Reviews - Voice of the Ocean

667 reviews for:

Voice of the Ocean

Kelsey Impicciche

3.8 AVERAGE

cosmically_jaded's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

cosmically_jaded's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

johanneke's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I need the next book

pameler's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

mermaidmommy19's review against another edition

3.75

The writing style left a bit to be desired, but it is a debut novel so I suppose that's to be expected. Third person isn't my favorite and it was slow to get going. In the end it was enjoyable and I look forward to the next installment should it be coming. If not, well it ends on a cliffhanger, so......

readingwithalexis's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

This was a wonderful debut novel. I knew that it was a Little Mermaid retelling, which I loved as a child, so that made me very excited going in. I will say that the Little Mermaid references were a tad too heavy in the beginning, so I began to get bored. The pacing did pick up towards the second half of the book, and then really sped up towards the end. Once the differences between the Little Mermaid and Celeste's journey began to emerge, it became exciting again.

I love that we were really able to understand Celeste and her family dynamics. It makes her decisions realistic and authentic to her. Her journey coming to land was interesting because the sirens studied humans and their behavior, but this was her first random interaction with humans, and it began with violence and cruelty. It was an interesting commentary on how cruel human nature can be that sometimes we immediately jump to the wrong conclusions and would rather condemn than help people.

I enjoyed the found family aspect of Celeste and the crew. She was able to see different sides of each person and form a connection with them.

The romance was an issue for me. I felt that 'enemies to lovers' was a strong descriptor for the romance that unfolds. It was more dislike to lovers. I understand that she was immediately enamored by him and wanted to learn more, but it did not seem to be reciprocated. I often struggled to understand Raiden's choices and actions. She describes him as being very 'stand-offish' and 'rude' when they first interacted, but I never read his behavior that way, so it was hard for me to understand her 'hate' for him.

I initially thought that this was going to be a stand alone novel, but little did I know...there is a very glaring cliffhanger at the end of the book. The pacing picks up significantly towards the end, and the storyline did not seem close to ending, so I was not as surprised that we left off with no resolution. I am intrigued to see where the story will end and how much it varies from the Little Mermaid.