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"There is an old story--you might have heard it--about a young mermaid, the daughter of a king, who saved the life of a human prince and fell in love. So innocent was her love, so pure her devotion, that she would pay any price for the chance to be with her prince. She gave up her voice, her family, and the sea, and became human. But the prince fell in love with another woman. The tales say the little mermaid sacrificed her own life so that her beloved prince could find happiness with his bride. The tales lie. If you want to know the real story, a tale not of unrequited love and noble sacrifice but one of madness, murder, and magic gone awry, Daniella, Talia, and Snow--a.k.a. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White--are the three princesses who can tell you what really happened. They were there when everything fell apart, and unthinkable tragedy struck the kingdom of Lorindar. And they were the only ones who stood a chance of setting things right, not only for Queen Bea and Lorindar, but for the merfolk as well...."--p. [4] of cover.… (more)
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But the story left me dissatisfied, maybe because my hopes were too high. It's an action-oriented plot, meaning characterization and plot get pushed to the background. There's lots of pirate ship fights, tense trespassings into enemy territory, and hand-to-hand/magic-to-magic combat. That means there's no neat revelations or "oh crap" moments that provoke an emotional reaction and make the plot page-turning like "The Hunger Games" did. It's a straight shot through -- no literary techniques like chekhov's guns or red herrings or allegories.
The characters are great, but I wished they had been explored more. And I felt he was padding near the end (maybe because I know he was padding near the end because he wrote it on his blog). Maybe it's just me, but I wanted to see more of the mermaid world. He had a great antagonist--Ariel made into a serial killer--and it looked like he was going to do a good job with her, but then she was reduced to a mewling, muttering straitjacket-wearer huddled up in a tower. Her potential as an enemy ended up largely ignored, and heroes are only as good as their enemies. 3.5 stars.
Interestingly enough, I
I'll be the first to admit that Hines is not the next Tolkien (thank heaven, frankly), but he has found his niche and works it well. Someday, I'll be quite pleased to (actually) meet him, shake his hand and say "hey, I like your stuff."
After rescuing her prince and foiling the plots of her stepsisters, Danielle Whiteshore (aka Cinderella) was looking forward to settling into a peaceful life and raising her son. But when the annual ceremony celebrating the undine's return from warmer waters goes horribly wrong she finds herself in a race against time to save the life of the Queen of Lorindar and prevent a war. Along with Talia and Snow (aka Sleeping Beauty and Snow White), she must face the mermaid queen Lirea (aka The Little Mermaid). Lirea's descent into madness threatens human and undine lives alike. Broken and betrayed, she trusts no ones; only Lirea knows the full truth of her own story.
I'll get this out of the way now: I absolutely, and always will, adore Talia. So, I was certainly very happy to get more of her backstory in The Mermaid's Madness. I do like Snow and Danielle quite a bit too, and Hines' secondary characters are also marvelous (I was particularly impressed with Captain Hephyra). All of the characters have their own quirks and ways of saying things or little "throwaway" details that greatly enhance the depth of the story and worldbuilding. He's also not afraid to be mean to his characters and things don't always work out as they would like. Hines' descriptions and writing of fights and action sequences have improved over his previous books and are now much easier to follow. Additionally, they comes across as realistic (the fact that he studies Sanchin-ryu karate probably doesn't hurt). Also, Hines' research into seafaring definitely paid off and it shows quite well.
Even though I expected to like The Mermaid's Madness I was actually quite surprised by just how much I enjoyed it. I really feel that this is the best book of Hines' that I've read so far. Usually it takes me a few chapters to really get into his novels, but The Mermaid's Madness captured my attention almost form the very beginning. And then it kept it. The pacing and action of the plot is excellent, right up to the last chapter. The tone of the book is mostly serious and quite a bit darker than Hines' goblin books, but he still includes wonderful moments of humor. Although part of the series, The Mermaid's Madness actually stands very well on it's own (Hines seems to be particularly good at this with his books). While not necessary to read The Stepsister Scheme before The Mermaid's Madness, it does add some nice details and further depth to the story. I've definitely been enjoying the princess novels so far and am eagerly anticipating the publication of Red Hood's Revenge.
