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Legend of the Mer #1
Legend of the Mer
Lana Prentis is 17 years old and lives on Safe Harbor Island in the North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North Carolina. She was born with several physical challenges. Lana is an albino with silver eyes, milky-white skin, white hair and webbed fingers and toes. Lana hides her fingers by wearing fingerless gloves and she never shows her feet.
Lana's father (Cole Prentis) is the lighthouse keeper and the keeper of many secrets. He has told Lana that her mother drowned when Lana was only three years old. He never allows Lana in the water and it bothers her that he refuses to talk to her about her mother or her physical challenges.
Lana develops a friendship with her P. E. Teacher (Miss Rose Perry). When Miss Perry secretly gives Lana swimming lessons, it sets off a chain of events that leads Lana to discover who she is and the truth about her mother as well.
Lana discovers that she has a large and extended family that has been waiting for her to come home. She also finds out that she does have a purpose to her life and that she has a heritage as rich and deep as the sea and that her future lies beneath it.
Lana's father (Cole Prentis) is the lighthouse keeper and the keeper of many secrets. He has told Lana that her mother drowned when Lana was only three years old. He never allows Lana in the water and it bothers her that he refuses to talk to her about her mother or her physical challenges.
Lana develops a friendship with her P. E. Teacher (Miss Rose Perry). When Miss Perry secretly gives Lana swimming lessons, it sets off a chain of events that leads Lana to discover who she is and the truth about her mother as well.
Lana discovers that she has a large and extended family that has been waiting for her to come home. She also finds out that she does have a purpose to her life and that she has a heritage as rich and deep as the sea and that her future lies beneath it.
Nook
First published November 1, 2010
13 people are currently reading
205 people want to read
About the author
Sheri L. Swift
4 books14 followersAuthor of Legend of the Mer, Legend of the Mer II The New Guardian. Legend of the Mer III Song of Sirens and The Hart of Telendaria An Elven Love Story. Currently writing Legend of the Mer IV.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
May 19, 2012
Great premise, horrible execution. Lana is the daughter of a lighthouse keeper living off the shores of North Carolina. She's self-conscious about her albino skin and webbed hands and feet, and tends to overcompensate by being a Goth: wearing black, heavy makeup, etc. She's also never learned how to swim, ironically. One day she does, and it leads to her discovering her true heritage as a merwalker, a half-human half-mermaid.
I'm not going to mince words. The book is bad. The author tells everything, and there isn't the slightest bit of tension or drama. The characters are cardboard because of it, and soggy cardboard at that. It reads like a book for six year olds. It seems like every female character under the sea is a princess, for reasons I couldn't see, and Lana being promised to a prince at birth is accepted as a matter of fact. Her father is quite okay with her going off under the sea too.
It's not that the regular things are there, and they are just badly done. Things you'd expect simply aren't there. A goth in NC would be bullied and possibly resentful, especially if she lost her mother. It's never covered. Her father might be wary about her daughter recovering her heritage because he might lose her. It's barely touched upon. A prince might not be sure about marrying a half-breed, especially if it's an arranged union. He's not, he never thinks otherwise.
It's frustrating because the premise isn't bad, especially if viewed from a Christian perspective. Lana as a merwalker, straddling two worlds. But it's just handled very poorly.
I'm not going to mince words. The book is bad. The author tells everything, and there isn't the slightest bit of tension or drama. The characters are cardboard because of it, and soggy cardboard at that. It reads like a book for six year olds. It seems like every female character under the sea is a princess, for reasons I couldn't see, and Lana being promised to a prince at birth is accepted as a matter of fact. Her father is quite okay with her going off under the sea too.
It's not that the regular things are there, and they are just badly done. Things you'd expect simply aren't there. A goth in NC would be bullied and possibly resentful, especially if she lost her mother. It's never covered. Her father might be wary about her daughter recovering her heritage because he might lose her. It's barely touched upon. A prince might not be sure about marrying a half-breed, especially if it's an arranged union. He's not, he never thinks otherwise.
It's frustrating because the premise isn't bad, especially if viewed from a Christian perspective. Lana as a merwalker, straddling two worlds. But it's just handled very poorly.
February 1, 2018
Worst writing ever. Poor grammar, poor sentence structure, everything was disjointed. stopped after the first hundred pages into the ebook.
August 12, 2012
I honestly didn't know if I would like this book at first. The style of writing is much different than I'm used to and some of the dialogue is different. However, the further along I got into the book, the more I just couldn't put it down. I know what it is like to be made fun of and then pick up a sport and everything start to change because you're pretty good at it. I also know how it feels to want to be able to say there is a whole other world out there for you that you never realized. . . that you may be a princess or a mermaid . . .or heck, why not both? That's why i like this book so much, because it reminds me of me . . .your average girl who still may believe in the occasional fairy tale.
