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bookgirl4ever's review against another edition
2.0
Lo was left in the depths of the ocean by a mysterious man. Her memories of her life before are vague and she's given up on making a young man fall in love with her so she can kill him to steal his soul. When a young "mermaid" is determined to find a new soul ), Lo plays a part in saving the young man the mermaid seeks to kill. Celia, a human, plays the other part. Celia falls in love with Jude but she also seeks to help Lo find her past. See Celia is gifted and can see a person's past through skin to skin touch. Celia knows that Lo suffered tragically, had a sister, and her name was Naida. Soon Lo realizes that she has a chance making Jude fall in love with her.
Not as exciting as her other fairytale retellings.
JHS/HS
Not as exciting as her other fairytale retellings.
JHS/HS
trinsreading's review against another edition
5.0
OMG!!!!!!! this book was soooo good!!!!!!!!!!
I kept thinking if lo would kill him, if she would turn back into a human! i didnt know!! But i never suspected she wouldve gotten CELIA!!!! but im glad about the way it turned out in the end! :) i cant wait to read the last book!! i wanna read it soooo badly right now!!! and every time i turned a page closer to the end i kept telling myself how is there only 4 pgs left and look whats happening! how is jackson pearce gonna finish the story with only 4 pgs left of wats happening!!!!! Jackon Pearce has made this Little mermaid retelling into something i would've never excepted but she made it work and had me shocked :D
Next : Cold Spell ((Fairytale retellings # 4))
I kept thinking if lo would kill him, if she would turn back into a human! i didnt know!! But i never suspected she wouldve gotten CELIA!!!! but im glad about the way it turned out in the end! :) i cant wait to read the last book!! i wanna read it soooo badly right now!!! and every time i turned a page closer to the end i kept telling myself how is there only 4 pgs left and look whats happening! how is jackson pearce gonna finish the story with only 4 pgs left of wats happening!!!!! Jackon Pearce has made this Little mermaid retelling into something i would've never excepted but she made it work and had me shocked :D
Next : Cold Spell ((Fairytale retellings # 4))
greenvillemelissa's review against another edition
4.0
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.
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.
withthebanned's review against another edition
3.0
Originally reviewed on Books Take You Places
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this novel, I didn’t particularly enjoy Sisters Red yet I liked Sweetly enough to want to continue on with the “series.” I won’t say I’m sorry that I did but I was disappointed in a lot of ways.
I suppose these are more “companion” novels than novels in a series yet I still wanted to hear more from characters in the previous two books. Characters in Sweetly were alluded to, it’s no surprise that “Lo” is also “Nadia” the lost sister from Sweetly, but I wanted more. I have to give credit where it’s due, all three novels are tied up in a way that make them not dependent on one another. However, upon finishing this book I couldn’t help but wonder if there was going to be another novel to finally bring everyone together. It really felt to me like the “series” is just getting started. Note: If the series is just getting started then these loose ends would make sense to me. However, I have not yet heard or read any indication that there will be more novels in this series. If you have, please, enlighten me!
I found that kept asking myself questions while reading the novel, “Why do these sisters have powers,” and “Where are these werewolves that plagued the first two novels?” Don’t worry, they show up for a brief episode, and we learn where they come from, kind of. All three novels gives us a major piece of information in regards to the fenris, how one is made, what they do to the girls they “steal” and so forth. Yet I was still left with feeling like I only read parts of different stories thrown together.
First, there is the idea of it being a “retelling” of The Little Mermaid. True, there was a mermaid who longed to be on land but for me, that is where the comparison ended. Lo longs to have her old life back (the life of Nadia) and she has been told that the only way to do this is to make a mortal fall in love with her so that she can steal his soul. Second, there are the triplets who just happen to have these powers to see the past, present and future. How and why do they have these powers? I’m not sure. For the sake of this story the powers enable Celia to assist Lo in remembering her life as Nadia, to help hold on to her humanity.
