mermaid. Naida is her human self. Both are in the same body, and one voice often interrupts the other. It was interesting, but didn't quite work for me.

- I was disappointed by the lack of... Well... Mermaidness. This is a darker version then, say, Disney's The Little Mermaid, and I'm fine with that. But, the only real difference (physically) between them and humans is their skin color.

- And on that note, when Lo walks on shore, blood oozes from her feet. I understand this is to show the pain she's willing to go through to learn about herself. But, I couldn't help but to want her dead. She's a mermaid. On shore..... No thanks.

- The triplets all have powers. While necessary for the plot, I couldn't help but to feel that it's a little much when combined with a story that already contains mermaids.

- I felt a disconnect and dislike for all of the female characters. Celia came across as antisocial and awkward, and Lo has that whole personality conflict that made it hard to follow at times, and it didn't really make me cheer for her to be human, the way I think the author intended.

Over all this book felt clumsy and anticlimactic. I didn't care what happened to either leading lady, and I feel that's just a bit important in a good book. If you're gung-ho into mermaids and fairy tales, maybe you'll enjoy this book. But for me, it's a pass.

Thank you to Jen Ryland and YA Romantics for my copy of this book.

[Ceitidh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read more of my reviews at Dazzling Reads

I have not read Hans Christian Andersn's The Little Mermaid. I only watched the Disney version of it, which I do know have a very different ending to the original tale. However, with only the Disney retelling in my head, Fathomless feels like a whole new tale on its own. And a very wonderful one.

Told from two characters' perspective, yet three different points of view (one character has two identities) Fathomless narrates a mesmerizing story of identity, remembrance, friendship and love.

Celia and her Sister (who are triplets) have supernatural powers. One can see the future, the other one the present, and Celia can see the past. Lo is an ocean girl who was once human and lived on land. However, someone turned her into an ocean girl and now she can't even remember what her name used to be... until she meet Celia. Celia and Lo meet for the first time the night they both rescue Jude (the charming love interest) from drowning. But Celia and Lo continue to meet and a friendship starts to grows while Celia tries to helps Lo remember who she once was.

With a bewitching prologue, Fathomless captured my attention right away. I enjoyed it the different point's of view and I specially appreciate the different chapters that were given to Lo and Naida (the girl Lo used to be) I feel I get to love this complex characters whose two identities fought to overpower each other to whether accept a life as an ocean girl, or remember the past and sacrifice a human' s life to get her soul back. In addition, Celia was a delightful lead character. There is so much credibility to the way she behaves as well as her actions and thoughts. She is no doubt a character that readers will deeply sympathize with.

The background story in how the ocean girls are created, and where they are supposed to go when they grow old, is something that fascinated me and I'd love to see more of these concept. Unfortunately is was covered very little but enough to have a good understanding of the background story.

Fathomless is a very enjoyable story even though most of it goes pretty smooth and didn't blew my mind. However, the last fifty pages of the book is what really did it for me. The last fifty pages were such a wild rollercoaster that I felt like drowning and gasping for air countless of times. By the end of this novel, I was definitely breathless!

With a highly satisfying (and soul-feeding) ending, Fathomless is a beautiful tale that you'll appreciate reading.

[Momo (the Mome Rath) · Rating 5 out of 5]

First a little backstory:

Fathomless is the third entry in Jackson Pearce's Fairytale Retellings. What I like about this series, is that it is almost not a series. The stories are not co-dependent on each other -- however, it would be a better experience to read them in order. I actually read them out of order, not knowing that Sweetly was the second in the series. What makes them a unit is that Jackson Pearce has created her own mythology that she weaves into the fairytale. This can be somewhat jarring as most people wouldn't expect werewolves in a Hansel and Gretle retelling (which Sweetly is). This is the reason to read them in order: Sisters Red, the first in the series and a Little Red Riding Hood retelling, introduces the mythos into a fairytale were it fits completely. So that being said, Fathomless is a retelling of The Little Mermaid intertwined with Jackson Pearce's mythos.

Because this is the third in the series, the author wrote the book intending for the reader to know her mythos. Therefore, it is not a spoiler to know that werewolves will be making an appearance. I definitely found it more enjoyable to be reading and go "I wonder how she's going to do this" vs. "lolwut? Werewolves?”

Moving on, Fathomless blows its predecessors out of the water. It focuses on two girls: Celia and Lo. Celia is part of a set of three, a triplet, but doesn’t really fit with her sisters. Lo is a sea girl: a water dwelling monster part of a pack she refers to as her sisters. The book really focuses on these ideas of sisterhood instead of centering on the romance. Not to say there isn’t a romance, because there is (and it’s rather sweet too!).