August 9, 2012
I wasn't sure if I would like this book or not when I first started reading. Then the further I read into it, I couldn't get enough. The phrasing is a little bizarre at times but I think this is the authors way of distinguishing between the mermaids and the humans. The story surrounds a young girl who discovers she may not be entirely human. She is thrown into a different environment where once she was a social outcast now she is a princess and is wanted by everyone even the kind you don't want hanging around. I don't want to give to much away, but I really enjoyed this.
August 6, 2012
This is a story about a young teenage girl who feels like she is an outcast. She has webbed fingers and toes and is an albino. Her father is a lighthouse keeper and her mother drowned when she was young. Though circumstances that are unseen, Lana, the main character, discovers a part of herself and her history that has been kept hidden all these years. This light hearted book will lift your spirits and make you believe in mermaids once again.
August 12, 2012
Very fast read. loved that it was so simple and pure.
January 8, 2013
Idea of the book was goid but the Grammar and phrasing was terrible, couldn't finish the book.
April 30, 2013
the actual plot of the book is very good, but the author is a terrible writer!
there is no correct punctuation or grammar it's like nobody correctly edited the book!
there is no correct punctuation or grammar it's like nobody correctly edited the book!
March 7, 2014
Poor grammar, repetitive scenes and narrative, boring characters, far too long. But a mermaid story, which was what I wanted.
June 5, 2012
It is the policy of this reviewer to NOT include spoilers and/or plot synopses in his reviews. (Neptune knows that there are enough other reviewers who do this.) Instead, this reviewer usually chooses to comment on the book as a whole or, perhaps, certain characters and/or points in the plot.
Unless otherwise noted, all reviews are based on the Kindle edition.
A small, isolated island community. A father trying to keep his motherless daughter close to him. A lonely adolescent affecting goth-like attire to conceal the fact that she looks "different". This is the world of Lana Prentis on Safe Harbor Island.
Sheri L. Swift has created an engaging story of a teen-aged girl's journey from being a social outcast to discovering her family heritage, love, marriage and life in the sea. Lana has always been "different". Her father is a land-dweller and her mother, a mermaid who was killed in a tragic greed-fueled episode in the south Pacific. Lana's grieving father attempts to keep his daughter out of the sea and away from water so he will not lose her as well. However, Lana's destiny is beneath the ocean waves. Through all of this, Lana discovers that she and her father have more in common than she ever imagined and she strives not to lose touch with her land-based family while living and raising her children in the sea.
There is an irony in all of this. Lana is "different" on land and different amongst her mother's people as well. She is a "Merwalker"; a person of both human and Mer ancestry who can live underwater but has legs instead of the usual tail. In this story, there are only two such hybrids to be found: Herself and her niece. Although Lana is more than accepted by the Mer and deeply loved by her husband, the reader wonders if she might not secretly long to be like the rest of them in every way.
Unfortunately, Sheri Swift's story falls a bit short in its execution. The dialogue is somewhat stilted and awkward in places. While this may help create as sense of "Other-ness" for the Mer characters, it is a detriment to the human characters. The book is classified as Young Adult Fiction but the writing style and the dialogue make it seem that this book was written with a more younger, female audience in mind.
In reading Young Adult Fiction, I am always on the look-out for "teachable-moments": those plot-points that can be used to convey or reinforce ideals and lessons to the target audience. There is no more basic thing to convey than the correct rules of English usage. Sheri's story - at least in the Kindle edition - contains sins beyond the usual typos. There are mis-used words, incorrect syntax, grammatical errors, and poor sentence structure; all which lead this reviewer to wonder if proof readers have gone the way of the dodo.
Despite these problems, the author has created a wonderful and enjoyable book which is well worth reading.
Sheri Swift is currently engaged in developing a sequel to Legend of the Mer. It is this reviewer's hope that Ms Swift will continue to exercise her wonderful ability at story-telling while striving to eliminate the grammatical shortcomings of the first book.
Unless otherwise noted, all reviews are based on the Kindle edition.
A small, isolated island community. A father trying to keep his motherless daughter close to him. A lonely adolescent affecting goth-like attire to conceal the fact that she looks "different". This is the world of Lana Prentis on Safe Harbor Island.
Sheri L. Swift has created an engaging story of a teen-aged girl's journey from being a social outcast to discovering her family heritage, love, marriage and life in the sea. Lana has always been "different". Her father is a land-dweller and her mother, a mermaid who was killed in a tragic greed-fueled episode in the south Pacific. Lana's grieving father attempts to keep his daughter out of the sea and away from water so he will not lose her as well. However, Lana's destiny is beneath the ocean waves. Through all of this, Lana discovers that she and her father have more in common than she ever imagined and she strives not to lose touch with her land-based family while living and raising her children in the sea.
