ellelainey 's review for:

Castle Swimmer, Volume 1 by Wendy Martin

4.0

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 ** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **

 Copy received through Netgalley

  

Castle Swimmer has such a unique and interesting concept. It's clear that lots of thought and ingenuity were put into the art and world building. I was surprised by the amount of violence and blood, considering this is billed as a book for a kids.

There was a super cute romance between the Beacon and Shark Prince Siren that I can see having lots of twists and turns in the future. There's a vague enemies-to-boyfriends plotline, with a touch of forbidden love because there's a prophecy saying the Shark Prince must kill the Beacon. Complicating matters further, there's a tether drawing the Beacon - Kappa - towards fulfilling every prophecy! It makes for a tense but exciting story.

However, while it's a cute story, at times it feels like it's trying to give a meaningful life lesson that's unrealised. Maybe because it's just vol 1. There's a plot of betrayal, fulfilling unrealistic expectations and the burden and pressure of a legacy forcing someone towards a certain goal.

I don't really understand the title. It doesn't really explain the story as well as something related to the Beacon might. In fact, I haven't a clue what it references, because there are multiple "castles" within the world building.

Another negative is that The ending was too open and abrupt, too much of a cliffhanger. After taking a look at Webtoons, I believe that more than ever. The ending of Season 1 on Webtoons was a perfect stop point for Vol 1 and I'm not sure why they deviated from that, but in my opinion it was the wrong choice.

I'd happily read more, but I'm heading over to Webtoons to continue, because I'm not sure I enjoyed it enough to buy a paperback, though I'd consider the ebook, in the future.