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A review by abbeyroad1410
The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I think my main critique of this book was that I was bored reading it for various reasons.
A main flaw in this novel is that somehow all of the characters are underdeveloped? Haven...exists and her dad is dead and she is an archeologist looking for treasure and doing archeology? We really get almost no backstory on the relationship with her dad or why his quest matters so much other than he is her dad. Mari is a little more developed. She is a part-siren that hates the sea because it took her mother and sister from her. She has a relationship with her dad and stepmom, but it is hard to expand on that. Holmes is in love with Mari and is from Massachussetts. Despite him having the least backstory, I found his character most interesting.
The story is also very slow. I like the plot of the Mari/Holmes story which is essentially a Romeo and Juliet retelling. The treasure-hunting story seems almost completley irrelevant. There is a comically evil bad guy named Conrad who literally just resolves his own plotline when the book is ready to end. Honestly, we could have gotten to a similar conclusion if Haven just showed up on the island for vacation or as a true-crime investigator looking at thew yacht wreck. She still could have met Enzo and we would have been the exact same place with potentially more development.
I will say that I thought the magic was cool. The characters get their powers from being a descendant of sirens which is obvious through red hair. This gives them very limited control over the water as long as they have special protection rocks. They can also create more chaos in the water to protect the island more by sacrificing themselves to the sea. The rules make sense, and even though it is a basic magic system, I appreciate that.
Overall, I don't know if I would read this book again, but I appreciated the cool siren plot because who doesn't like sirens.
A main flaw in this novel is that somehow all of the characters are underdeveloped? Haven...exists and her dad is dead and she is an archeologist looking for treasure and doing archeology? We really get almost no backstory on the relationship with her dad or why his quest matters so much other than he is her dad. Mari is a little more developed. She is a part-siren that hates the sea because it took her mother and sister from her. She has a relationship with her dad and stepmom, but it is hard to expand on that. Holmes is in love with Mari and is from Massachussetts. Despite him having the least backstory, I found his character most interesting.
The story is also very slow. I like the plot of the Mari/Holmes story which is essentially a Romeo and Juliet retelling. The treasure-hunting story seems almost completley irrelevant. There is a comically evil bad guy named Conrad who literally just resolves his own plotline when the book is ready to end. Honestly, we could have gotten to a similar conclusion if Haven just showed up on the island for vacation or as a true-crime investigator looking at thew yacht wreck. She still could have met Enzo and we would have been the exact same place with potentially more development.
I will say that I thought the magic was cool. The characters get their powers from being a descendant of sirens which is obvious through red hair. This gives them very limited control over the water as long as they have special protection rocks. They can also create more chaos in the water to protect the island more by sacrificing themselves to the sea. The rules make sense, and even though it is a basic magic system, I appreciate that.
Overall, I don't know if I would read this book again, but I appreciated the cool siren plot because who doesn't like sirens.