There is an irony in all of this. Lana is "different" on land and different amongst her mother's people as well. She is a "Merwalker"; a person of both human and Mer ancestry who can live underwater but has legs instead of the usual tail. In this story, there are only two such hybrids to be found: Herself and her niece. Although Lana is more than accepted by the Mer and deeply loved by her husband, the reader wonders if she might not secretly long to be like the rest of them in every way.
Unfortunately, Sheri Swift's story falls a bit short in its execution. The dialogue is somewhat stilted and awkward in places. While this may help create as sense of "Other-ness" for the Mer characters, it is a detriment to the human characters. The book is classified as Young Adult Fiction but the writing style and the dialogue make it seem that this book was written with a more younger, female audience in mind.
In reading Young Adult Fiction, I am always on the look-out for "teachable-moments": those plot-points that can be used to convey or reinforce ideals and lessons to the target audience. There is no more basic thing to convey than the correct rules of English usage. Sheri's story - at least in the Kindle edition - contains sins beyond the usual typos. There are mis-used words, incorrect syntax, grammatical errors, and poor sentence structure; all which lead this reviewer to wonder if proof readers have gone the way of the dodo.
Despite these problems, the author has created a wonderful and enjoyable book which is well worth reading.
Sheri Swift is currently engaged in developing a sequel to Legend of the Mer. It is this reviewer's hope that Ms Swift will continue to exercise her wonderful ability at story-telling while striving to eliminate the grammatical shortcomings of the first book.
March 12, 2016
The idea behind the story is intriguing and the world could be captivating. I wish the author had written with the intention of putting meat on the bones. It felt like I was reading a skeleton of a book. I gave up around 53% because nothing truly was happening to make the book exciting. I want the author to come back to this and rewrite the whole thing and flesh out her world. I want the characters to become developed, I want to feel how much Lana hated school and to show the struggle. I want to feel the love she finds, fear for the danger, and be relieved when there's a resolution. This book and type of writing urges me to write my own mermaid story so I can read something that I want to read, but my plate is already full.
September 25, 2014
Hard to follow
I'm not one to usually leave a low or bad review but the way the book was written was hard to follow. I will admit the story was interesting though. I have to agree with some of the reviews that the romance is pretty cheesy. it jumps a lot, the descriptions of their surroundings are good, I found it very predictable and the grammar makes it very difficult to follow. but I did finish the book and will say it ends on a good note but I really had a hard time sticking it out until the end.
I'm not one to usually leave a low or bad review but the way the book was written was hard to follow. I will admit the story was interesting though. I have to agree with some of the reviews that the romance is pretty cheesy. it jumps a lot, the descriptions of their surroundings are good, I found it very predictable and the grammar makes it very difficult to follow. but I did finish the book and will say it ends on a good note but I really had a hard time sticking it out until the end.
Read
January 27, 2016It's a great read BUT things to keep in mind...
-Very cheesy, author's first novel
-Very romantic
-No dramatic action scenes
-None of the good characters died, only the villains
-Overall reads like a children's book
-Took me two months to read, because I got bored around 57% and needed a break
-Now that I have read it and know what to expect I would re-read this again, because I like cheesy stories every once in a while lol
Recommend: If you want a light, fluff read
Don't recommend: If you want say something like Harry Potter
-Very cheesy, author's first novel
-Very romantic
-No dramatic action scenes
-None of the good characters died, only the villains
-Overall reads like a children's book
-Took me two months to read, because I got bored around 57% and needed a break
-Now that I have read it and know what to expect I would re-read this again, because I like cheesy stories every once in a while lol
Recommend: If you want a light, fluff read
Don't recommend: If you want say something like Harry Potter
September 2, 2012
Wasn't sure what I was expecting with this book but I definately didn't expect to read this in only a few hours. The author may be new at writing but she is still very talented author. This is a story of a young girl with a mysterious past and a lonely existence. Through a series of events that starts with her learning how to swim, she discovers her past and a part of herself she was unaware of. Highly recommended.
February 26, 2014
DNF.
This book is one that I may, eventually, finish completely, since the storyline is interesting. My issue with it is how utterly terrible the spelling and grammar and formatting are. I am somewhat of a grammar Nazi and I expect authors to at least be able to distinguish between "you're" and "your," and "their/they're/there," etc.
I tried to read this, I really did. But for now, at least, the horrible lack of editing - or good editing, anyway - made me have to put this book down.