Fathomless does have alternating POVs, which normally drives me up the wall. However, for the first time ever, I think the story was better because of how Jackson Pearce used this trick. If the story had stuck to one POV, it would seriously be lacking as there was so much going on for each girl. If it was written in third person, there wouldn’t have been the strong sense of empathy that you get from reading what the character is thinking/feeling. Each character thought and felt things differently, which was the pivot point that took Fathomless from a good book (like Sisters Red and Sweetly) to a great book.

Therefore, Fathomless is the best in the series so far and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into Jackson Pearce’s next entry.

Originally posted on my blog Where the Mome Raths Outgrabe

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fathomless is the third book in the Fairytale Retellings Series and it's like a mixture of two fairytales for me: hercules and the little mermaid. WHY? Oh well Celia is the youngest of triplets and can see the past..while Lo was once a human but is now a mermaid. I guess it could just be about hercules.. maybe.. idk. I'M WEIRD!

Then comes in Jude, heyyy judeeee, who is a possible love interest for both Celia and Lo. I did, however, ship Jude with one girl.. and I hate that I did..but then again I really do hate love triangles!! Okay, so I totally shipped Jude with Lo. I just think there wasn't that great of a connection between him and Celia. Mostly because Celia kind of frustrated me to no end. However, I also wouldn't see this as a romantic book at all.. because the romance did nothing for me. I guess I don't really care who I shipped Jude with because it was just meh to me.

Besides the "romance", the mystery and twists were amazing! However, I think the first two books were way better than this one. I can't wait to see how this series is going to end with the next and final book.

[Tyler Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

Had some issues but mostly loved it! Read it in one day thanks to #BooktubeAThon who even am I?!

[Mizuki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: I read the Chinese translation of this book.

Rating: 3.5 stars.

Like Jackson Pearce's previous book Sisters Red, Fathomless is an okay-ish fairytale retelling. I like how there is friendship among female characters, I like how the MC chooses to be honest with her friend, I like how the girls handle the love triangle with a lot more maturity than too many other YA heroines.

However, I really don't like how in the story being bitten by evil werewolf will make you a siren for a while, before you go back to the land and then become an evil fully grown werewolf. This makes no sense in my mind.

[constellationoftomes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fathomless has great ideas, but I'm not a fan of the execution. There are many things going on in this book and none of them are given the attention they deserve.

Fathomless is inspired by The Little Mermaid and is told through three PoVs: Celia, Lo and Naida. The chapters narrated by Lo and Naida have a dark and eerie atmosphere, but I preferred reading Celia's chapters because it feels like a little more is happening.

The characters are flat and undeveloped. I like Celia, but I'm not attached to any of the characters and when things happen to them, I don't care. I love reading about complicated sibling relationships, but there's little going on in that regard. I like the idea of Jude and Celia and while they are cute, I didn't care about the progression of their relationship because there is no chemistry between them.

Fathomless is slow to start and while the plot is interesting, there are plot inconsistencies and character changes that don't feel natural, but happen because of plot. One example is the role reversal in the end with Lo and Naida. Celia and her sisters have special powers related to viewing the past, present and future which is a cool idea, but definitely undeveloped and not a huge focus of the book.

The ending is terrible and rushed. It's like the author just wanted to end the story. Throughout the book, there's little explanation about the paranormal elements and I was hoping it would be addressed in the end, but I'm left even more confused. I feel like I'm missing something. Why do the wolves stop attacking just because of a car knocking them over and driving into a building? If they are so dangerous and want more ocean girls, wouldn't they go ahead and kill Celia and her sisters anyway? What is the whole point of turning human girls into ocean girls and then into werewolves? It doesn't make sense to me.

Interesting concepts, but disappointing execution.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alright I am really glad to give this review. Jackson it seems that you really matured though writing this.


A group of "sisters" dwell under the ocean by an amusement park in Georgia where what could be called mermaids/nymphs live. What I found interesting was the lack of mermaid tail. They all were brought here by an "angel" and when they get old-meaning their skin turns a really dark shade of blue/green-they get to become angles too. Lo doesn't remember anything about herself except that she used to be human. Lo longs to know more about herself.

The sisters have heard of the rumor that if you make a human fall in love with you and then drown them, you will steal their soul and become human once again. Lo tries this but of course it doesn't work and the next time a human falls into the water, Lo tries to save his life. Molly, one of the newest nymphs, desperately tries to steal his soul. Lo ends up saving him from his death and brings him to shore.


There she meets Celia, a triplet who has powers. She can see the past just by touching someone and so becoming close to someone other than her sisters scares her as she can see nothing but the darkest mistakes that others have tried to forget. However, as she helps rescue the boy she meets Lo and that's when she realizes that she can use her powers to help someone who is or may not have been a human.

