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brittanyef 's review for:
Triton Vârisi
by Anna Banks
Actual rating: 1.5 stars.
This book was so laughably awful.
What little charm the first book managed to hold has been totally lost in this sequel.
The writing. “Ohmysweetgoodness”, I hate Anna Banks' writing style. The voice that comes through in these books is so teeny and whiny and forced and unpleasant. Also, I thought it was a general rule that any writing that doesn’t move the plot forward in some significant way should be cut. Why is Banks not held to this rule? It leaves us with huge paragraphs of annoying inner thought and unnecessary interaction.
I also hate when books written in first person POV “speak” to the reader; this book asks so many rhetorical questions, and it irritates the hell out of me. And Emma would frequently comment on her actions, with lines such as, “Yes, I really did just ask a whale that. And no, he doesn’t answer.” Bleh. There’s nothing beautiful or eloquent about the prose in this novel. It’s light and stupid and it sometimes tries at being relatable but consistently falls short of it. The metaphors and similes employed are awkward and weak. Actually, the writing in general is awkward and weak.
There isn’t anything new to say about the characters—they haven’t changed in the slightest. They didn’t get any more annoying, thankfully, (looking at you, Rayna) but they certainly didn’t get any better. They still read like dolls being made to do things, not people. And their every action and thought is described in painful detail. Anna Banks apparently hasn’t mastered the art of SHOW, DON’T TELL.
Now, the story… it somehow manages to beat out the writing style as the worst aspect of this book.
Right from the get go, the root of all the conflict in this book-- Nalia and Grom each believing the other is dead and Nalia fleeing to land—is so weak. Why did she immediately assume he was dead? It’s not as if she saw his dead body! No one told her he was dead. Yes, there was an explosion, but if she didn’t die, why did she immediately assume he didn’t survive? I understand that she couldn’t sense him any longer, and Emma even brings up the idea that her sensing abilities could have just been messed up, and because there isn’t a good reason for it, Nalia just shuts the idea down. Which isn’t an answer! It makes no plausible sense that she would just leave without a word to anyone and stay gone for decades. So, that foundation is moot, and the rest of the story falls apart.
Despite the fact that the story itself shouldn’t exist on such faulty grounds, it does. So now we have the current situation of “Ohmigod, Nalia’s alive! Grom’s alive! True love survives!” which is like, whatever. Good for them. Except of course some angst must come from this, so Emma has loads of miserable feelings about seeing her mom with her “soul mate”, a guy who isn’t her dad (and who is also her boyfriend’s older brother but okay, whatever). And those are valid feelings! Her mom even adds to her unhappiness by admitting that she and Emma’s dad had never actually been in love (and had simply existed in a platonic marriage for 16 years. Riiiiight). That does suck! But Emma invalidates her own emotions; every line about her inner unhappiness is followed with, “Stop being such a brat! Grow up!” which doesn’t help anyone. But, abruptly, and for little reason, she’s over it. Apparently seeing a man she barely knows but who reminds her of her father flirting with another woman makes her feel like her dad has found someone, too. And that makes all her bad/sad feelings go away. What- How- Why- Stop. Don’t question it. Like everything in this book, if you stare at it too hard and search for the logic in it, it totally falls apart. There was also some pre-reunion angst of Emma doubting everything she knows about Galen with the slightest provocation, so we get to listen to her struggle internally for a chapter or two before they’re reunited and she believes in him again. Ugh.
Now, the rest of this shallow book is spent with most of the characters in the ocean trying to prove that Nalia is Nalia and that Paca does not have the Gift while Rachel, Rayna, and Emma are stuck on land doing literally nothing (don’t even get my started on the whole “leaving the women at home to keep them safe” aspect of this part of the story). It’s all terribly boring. Banks tries to spice it up with the chapters ending in someone tackling or strangling or stabbing someone else abruptly, but it’s a fairly transparent ploy. And then, in what is supposed to be a shocking twist, Toraf “betrays” Galen and company by denouncing the Royals and revealing Emma’s existence along with a promise to bring her to the trial. It is immediately obvious and then immediately revealed that Toraf has only good intentions and is bringing Emma to the trial to disprove Paca’s claim of possessing the gift. This seems like a good idea, except Emma is worried about angering Galen by disobeying his (order) request to stay on land (to be fair, it is because he’s afraid she’ll be killed once revealed to be a Half-Breed).
Emma goes to the trial, Galen’s wrath be damned, and is admittedly impressive in proving herself. And then she’s stabbed. Which abruptly ends one of the few interesting scenes in the story. And while the story should have wrapped up after that point, the climax, for some reason it is dragged out and sort of built up again which is actually really annoying—it’s very disconcerting for there to be more rising and falling tension after the conflict has been resolved. And it seems the only reason this was done is so that Banks could kill off Rachel. I wasn’t attached to Rachel in any way, but she was supposed to be a likable character, which is why she was killed: for angst. It is ridiculously obvious that she was just killed off for one last emotional punch (it didn’t work, but it was an attempt). If I didn’t already hold so much disdain for this book, that really put it over the edge. Unnecessary character death is a huge pet peeve of mine.
Because I almost always write my reviews directly after finishing a novel, they are always colored with how I felt by the end of the book. Because by the end of Of Poseidon I had found the experience of reading it more enjoyable than irritating, my review isn’t as heavily laced with criticism. Because I was darkly amused by the how impressively mediocre this book is by the end, my review doesn’t sing the praises of the very few things this book did right (I can’t even remember them, to be honest). I would recommend this series to no one, to be frank. I’d also call it a waste of time if it didn’t take so little time blow through and be done with.
(Also, is there actually a 3rd book coming out??? Why??? JUST LET THIS SERIES DIE).
This book was so laughably awful.
What little charm the first book managed to hold has been totally lost in this sequel.
The writing. “Ohmysweetgoodness”, I hate Anna Banks' writing style. The voice that comes through in these books is so teeny and whiny and forced and unpleasant. Also, I thought it was a general rule that any writing that doesn’t move the plot forward in some significant way should be cut. Why is Banks not held to this rule? It leaves us with huge paragraphs of annoying inner thought and unnecessary interaction.
I also hate when books written in first person POV “speak” to the reader; this book asks so many rhetorical questions, and it irritates the hell out of me. And Emma would frequently comment on her actions, with lines such as, “Yes, I really did just ask a whale that. And no, he doesn’t answer.” Bleh. There’s nothing beautiful or eloquent about the prose in this novel. It’s light and stupid and it sometimes tries at being relatable but consistently falls short of it. The metaphors and similes employed are awkward and weak. Actually, the writing in general is awkward and weak.
There isn’t anything new to say about the characters—they haven’t changed in the slightest. They didn’t get any more annoying, thankfully, (looking at you, Rayna) but they certainly didn’t get any better. They still read like dolls being made to do things, not people. And their every action and thought is described in painful detail. Anna Banks apparently hasn’t mastered the art of SHOW, DON’T TELL.
Now, the story… it somehow manages to beat out the writing style as the worst aspect of this book.
Right from the get go, the root of all the conflict in this book-- Nalia and Grom each believing the other is dead and Nalia fleeing to land—is so weak. Why did she immediately assume he was dead? It’s not as if she saw his dead body! No one told her he was dead. Yes, there was an explosion, but if she didn’t die, why did she immediately assume he didn’t survive? I understand that she couldn’t sense him any longer, and Emma even brings up the idea that her sensing abilities could have just been messed up, and because there isn’t a good reason for it, Nalia just shuts the idea down. Which isn’t an answer! It makes no plausible sense that she would just leave without a word to anyone and stay gone for decades. So, that foundation is moot, and the rest of the story falls apart.
Despite the fact that the story itself shouldn’t exist on such faulty grounds, it does. So now we have the current situation of “Ohmigod, Nalia’s alive! Grom’s alive! True love survives!” which is like, whatever. Good for them. Except of course some angst must come from this, so Emma has loads of miserable feelings about seeing her mom with her “soul mate”, a guy who isn’t her dad (and who is also her boyfriend’s older brother but okay, whatever). And those are valid feelings! Her mom even adds to her unhappiness by admitting that she and Emma’s dad had never actually been in love (and had simply existed in a platonic marriage for 16 years. Riiiiight). That does suck! But Emma invalidates her own emotions; every line about her inner unhappiness is followed with, “Stop being such a brat! Grow up!” which doesn’t help anyone. But, abruptly, and for little reason, she’s over it. Apparently seeing a man she barely knows but who reminds her of her father flirting with another woman makes her feel like her dad has found someone, too. And that makes all her bad/sad feelings go away. What- How- Why- Stop. Don’t question it. Like everything in this book, if you stare at it too hard and search for the logic in it, it totally falls apart. There was also some pre-reunion angst of Emma doubting everything she knows about Galen with the slightest provocation, so we get to listen to her struggle internally for a chapter or two before they’re reunited and she believes in him again. Ugh.
Now, the rest of this shallow book is spent with most of the characters in the ocean trying to prove that Nalia is Nalia and that Paca does not have the Gift while Rachel, Rayna, and Emma are stuck on land doing literally nothing (don’t even get my started on the whole “leaving the women at home to keep them safe” aspect of this part of the story). It’s all terribly boring. Banks tries to spice it up with the chapters ending in someone tackling or strangling or stabbing someone else abruptly, but it’s a fairly transparent ploy. And then, in what is supposed to be a shocking twist, Toraf “betrays” Galen and company by denouncing the Royals and revealing Emma’s existence along with a promise to bring her to the trial. It is immediately obvious and then immediately revealed that Toraf has only good intentions and is bringing Emma to the trial to disprove Paca’s claim of possessing the gift. This seems like a good idea, except Emma is worried about angering Galen by disobeying his (order) request to stay on land (to be fair, it is because he’s afraid she’ll be killed once revealed to be a Half-Breed).
Emma goes to the trial, Galen’s wrath be damned, and is admittedly impressive in proving herself. And then she’s stabbed. Which abruptly ends one of the few interesting scenes in the story. And while the story should have wrapped up after that point, the climax, for some reason it is dragged out and sort of built up again which is actually really annoying—it’s very disconcerting for there to be more rising and falling tension after the conflict has been resolved. And it seems the only reason this was done is so that Banks could kill off Rachel. I wasn’t attached to Rachel in any way, but she was supposed to be a likable character, which is why she was killed: for angst. It is ridiculously obvious that she was just killed off for one last emotional punch (it didn’t work, but it was an attempt). If I didn’t already hold so much disdain for this book, that really put it over the edge. Unnecessary character death is a huge pet peeve of mine.
Because I almost always write my reviews directly after finishing a novel, they are always colored with how I felt by the end of the book. Because by the end of Of Poseidon I had found the experience of reading it more enjoyable than irritating, my review isn’t as heavily laced with criticism. Because I was darkly amused by the how impressively mediocre this book is by the end, my review doesn’t sing the praises of the very few things this book did right (I can’t even remember them, to be honest). I would recommend this series to no one, to be frank. I’d also call it a waste of time if it didn’t take so little time blow through and be done with.
(Also, is there actually a 3rd book coming out??? Why??? JUST LET THIS SERIES DIE).