There were things I really enjoyed in this novel. The point of view changed between Lo (and Nadia) and Celia so it was really a story from three different characters. This kept the novel interesting. I also liked that Lo wasn’t a mermaid in the way that we know them, the fins and so forth, but more of a girl who can live and breathe underwater indefinitely. I also really enjoyed the ending to the novel. Jackson Pearce has great success in writing endings that I really don’t see coming. In fact, I went back and re-read my reviews for the prior two novels in this series and I mentioned the same things: how I didn’t love the novel throughout, but the ending redeemed it for me. Interesting. Celia, Jude and Lo were fantastic and layered characters that I really grew to love, I felt connected to them as I did the characters in Sweetly. I would have liked to have learned more about Celia’s sisters, some sort of knowledge to give the characters more depth, but they played their parts in the end.
I honestly don’t completely know how I feel about this novel. Parts were riveting and beautiful and parts didn’t click with me. If Pearce decides to continue on with this story, I will be back for more but it isn’t something I feel compelled to read. If you are looking for a different type of mermaid story, one slightly sinister yet also endearing, I encourage you to take a chance and read Fathomless yourself.
Side note: I have to weigh in, I really, really adored the covers of both Sisters Red and Sweetly and to be honest, I am extremely disappointed in the cover of Fathomless. Alas!
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this novel, I didn’t particularly enjoy Sisters Red yet I liked Sweetly enough to want to continue on with the “series.” I won’t say I’m sorry that I did but I was disappointed in a lot of ways.
I suppose these are more “companion” novels than novels in a series yet I still wanted to hear more from characters in the previous two books. Characters in Sweetly were alluded to, it’s no surprise that “Lo” is also “Nadia” the lost sister from Sweetly, but I wanted more. I have to give credit where it’s due, all three novels are tied up in a way that make them not dependent on one another. However, upon finishing this book I couldn’t help but wonder if there was going to be another novel to finally bring everyone together. It really felt to me like the “series” is just getting started. Note: If the series is just getting started then these loose ends would make sense to me. However, I have not yet heard or read any indication that there will be more novels in this series. If you have, please, enlighten me!
I found that kept asking myself questions while reading the novel, “Why do these sisters have powers,” and “Where are these werewolves that plagued the first two novels?” Don’t worry, they show up for a brief episode, and we learn where they come from, kind of. All three novels gives us a major piece of information in regards to the fenris, how one is made, what they do to the girls they “steal” and so forth. Yet I was still left with feeling like I only read parts of different stories thrown together.
First, there is the idea of it being a “retelling” of The Little Mermaid. True, there was a mermaid who longed to be on land but for me, that is where the comparison ended. Lo longs to have her old life back (the life of Nadia) and she has been told that the only way to do this is to make a mortal fall in love with her so that she can steal his soul. Second, there are the triplets who just happen to have these powers to see the past, present and future. How and why do they have these powers? I’m not sure. For the sake of this story the powers enable Celia to assist Lo in remembering her life as Nadia, to help hold on to her humanity.
There were things I really enjoyed in this novel. The point of view changed between Lo (and Nadia) and Celia so it was really a story from three different characters. This kept the novel interesting. I also liked that Lo wasn’t a mermaid in the way that we know them, the fins and so forth, but more of a girl who can live and breathe underwater indefinitely. I also really enjoyed the ending to the novel. Jackson Pearce has great success in writing endings that I really don’t see coming. In fact, I went back and re-read my reviews for the prior two novels in this series and I mentioned the same things: how I didn’t love the novel throughout, but the ending redeemed it for me. Interesting. Celia, Jude and Lo were fantastic and layered characters that I really grew to love, I felt connected to them as I did the characters in Sweetly. I would have liked to have learned more about Celia’s sisters, some sort of knowledge to give the characters more depth, but they played their parts in the end.
I honestly don’t completely know how I feel about this novel. Parts were riveting and beautiful and parts didn’t click with me. If Pearce decides to continue on with this story, I will be back for more but it isn’t something I feel compelled to read. If you are looking for a different type of mermaid story, one slightly sinister yet also endearing, I encourage you to take a chance and read Fathomless yourself.
Side note: I have to weigh in, I really, really adored the covers of both Sisters Red and Sweetly and to be honest, I am extremely disappointed in the cover of Fathomless. Alas!
vanessamariebooks's review against another edition
3.0
I thought this book was just ok, I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either. It took me a long time to really get into it. I thought it didn't really start getting interesting until the last 100 pages and it got more intense and more interesting the closer you got to the end. I also didn't love the ending, it was a happy ending so it was ok but I was just expecting more from it. This was supposed to be a modern retelling of The Little Mermaid but I didn't see it like that at all. Other than the main character living in the ocean I didn't see any other similarities between this book and The Little Mermaid. The main character in this book was born human and by a horrific act was turned into an "ocean girl". She technically isn't a mermaid because she still has legs and feet, only difference now is she'll die is she stays on land too long, she needs the ocean to survive. She wants to be able to live on land again and become human again but not because she wants to be with some guy (though there is a guy she sort of ends up loving) but because she wants her old life back. So there are a lot of differences in this story that it just didn't remind me of The Little Mermaid at all. The characters were ok but I didn't get attached to any of them. This book was short but in a way I felt like it was too long because nothing interesting happens until the last 100 pages. Until I got to that point I just keep thinking "when is this book going to end?" I gave this a 3 out 5 stars because it did get better towards the end and got more intense but I wasn't quite satisfied with the ending and it took a long time to get into.
tartbarbie's review against another edition
4.0
The story follows the lives of two very unique girls one the youngest in a set of triplets and one struggling for her humanity after being changed into a water girl. Celia as well as her two sisters each has their own special ability to read people. Nadia/Lo is torn between being the water girl and losing all her human memories, it’s not till she meets Celia does she remember her name. When Celia watches a handsome boy fall into the ocean she springs into action to save him running down to the water but is shocked at what she finds. Lo is out in the water with several other girls when the see the boy fall in the water.
The ocean girls believe if you can get a boy to fall in love with you and you drown him you’ll get your soul back if not you will eventually turn into an angel. When Lo watches Molly trying to force the boy to love her she can’t help but save the boy. She struggles to free him from Molly and get him to shore before it’s too late. When she gets closer to the shore she is joined by Celia and together they get the boy to the sand together they save his life thus changing their lives forever.
Fathomless is a retelling of the little mermaid with its own unique twist. The concept that the author uses for Fathomless is exciting filled with suspense and just a touch of romance. I think the concept is great it’s my first retelling story and I really enjoyed it. The story flows along smoothly from start to finish creating a story that is easy to get lost in, I know I had a hard time putting it down because I wanted to know how it would end. My only complaint was the characters I had a hard time connecting with either girl I’m still not sure what it was I just kind of feel indifferent to them. However even though I didn’t like the girls it doesn’t change the fact that fathomless has an entertaining story.
The ocean girls believe if you can get a boy to fall in love with you and you drown him you’ll get your soul back if not you will eventually turn into an angel. When Lo watches Molly trying to force the boy to love her she can’t help but save the boy. She struggles to free him from Molly and get him to shore before it’s too late. When she gets closer to the shore she is joined by Celia and together they get the boy to the sand together they save his life thus changing their lives forever.
Fathomless is a retelling of the little mermaid with its own unique twist. The concept that the author uses for Fathomless is exciting filled with suspense and just a touch of romance. I think the concept is great it’s my first retelling story and I really enjoyed it. The story flows along smoothly from start to finish creating a story that is easy to get lost in, I know I had a hard time putting it down because I wanted to know how it would end. My only complaint was the characters I had a hard time connecting with either girl I’m still not sure what it was I just kind of feel indifferent to them. However even though I didn’t like the girls it doesn’t change the fact that fathomless has an entertaining story.
samantha_89's review against another edition
3.0
A+ for creativity.
I loved the darkness and the imagery in this novel. However, this book was painful for me to read. Lots of eyerolling due to lots of YA cliches. Missing parents, friends that "just don't understand". I love Jackson Pearce and expect more from her.
I loved the darkness and the imagery in this novel. However, this book was painful for me to read. Lots of eyerolling due to lots of YA cliches. Missing parents, friends that "just don't understand". I love Jackson Pearce and expect more from her.
justasmidge's review against another edition
2.0
Fathomless is about two girls, the first is an "ocean girl" named Lo who has lost her memories of her past life as a human who tries to hold on
to as many memories as her human self while fighting the change of forgetting her past completely and becoming another
ocean girl like her "sisters" who were also once human but have ended up like Lo and have forgotten their human past and embraced their new ocean life.
The second girl is Celia. Celia has a special power of being able to see someone's past just by touching them. She along with her two sister who also have a power,Jane can see someone's future and read minds, and Anne can see someone's present. They're all parent-less triplets each with a unique power.
One night a boy named Jude falls off a pier and into the ocean, he begins to drown but instead of drowning him, Lo decides to save him and bring him to shore. There she meets Celia who was also trying to save the boy. Celia accidentally touches and reads Lo's past and finds out that her name is Naida, Lo's previous human name. From there on Celia comes back to the same spot where she and Lo both saved the boy, to try and figure out who Lo was in her human life, and what she is now.
I received this as an ARC, and I was so excited when I received it in the mail. A few chapters in I got bored, and annoyed. This was like a mismatched re-telling of the Little Mermaid. I felt like the story was all over the place with all the different paranormal characters, especially
Another thing that bothered me was Lo's/Naida's double personality narrative. It got on my nerves, especially near the end when Naida tells Celia to not trust Lo, but then Lo says to not trust Naida. It was so confusing and I dreaded any chapter with from Lo or Naida's POV.
Despite what other reviewers think about the ending, I think it was flat and boring. It was obvious that
2 stars just for an interesting plot idea.
to as many memories as her human self while fighting the change of forgetting her past completely and becoming another
ocean girl like her "sisters" who were also once human but have ended up like Lo and have forgotten their human past and embraced their new ocean life.
The second girl is Celia. Celia has a special power of being able to see someone's past just by touching them. She along with her two sister who also have a power,Jane can see someone's future and read minds, and Anne can see someone's present. They're all parent-less triplets each with a unique power.
One night a boy named Jude falls off a pier and into the ocean, he begins to drown but instead of drowning him, Lo decides to save him and bring him to shore. There she meets Celia who was also trying to save the boy. Celia accidentally touches and reads Lo's past and finds out that her name is Naida, Lo's previous human name. From there on Celia comes back to the same spot where she and Lo both saved the boy, to try and figure out who Lo was in her human life, and what she is now.
I received this as an ARC, and I was so excited when I received it in the mail. A few chapters in I got bored, and annoyed. This was like a mismatched re-telling of the Little Mermaid. I felt like the story was all over the place with all the different paranormal characters, especially
Spoiler
the werewolves who actually kidnapped the girls in the ocean and turned them into what they were. For what exactly? The author never explained why, and it made me really frustrated. What was the point in kidnapping girls, murdering their twin in the process, and then throw them into the ocean?Another thing that bothered me was Lo's/Naida's double personality narrative. It got on my nerves, especially near the end when Naida tells Celia to not trust Lo, but then Lo says to not trust Naida. It was so confusing and I dreaded any chapter with from Lo or Naida's POV.
Despite what other reviewers think about the ending, I think it was flat and boring. It was obvious that
Spoiler
Celia wasn't going to die like her sister predicted, and neither did Lo. However, I was glad that Lo didn't magically become a human all of the sudden and be able to walk on land without and pain.2 stars just for an interesting plot idea.
zenithharpink's review against another edition
This was okay, it was a weird kind of interesting I guess, but the build was SO SLOW! There was virtually no action until the last 2 chapters, and then the book stopped more than it ended. As a reader, I felt a little bit gypped.
I struggled to get a grip on the age or situation of the 3 sisters, and as usually the connection was someone tenuous to the other books (in some ways more than others). I genuinely didn't like Anne or Jane, and I additionally frustrated because I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about them - there were mixed signals throughout the book.
The additional lore of the story was interesting, though there wasn't much mystery around any of it. I was always left wanting more out of the story, the characters and the trajectory from one book to another. These books feel like strong early drafts of what could become a really compelling world, but it never quite achieves actual maturity.
I recommend to fans of earlier books in the series, I wouldn't otherwise recommend picking up this book, and I barely recommend starting at the beginning.
I struggled to get a grip on the age or situation of the 3 sisters, and as usually the connection was someone tenuous to the other books (in some ways more than others). I genuinely didn't like Anne or Jane, and I additionally frustrated because I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about them - there were mixed signals throughout the book.
The additional lore of the story was interesting, though there wasn't much mystery around any of it. I was always left wanting more out of the story, the characters and the trajectory from one book to another. These books feel like strong early drafts of what could become a really compelling world, but it never quite achieves actual maturity.
I recommend to fans of earlier books in the series, I wouldn't otherwise recommend picking up this book, and I barely recommend starting at the beginning.