If you have not already read some of Jackson's other novels, nothing here will be missed. Its a companion novel where she adds in her own twists and creates a world where all her characters are starting to pop up in other books.

She really loves themes involving sisterly bonds-especially twins-and friendship. Love also is a recurring theme meant to mature the characters and to figure out about themselves and I find it nice for once that the romance isn't too in your face like in other paranormal romance these days. It's sweet, doesn't block out the plot, and feels real. In fact, the characters felt so real that I truly cared for them, especially Lo who is struggling to find out who she really is- Naida, the human, or Lo, the ocean girl.

Each character has their own issues to plow through and it isn't forced. Although I was disappointed about the Fenris, I wasn't too disappointed as Jackson added in really good twists that made me start to even take an interest in them. I wonder if they will eventually become a big villain that these books have been putting them up as and if so, I cant wait to see how.

This book is one of the few that really wrenched my heart. I literally felt worried for the characters and I was rooting for Lo/Naida so much. I was glad that there wasn't a real love triangle but I felt so bad for Lo.

The ending was nice but I felt sorry for Lo still despite how she was happy I guess. One thing I still cant understand though: if she cant walk out of the water how is it she can despite how the land injures her? She lay on her stomach countless times but only her feet bled. I would love to know what that was about and if Fenris really were created in the ocean, or like in Sisters Red.

I cant wait for Cold Spell, Jackson's newest novel focusing on the Snow Queen, and I am glad that her novels are improving greatly. And the issue with the cover, I found it pretty, but the necklace wasn't involved. Maybe the company is trying new tactics to try and see if her novels will sell more??? Well I like the older ones, personally.

I will add that her writing style is really simple and I would have loved to have heard more about life under the ocean, such as the colors of the water more. But overall I was very glad to read this and I even stayed up to 1 to read it.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay. So. There were definitely things that I loved about this book, but then there were the glaring holes.

If you don't know anything about this book, Fathomless is a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid.

There's Lo, the mermaid. In the beginning, she lures a boy into the ocean to try to steal his soul, but it doesn't work and he drowns.

Then we meet Celia, one in a set of triplets who have the ability to see into the future (Anne), present (Jane), or past (Celia). They're out, and Anne and Jane are having fun using their powers to lure boys. Once the one they're messing with, Celia decides to leave the group. Something happens, and the guitar player (Jude) that Celia notices trips over a board and falls into the ocean.

Molly, a newer mermaid, sees him fall in and swims over with Lo. Lo, remembering what she felt after the boy drowned, tries to save Jude. They fight over him, Molly breaks his nose, and then Lo finally brings him ashore, where Celia gives him CPR, and Lo slips back into the ocean.

Now, since I'm sure this part is covered by the 'read more' at this point, I'll talk about it more in-depth. Starting with...

NAIDA. The way they were going on about her in Sweetly made me think that she was going to be some super Fenris-queen or something. I mean, it was obvious that they were turning the girls into Fenris, but that she was the first... And then in Fathomless, it turns out that she wasn't really special at all. Which leaves questions- Why did the Fenris kill Naida and Sophia's father? (Do we know? Do I have to read Sweetly all over again?) How did they know that Naida was a twin? Didn't her twin die shortly after being born? (Seriously, am I going to have to read Sweetly a second time? I feel like I'm missing huge details.)

But there's one thing that makes Naida so sad to me, which is that she's willing to do whatever it is to get a soul again, to get back to where she was. But, if you remember what happened at the end of the last book, you know that there's nothing left. Sophia died, and the candy store burned down. So if Lo hadn't won, and Naida had gotten Celia's soul, it all would have been for nothing.

Celia. And, to an extent, Anne and Jane. The daughters of a woodsman. Who apparently know nothing of the Fenris. Who have seven woodsmen-as-brothers "spread out across the country" except for the two who are in adjoining states. (And if Cold Spell takes place in Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, or North Carolina, I'm seriously calling bullshit. Because almost half of the brothers in the south? That's not "across the country".)

(Also, Celia's parents were already old when the three of them were born, that means that all the Reynolds boys are getting older. And more weird to be getting paired off with in YA books.)

But I find it difficult to understand how none of them knew what to do. You would think that at least ONE of the brothers would have explained to the girls how to defend themselves if a Fenris ever came after them. But NOPE. (I mean, Samuel taught Gretchen how to kill a Fenris!)