This book is one that I may, eventually, finish completely, since the storyline is interesting. My issue with it is how utterly terrible the spelling and grammar and formatting are. I am somewhat of a grammar Nazi and I expect authors to at least be able to distinguish between "you're" and "your," and "their/they're/there," etc.
I tried to read this, I really did. But for now, at least, the horrible lack of editing - or good editing, anyway - made me have to put this book down.
January 22, 2013
Lana wants to be like everyone els but the problem is she isnt. Born with web feet and fingers she is searching for her purpose her place in the world when her teacher decides to teach her how to swim.
March 27, 2014
UGH
This book did start off promising but it got pretty cheesy about half way through. I mean two people finding true love is great and all but geez! The lovely dovey soul mate stuff got really old really fast.
This book did start off promising but it got pretty cheesy about half way through. I mean two people finding true love is great and all but geez! The lovely dovey soul mate stuff got really old really fast.
September 6, 2014
At first the book started off slow, but when the pace picked up I found it hard to put down. The book had good twists, and the characters were cool, and loveable. The story was intriguing, and so were the characters.
October 8, 2012
it was a very sweet book
January 7, 2020
I read this two or three years ago and ran across it while I was going through my books looking for another story.
This is a YA fantasy about mermaids. Lana's a teenager who learns she is a merwalker when she is 17, as well as being promised to Prince Titus. There are full merpeople, and there are merwalkers. The merwalkers have their legs but can stay under the water as well as walk on land. The merpeople can only move around in the water and don't lose their tails when they come on land. Titus is a merperson. There are two others who have mer abilities from their decendants, but you'll have to read the story to find out who!
This is a clean read with a Christian bent.
This is a YA fantasy about mermaids. Lana's a teenager who learns she is a merwalker when she is 17, as well as being promised to Prince Titus. There are full merpeople, and there are merwalkers. The merwalkers have their legs but can stay under the water as well as walk on land. The merpeople can only move around in the water and don't lose their tails when they come on land. Titus is a merperson. There are two others who have mer abilities from their decendants, but you'll have to read the story to find out who!
This is a clean read with a Christian bent.
January 2, 2023
Good enough for a younger audience, but I was bored most of the time.
February 22, 2017
This book was hard to read for me. However, I am still giving it 4 stars becasue the story was very good.
May 27, 2015
This book had potential to be good, the concept idea was good, but how it was put into effect wasn't. The book was pretty predictable after all a girl is goth because of her mom not being around and her being unlike the others and her dad hardly does anything to stop her from going into the ocean and practically gives her to the merpeople. Along with that it seems every mermaid in the book is a princess and when they have daughters they're princesses it doesn't even make sense they're all pretty much royalty!! Along with that the first villain introduced was Darius and he dies they hardly went into a good scene they could have done a lot more, but instead he just falls over dead. And then Damon enters and they kill him because he has a poison ring. It could have gone so many better ways. I read this book and through every bit of it I was constantly wishing it over I don't like to just put books down, but this was the second time I checked this book out from the library and it just isn't good. (The first time I didn't even get to read it either.) And turns out there's a second book in this series, lets just say I don't think I'll suffer through reading that one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 12, 2013
I enjoy reading different trypes of style reading there is. I've always wanted to read a mermaid story, having the first I read disturbe me and not finishing it I was skeptical to read this book. I am really glad that I did. I loved all the characters and how the story was told including all of their progression not just with the main characters. You get a better understanding of what they are and how they are doing. Most would find this to be a long read, that's what I liked about the book the storyline is quite intriguing
August 23, 2016
Legend of the racist mermaids and a merwalker amongst them.
Was pretty good until I realized the husband captain of the mermaid guards was calling all black mermaid leaders the name of a merrman he knew that I think was already dead. And it seemed like the mermaid tribes were just competing for resources and it wasn't about a moral issue or some black merman who the guard cap knew. Otherwise, good storytelling.
Was pretty good until I realized the husband captain of the mermaid guards was calling all black mermaid leaders the name of a merrman he knew that I think was already dead. And it seemed like the mermaid tribes were just competing for resources and it wasn't about a moral issue or some black merman who the guard cap knew. Otherwise, good storytelling.
August 19, 2014
I loved it!!! my book cover is different than this one.
September 13, 2014
I love this book so much!! No matter how many times that you read this book it will always keep you on the edge of your seat!!
February 22, 2015
Good
Great concept but some words were just over used. I would have liked it to be less dry. Good story though.
Great concept but some words were just over used. I would have liked it to be less dry. Good story though.
February 28, 2015
A lot happens in this book. Its a great story in itself, I am not used to reading in story mode anymore so it was a little hard to connect with the characters.
July 7, 2016
One star is almost too generous. Good idea but not executed well.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews