A review by iffer
Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep by Liz Kessler

3.0

Still fun, still appealing to middle-grade girls, although the low self-esteem and drama of the girls in the books started to annoy me after a while. The other thing that I didn't like so much was that the main character was, although understandably excited to learn more about, and fit into, mermaid/merman culture, it seemed like she also didn't mind shunning human culture, because mermaid/merman culture was "better." I know that this is supposed to be lighthearted, middle-grade book, but the fact that Emily is half-human and half-mermaid seems to set the stage of exploring identity, and it just seems wrong to me that she should prize one side of herself more than another (but this could also be because to me, it seems to smell of preferring one's privileged origins when one is multiracial or multicultural). It's not a deal-breaker, and I'm not overly sensitive about it, but I think that it would be a great addition to the series for it to be addressed (and maybe it is in later books ;).