Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga #1) by Jennifer Donnelly
Genre: Fantasy
Publication Date: May 2014
Synopsis:
(from Goodreads)
Serafina, daughter of Isabella, Queen of Miromara, has been raised with the expectation – and burden – that she will someday become ruler of the oldest civilization of the merfolk. On the eve of the Dokimí ceremony, which will determine if she is worthy of the crown, Sera is haunted by a strange dream that foretells the return of an ancient evil. But her nightmare is forgotten the next day as she diligently practices her songspell; eagerly anticipates a reunion with her best friend, Neela; and anxiously worries about Mahdi, the crown prince of Matali, and whether his feelings toward her and their future betrothal have changed. Most of all, she worries about not living up to her mother’s hopes.
The Dokimí proceeds, a dazzling display of majesty and might, until a shocking turn of events interrupts it: an assassin’s arrow wounds Isabella. The realm falls into chaos, and Serafina’s darkest premonitions are confirmed. Now she and Neela must embark on a quest to find the assassin’s master and prevent a war between the mer nations. Their search will lead them to other mermaid heriones scattered across the six seas. Together they will form an unbreakable bond of sisterhood as they uncover a conspiracy that threatens their world’s very existence.
–Possible Spoilers! Read at your own risk!–
“Whatever you do or dream you can do—begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.”
BADWRASSE, CURRENSEA
Puns, puns everywhere…and I loved every one of them.
Like with most fantasy books, the beginning can be a bit slow and confusing to the reader. You’re thrown into a new world that’s different from your own with new terminology. It can take a while to sink in.
Deep Blue is no different. There is a ton of infodumping in the beginning that made my head hurt, but the creativity in the world that Donnelly has created is absolutely wonderful. There’s even a glossary in the back of the book and it helped me out a lot, especially in the beginning.
The characters in Deep Blue were wonderful. I loved the diversity in the characters and how feminist the book was. There’s so much girl power and strong friendships and I just loved it all so much! The novel is very light on the romance, there isn’t very much at all really. Instead it’s more focused on the friendships between the mermaid girls and believe in yourself.
Overall, Deep Blue isn’t perfect, but it was a very entertaining novel with great puns, a wonderful and magical Disney-like world and awesome character relationships.
3.5 out of 5 stars
★★★½
–
Buy Deep Blue
Book Depository
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
–
Let’s be friends!
m y b o o k a c a d e m y 
First off, I can’t believe I wasn’t following your blog earlier! And second yay! 1 book down, 2 more to go 🙂 I was really surprised that this wasn’t the typical ya romance filled fantasy. And like you said, even though it wasn’t perfect, I loved the girl power and how strong the characters were ^^
I can’t believe I wasn’t following you either! I am now though, time to stalk through your blog 😉
And I agree, I just loved how it wasn’t all romance like I was expecting. I’m excited to dive into the next book!
LOL xD same same haha. Me too! I’m planning to start Rogue Wave tonight ^^