The mermaids. Now one thing that it gets me is that it's never really explained about the old ones. Yes, they become Fenris, but how long until they become an 'old one'? It makes them seem like it takes them years, but then Lo almost changes and she's been there three years. Molly even less. Does it just mean that they fully forget themselves? But that doesn't make sense, seeing that Lo fully remembered Naida. It makes even less sense that the change was coming about over a hurricane.

Lastly, I feel that Lo and Celia had waaaaaaaaay more chemistry than Celia and Jude. Plus, even at the beginning, Celia didn't go back to the hospital to check up on Jude... she went back to the pier hoping to see the ~mysterious Lo again. And if that doesn't sound like the beginning of a love story, well... I don't know what does.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Imagine you couldn’t decide between pizza, Chinese food, or burritos for dinner. Would you just give in and have some of all three or would you decide to have one on each of three separate occasions? In this young adult paranormal fantasy, it seems as if the author has analogously opted to have everything at once.

There are at least three separate paranormal plots going on in this book and they don't really don’t seem to go together at all. We have a sisterhood of girls who live underwater, we have a set of triplets each with a different extrasensory skill, and we have a third (and the most bizarre plot line of all) group of beings that I won’t discuss much because it may be spoilery.

The story is told in alternate chapters by Lo (one of the sea sisters) and Celia (one of the triplets). Both of them are attracted to a boy Jude for no apparent reason except they like his eyes. In between trying to make time with Jude, the girls tell their stories – at least to the extent they know them, which isn’t a lot. Lo has no idea who she used to be or how she got to be a sea sister, but believes in the legend decreeing that she needs to kill a boy who loves her in order to return to human form and retrieve her soul:

"Make him love you, kiss him, drown him. Earn his soul, and you get your humanity back – the escape from the ocean that the older girls told her about on her very first day.”

(In all other respects, these sea sisters aren’t dumb. But here, they are convinced that grabbing a boy and asking this total stranger as they try to drown him “Do you love me?”, will inspire the boy to do so. This seems unbelievably silly, even for sea nymphs without the power to check Wikipedia for verification.…)

Celia has the power to see a person’s past. This gift has always made her feel useless, especially vis-à-vis her other two sisters’ gifts, but now Lo’s need to know who she used to be offers her a chance to redeem herself.

The third plot line, involving a mysterious scarred man who may or may not be an angel, is not as central, but always looms over the other two.

The author seems to want to be saying something about sisters, but the story is so contradictory I can’t tell what it is. Are sisters the ultimate good or the ultimate evil? Lo herself is a huge contradiction, with a personality that flips as much as a mermaid tail (which the sea sisters do not have, by the way). Some of that flipping is part of the plot, but some of it seems like the author herself got confused. And Jude is a nobody. He provides nothing whatsoever to the plot except to be a focal point for Celia and Lo.

Evaluation: This story is definitely intended as a dark retelling of "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen but that’s about the only “definite” thing I can say about this book. On the author’s website, I learned that this book is a “companion book” to Sisters Red and Sweetly, but there is absolutely no indication of that anywhere on or in the book itself. Maybe this book would have made more sense to me had I read the earlier books, but I just thought this book was a bit of a mess. The different segments don’t mesh, and we get only the barest of explanations about what happened to one character in one aspect of her life, but not any whys or wherefores for the whole paranormal mishmash generally.

Rating: 1.5/5

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upon finishing Fathomless I found myself asking why I had never read any of the other books in this series before, until now. I have had the other books in the series for awhile now just haven't been able to read them yet. I am really glad I went ahead and read Fathomless though because seeing this work compared to her Contemporary book shows how talented she is. It opened me up to the wonderful storyteller that Jackson is. This book will literally leave you breathless. It is a retelling of The Little Mermaid, which I remember seeing growing up but can't recall ever reading the book. But just based on what I know from seeing The Little Mermaid movie when I was little, it is very difficult to draw any types of comparisons. Fathomless is a surprisingly dark story, which I actually really ended up loving the most about it.

It is so difficult to wrap up the entire concept of this book in a review. I was really surprised just how complex the story was. Following Celia, Lo and each of their sisters. Each one of them having quite a huge impact on things throughout the story. And then you have Jude which makes up another key part of the story. There is just so much going on in this book both on land and under the sea. It actually get's a little confusing at times with all the talk erasing memories, and all the different outcomes for the characters. Oh, did I mention there are monsters? Yes, and they are the scary kill first ask questions later types. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about the romantic relationships, because it is really confusing and a lot of it doesn't start until very later in the book. But I will say that it was all pretty interesting.

Having talked about the characters above, I am not going to go into a lot of individual detail on any of them. I will just talk about them from a broad perspective. You're introduced to a very wide variety of characters and personalities in Fathomless. Some of which you will love, others that you will love to hate. I personally loved the variety, everyone really seemed to bring something different to the story and I never really felt myself becoming bored with the book thanks to this. If you have characters that are engaging and really keep you pulled into the story, you will win over readers. Jackson was able to accomplish this in Fathomless.

Even though I found this book somewhat confusing at points, by the end of it Jackson had really done a great job at explaining all of the different concepts throughout the story and making it pretty clear what exactly everything meant. I did walk a way with a few questions, but overall I was pleased with the ending and the way Jackson was able to bring it all together in such a great way. You could argue that some of it might of been predictable, but I feel like readers will really be surprised at how often you're left guessing throughout this story.

I can't wait to read the rest of this series now. If this one is testament to how great of a writer she is, I can't wait to see what the other books have in store for me. I really hope you all will check out this book. It's a wonderful and engaging story that will have you enjoying it from the moment you start reading until the moment you put it down.

[Bonnie (A Backwards Story)]

The world of Jackson Pearce's fairy tale "retellings" is always eerie, and never quite what one might expect. They all pull inspiration from traditional fairy tales while remaining their own original novels at the same time. None of the books need to be read in order, yet some elements create a refrain that weave the novels together. In SISTERS RED, we are introduced to the deadly Fenris, creatures that exist in all three books. In FATHOMLESS, we get to see a bit of their origins. SWEETLY gives off waves of foreshadowing that intertwine in FATHOMLESS, though again, you don't need to read it first. I will say, however, that immediately after finishing FATHOMLESS, I went back and re-read one chapter towards the end of SWEETLY, which is actually so much deeper and more meaningful now. Then I turned around and finally read SISTERS RED to see how the three stories tied together. I'm hoping Pearce sets more novels in this fairy tale world!

FATHOMLESS is a loose retelling of THE LITTLE MERMAID, one of my favorite fairy tales. She gets brownie points for anchoring the tale to the Hans Christian Andersen version over the Disney version, too. So far, I've only seen Carolyn Turgeon's MERMAID do this. The book alternates between the POV of the mermaid who actually saves a drowning boy and the human girl who pretends to have done so. Only, there's so much more at stake this time around. Plus, Lo isn't a natural mermaid. She died and became a being (albeit with legs and not a tail) who lives in the sea with her sisters (and in this sense, the book reminds me of Sarah Porter's LOST VOICES). If you've read SISTERS RED and SWEETLY, you know how an undercurrent of danger is woven throughout all of Pearce's novels. FATHOMLESS is no exception. It grows more horrifying as the novel progresses and is truly un-put-down-able.

So far, I'd have to say FATHOMLESS is my favorite novel by Pearce. The world is so creepy, yet so beautiful, too.

"How eerily creepy can mermaids possibly be," you ask. If this line isn't enough to send shivers coursing up your spine, nothing can:

MAKE HIM LOVE YOU, KISS HIM, DROWN HIM. Earn his soul, and you get your humanity back...
(Page 5, US ARC Edition, out Sept. 4, 2012; Changes may occur before final printing)

Then again, I also find myself fiercely in love with the kick-butt attitude of SISTERS RED and the gorgeous imagery from SWEETLY. Each of Pearce's books has something to love, and I'm excited that she has two non-related books (AS YOU WISH and PURITY) for me to read, though I don't know that I can love them as much as I do this fairy tale series. Pearce is spot-on in character descriptions, in bringing a scene's visuals to life, in sending shivers down one's spine, in forcing readers to care. There is so much to love and I look forward to more novels from Pearce in the future!

[Rochelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jackson Pearce has once again created a unique twist of another retelling story. This time it's The Little Mermaid. As with the two other books in this series, Fathomless features more of the Reynolds siblings. This time it's the three and only girls, triplets, who have the powers to see the future, present and past. One night, Celia, the youngest and the seer of the past helps Lo, an ocean girl living beneath the waters just off the coast of Georgia save Jude, a young musician, from drowning. Since then, their lives have become interconnected and it's up to Celia to find a way to keep Lo on dry land and remember her former self, Naida, the human girl she used to be.

As always, I really enjoyed Jackson Pearce's writing. This retelling was kind of different from the Hans Christian Andersen story we all know. Lo and her under-the-sea sisters (not really related) used to be human but are now trapped in the ocean though they can't recall the events that led to this fate. They are beautiful and grow more so the longer they stay in the water. They're not really "mermaids", they're not half girl/half fish; they have legs and just chill on a sunken ship waiting for the day the angels come and take them to the sky. They've all tried to sing and seduce men to drown and win back their souls but all have failed. Lo has forgotten who she once was and when Celia and Lo touch, it reveals that her real name is Naida (if you read Sweetly, you know exactly who she is). Celia meets with Lo/Naida more and more, trying to get her to become Naida again fully and never return to the sea. The Lo/Naida "dual/deul personality" aspect drove me crazy. It's not the book's fault, I've never been a fan of the "another person is living inside me" thing. It's an over-the-top concept that just turns me off when I find it pop up in my books. I loved Jude, he was cute, funny and I think the author did a great job portraying his love triangle with Celia and Lo/Naida. She showed how he could equally be attracted to them both in a non-douchebag way. Celia's sisters were okay but kind of annoying sometimes. I feel like all their powers should've been incorporated more into the ending. And of course the Fenris make an appearance, as they do in every book.

Out of all three books, Fathomless has the least action. It's also the fastest one I've read. I was extremely anxious to read about the love triangle that featured two girls after one boy (which I hardly see in books) but there wasn't a lot of adventure/action like in Sisters Red. It also lacked the entrancing prose that Sweetly had where you just wanted to eat the pages. I love this series but Fathomless was the weakest installment. But I still liked it a lot. It was a fun read and if there's a Fairytale Retellings part four, I will definitely be devouring that one too.

Cover Story: Though I love the cover, it's a bit misconstruing seeing how these "ocean girls" have no tails or fins.

[Britta · Rating 5 out of 5]

She did it. Jackson Pearce accomplished what no one else could - a mermaid book that I absolutely loved. It is extremely dark and suffocating, adjectives that I use in the best way possible.


Fathomless switches perspectives between Celia, the youngest in a set of triplets who feels like she doesn't belong with the other two, and Lo who now lives in the ocean and cannot remember her past life on land. Once the novel gets going, however, a third point of view is added. I will not spoil who it is, but I will say that even though it confused me at first, I began to love the internal battle that the third POV adds to the story.


The author completely switches around the happy-go-lucky Ariel type of creature that mermaids are often associated with. These girls live in the sea, yes, but there are something very different from that colorful image. For one, they do not have tails, and they do not sing and dance with the other sea creatures. The all came from the land, but they don't care about that any more, they can't even remember it. They are wasting time until they become old and can finally drift away and join the angels who made them this way... but what if the eternal life they always believed in is not what is waiting for them at the other side?


Celia, her sisters, and her new relationship with Jude are all very interesting and I liked reading about it, but they are really just a vessel to learn more about Lo. As Celia's relationship progresses with Jude, Lo's personality splits in two: one side who is friends with Celia and the other who is dangerous and blood thirsty.


I also loved how closely this installment connected to Sweetly. Although these novels are companions and do not have to be read together, I would strongly recommend reading Sweetly before Fathomless. The connections to Sweetly made me happy and got me very interested in where the plot was going. however, if I were to read Fathomless before Sweetly, I feel that some of the plot points in Sweetly would have been ruined. Fathomless definitely connects to Sweetly more than Sweetly connected to Sisters Red.


If you have also be slighted by the lack of interesting and well-written mermaid novels, I would love to meet you so I could shove this novel into your hands. Seriously, read it. I tried to explain it here, but I feel like I failed to express how much I loved this novel.

[Tammie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just as Sisters Red was inspired by the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood and Sweetly was inspired by Hansel and Gretel, Fathomless was inspired by The Little Mermaid. I loved Sisters Red and I thought Sweetly was very well done as well, but I just didn't enjoy this third installment as much. I've always been intrigued by Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel, but not so much by The Little Mermaid. Maybe that's why I didn't like this one as much.

Once again the story is tied to the others in an interesting way. Although I still don't understand exactly how the wolves and the mermaids are connected. How is it supposed to work? I think it should have been explained a lot more. In this one we meet Silas's (Silas from Sisters Red) triplet sisters who were sent away to a boarding school when they were very young. Two of them were hard to like for a while. Also there is a character mentioned in Sweetly who is in this book as well. I won't say who because that would be kind of a spoiler. The most interesting character in this book is Lo. I felt sorry for her but didn't particularly like her until near the end of the book. The love interest in this book was ok, but I didn't feel like we ever really got to know him.

I also have to mention the cover change they did to this series. I hate when publishing companies change covers in the middle of a series. They don't match on my shelf now. I like the original covers way better. These are just boring compared to those. It's a real shame that they didn't stick with the original graphic looking ones. I started thinking about what this one could have looked like if they had stayed with the original ones and thought of an awesome black and blue cover in featuring Lo in the water with her hair morphing into the ocean waves, oh well.

I was hoping this book would wrap up the series, but there will be a fourth one based on The Snow Queen. I'm hoping I like it better than this one and it will be the last book in the series, and that we might possibly see some of the characters from the other books again. I would definitely love to see Silas and Rosie again.

[Althea Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story had so much potential...
Inspired by 'The Little Mermaid,' but with a contemporary setting, I hoped the book would have something to say about cruelty and love... I felt that it started out promising; but quickly degenerated into an aggravating teen romance.

There are two main characters:
Celia is a human girl, one of an orphaned set of triplets. She and her sisters have psychic powers, which they mainly use to tease and torment local boys. Celia wants to assert her own identity, but her sisters pressure her to think of herself as part of a unit.

Naida, aka Lo, is a mermaid. However, she and the other mermaids in her group are not a natural phenomenon. Although they all seem to suffer from amnesia, it's hinted quite early on that they all used to be human girls, until something happened to them. (Don't hold your breath waiting to find out what exactly happened to them, or why, because you will not find out.) In the very last scene of the book, there's a sort of half-explanation rushed in, which seems to have something to do with EVIL WEREWOLVES(?) creating the mermaids as a sort of transition stage to them becoming shapeshifters? Eh, what? Why? It was very random.

When a teen boy trips and falls into the water, nearly drowning, both Celia and Lo rush to save him (well, with a few complications), and they meet. Celia hopes to help Lo recover her lost memories, and they strike up a sort of friendship.

They also both develop a totally inexplicable fascination with the nearly-drowned boy (who is boring and has nothing I can see going for him to warrant a crush) and a dull teenage love triangle develops.

I wanted more heartless cruelty, more exploration of all the complex issues raised by the original 'Little Mermaid' story, and more logic.

[Teril · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jackson Pearce delivers a haunting fresh tale of mermaids and a weaving story of loss and deception from the depth of our souls. With a new image of mermaids to carry readers into world of waves and lost memories, Fathomless will take you into a dark secret riddled with lies and trickery that forces the characters to remember so many things they have lost and hidden from themselves.

Celia, Lo and Nadia narrate different pieces of a larger puzzle on how they came to be the way they are in this world, and as harsh and terrible a reality that they all face, together they will uncover something haunting. Alternating points of voice, Fathomless ties in the story of a girl who carries a terrible past that has turned her into something not human living under the waves. As Lo, the mermaid comes to the surface and saves the life of a musician she meets Celia, and together they unravel her past bringing up her human self, Nadia that has been pushed down in the depths of Lo’s slightly human body. As both Lo and Nadia fight against each other’s will, and Celia opens up her gift to help Nadia remember who she was before she turned to the sea; a dark story will grip readers, and keep them wanting more.

Jackson Peace writes a breathtaking and heartbreaking story of loss and finding the demons in your past that create your present reality. With a trio of characters that drive a hard story, Fathomless unravels into a devastating kinship that will send the characters on a search for things they lost even as their present drives them just as quickly to forget. With a hard bargain, Celia touches on the hard topics in life that drive someone to lose their humanity as the horrors of reality consume them.

[Kerryn (RatherBeReading) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

I loved how dark and gritty this book was. I also really enjoyed the ending of this book and that it isn't your typical happily ever after.

[Not Sarah Connor Writes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jackson Pearce has an knack for Fairy-tale retellings. She’s one of the few authors who is able to successfully modernize a classic fairy-tale into something unforgettable. I’ve read her two previous fairy-tale retellings, Sisters Red and Sweetly, and was blown away with her ability to adapt classic fairy-tales (more so with Sweetly than Sisters Red). I’ve been waiting to read Fathomless for so long because it’s based off one of my favourite favourite fairy-tales and my favourite Disney movie The Little Mermaid.
First, the cover. While the cover has some beauty to it, it is nothing compared to Pearce’s last two books. I love the deep ocean background of the book but hate the rest of the cover. There is no mermaid necklace in the book, and the ocean girls don’t look like that. I was so excited when I heard of Fathomless coming out, I expected a beautiful pastel of colours with a secret picture like Sisters Red and Sweetly. Sadly Little Brown changed them and now readers are left with these weird covers that really don’t make sense.
Fathomless as a story is modernized perfectly. It’s much shorter and quicker than the first two books in the series, but it’s still an enjoyable read. I liked how each chapter alternated between Celia and Lo/Naida, I found myself loving Lo’s chapters more than Celia’s! Pearce was able to make me feel like I was down in the ocean and really made me yearn for the water, all I want to do is go swimming! Lo is such an amazing character, the reader can clearly feel her struggle with wanting to remember who she was but also wanting to forget and immerse herself into the life of an ocean girl. The red herring that Pearce provides in the story between Celia and Lo/Naida is perfect, something I truly didn’t see coming!
Celia however wasn’t a character I particularly liked. I understand that she’s a triplet trying to find an identity outside of her sister’s but something irked me about her. Pearce failed to give me enough information about her and make me empathize with her the way I think she wanted me to. Celia also annoyed me, she got mad at Jude for meeting with Lo at night (which he did, but not in a romantic way!) and wouldn’t talk to him despite the fact that she lied about saving his life! Oh yeah Celia I’m sure it’s more important to be mad at your boyfriend for platonically meeting your ocean girl friend but lying about saving his life is totally fine.
As for the romance between Jude and Celia, I’m very in-between about it. Part of me feels like it felt real while the other half feels that it happened to quickly. As mentioned above Fathomless is much quicker than Pearce’s other works, she doesn’t take her time to tell the story in this it’s all a huge rush.
This quickness also makes it impossible for the reader to really know the relationship between Celia and her sisters (while also failing to explain the sister’s powers, it was an interesting part PEarce added into the story but I would have liked some explanation). Celia didn’t seem to like her sister’s very much, and even so Anne was the main sister Celia talked about, Jane wasn’t as important.
I loved the ocean girls, they were such mysterious beings, such tragically beautiful figures that I yearned to know more about. I was happy to learn of their origins but also disappointed. I would’ve liked it if some different supernatural being like a witch had turned the girls into ocean girls but sadly
SPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERS
it was the Fenris, again. Like in Sisters Red and Sweetly. At least there’s a logical reason for them to be in Sister’s Red. I would have liked a witch in Sweetly and Fathomless though.
SPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERS
And now, the reason this book is a three star instead of four (also the reason Sweelty is a four and not a five).
BE WARNED, HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!
To become an ocean girl a girl must be a twin. The twin can either be living or dead but they MUST be a twin. The reason? Twins have one soul split between the two of them, making the surviving twin stronger as a supernatural creature. When one twin dies (one twin has to be dead or killed for the change to occur) they are already half-way to becoming a supernatural creature because half of there soul is dead and the other half is now dying (because of the transformation).
I remember this was mentioned at the end of Sweetly and it was the only thing that put me off about reading Fathomless. Why?
I am a twin. And I hate Pearce’s idea that twins have one soul.
Yes, it’s true that twins can be close to one another. I am very close to her and I do believe we share a bond not twin siblings don’t have. I think it’s because we have literally always been together since before birth (i.e. the womb) unlike non-twin siblings who don’t share a womb at the same time.
Pearce’s theory* in her books implies that all twins are exactly identical, that they can’t even have two different souls. They are carbon copies, each alike.
But twins aren’t, no person is. Even if twins are identical or fraternal** (like my sister and I) they are individuals. No two people are the same even though they look the same or have some things in common, each person is an individual.
END OF SPOILERS
Other than that I did like the book and I think it did fit perfectly capture the essence of The Little Mermaid (coughexcepttheendcoughcough) and I’m very excited for her next book Cold Spell but I’m already preparing myself for the same old villains like in her other three books.
*Pearce’s Theory: I am not saying Pearce believes in this, I think it’s just something she put in her books for the supernatural effect. Either way it bother me greatly.
**TWIN FACT: My sister and I are fraternal girl twins. We are both girls, we look different. I say this because some people think that fraternal twins can only be boy and girl twins which isn’t true. (The More You Know logo flies through the sky)

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really fascinating Little Mermaid retelling. But I have to admit, I'm still kind of confused. I couldn't put it down - just wanted to know what was going to happen, but the reveal is ... not clearly laid out. I don't understand why/how werewolves (????) turn girls into quasi-mermaids until they lose their souls so they also become werewolves? I mean, I like the idea that the girls have been taken for some sort of evil plot, but I don't understand the connection or how/why the transformation happens in the sea. I did like the relationships that developed between many of the characters and the way that story resolved, but the connection that the whole larger plot hinges on just doesn't work in my opinion.

[Melissapalmer404 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book #8 Read in 2018
Fathomless by Jackson Pearce

This is a take on the little mermaid. Celia meets Nadia who is a girl who has become a mermaid, Lo. Nadia is struggling to maintain human memories. Lo is trying to not become a monster who will kill humans. This telling is a bit creepier than the Disney version, and for that alone, I think high schoolers will enjoy it. It has mystery, fantasy and romance elements.

[Dyanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

After the disappointment with Sisters Red, I decided to still continue with this fairy-tales because I actually loved the synopsis of this book. It was not so bad, I thought the plot was original and loved who Jude pick from the two books. But it had a lot of gaps so there is the reason why I rated it 2 stars plus that the characters are so uni dimensional...