Experiments in Reading
Whereas Mr. Hines Jig Trilogy felt like a
Enter into the mix a couple of more characters--Lannadae, a mermaid who has had to go into hiding from her sister Linea (remember the story of the Little Mermaid?) who has gone mad, and a tree dryad who happens to be the captain of Queen Beatrice's ship.
So, in a group of four women characters, you add three more women characters. The men in the story--the king, Prince Armand, and various assorted sailors, are delegated to supporting roles and barely present. That alone makes the Princess series seem much like an adolescent's fantasy, though the same could be said of Charlie's Angels. But The Mermaid's Madness seems to take that one step further, as Mr. Hines doesn't waste any opportunities to mention the fact that the mermaids are less than fully clothed, and dryads are a sensual, sexual character as well. It's obvious who Mr. Hines targetted audience is--teenaged boys--however, as with any of his books, you may enjoy his version of these fairy tale characters even if you don't fit into his targetted audience. I know I do.
Overall, while maintaining a somewhat darker tone than other books by Hines, the story is still a fun retelling of the Little Mermaid lore, making you want to keep turning the pages to see what little twist will be coming next, as well as to continue to see how the story and the characters continue to unfold. There are some unexpected twists and turns along the way that I must admit I did not see coming, despite being aware of Mr. Hines' other stories. The characters are great--though his little princess universe is vastly changed at the end of the book from what it was at the beginning, and it will be interesting to see what direction his universe and our three princesses as well as Queen Bea take in the next book, which is due out later this year.
Not quite a perfect 5/5 story, but pretty close.
Well and tightly written, but I keep hoping for something a bit less grim with this series....
One of the things I love about this series is the subtle complexity to each of the characters. To try to describe the characters -- Talia is kick ass and sports a perpetual sour demeanor, but she's a softy for the people who get close to her; Snow is constantly cheery and promiscuous, hiding a deeper sorrow; Danielle is naive, but emotionally strong -- is to make it come out blunt and glaring, but the emotional truth of each character is brought to the surface subtly as the main action of the story progresses.
It's a mystery wrapped up in a great big, fat, fun adventure. I'm definitely dying to read more. I love these chicks.
First off: I GOT IN EVERYONE'S HEADS. It was fun! I liked that. Not that Danielle was a bad POV in the first one, it's just I was intensely curious about
Second off: I am so happy with the gay in this book. Like, normally I have to wade through pages and pages of ilk about how some female protagonist lurves some guy and angst, but in this book? It's some lady love, albeit currently unrequited. And it's kind of sad how little of that I get outside of porny vampire books. Kind of hit me in the gut and reminded me of my confusing teen years. I especially love the contrast between the human angst and the more freeform magic folk
Third off: Wow, it's really obvious that the author has some experience with therapy and people that have been through trauma. And it's nice to see some characters that have gone through trauma and survived juxtaposed with one that didn't--the latter being all too common. If there were ever a fairytale to use for these kinds of things, The Little Mermaid would be it.
These books so far are just hitting all the things I really REALLY wished I had growing up. Seriously. The author's daughter is so lucky!
Danielle (Cinderella), Talia (Sleeping Beauty) and Snow (White) are tossed into a new adventure when the undine and their leader Lirea (The Little Mermaid) want to wage war. With Lirea's sister (Lannadae)'s help, they find the girls' grandmother, Morveren, who they are hoping will be able
It's been a few years since I read the first book in the series, but I don't think I liked this one as much. I'm odd with fantasy – I like some (more likely YA or urban, and usually fairy tales or retellings), but usually not the real “traditional” fantasy. This felt a little more like the traditional fantasy that I'm not as crazy about, mixed with adventure. I quite enjoyed some parts of this, but then lost a bit of interest in other parts. I will still probably try the third book in the series, at least, before giving up on it.
My Rating: 6 - Worth Reading, with Reservations
I may have been reading with slightly higher expectations than is really fair. After all, I had a lot of fun with The Stepsister Scheme, and The Little Mermaid is one of my favoritest princess stories ever. So maybe that heightened expectation was too much for my read of this book, which left me feeling a little meh and ambivalent. I wanted to really be immersed in undine culture, and the book never let me do that, even in sections where it should have. Still, personal stories do escalate for each of the three main characters, so it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out. I've already got Red Hood's Revenge thanks to the closeout sale at Borders, so I'll be giving that a shot, but I'm still a little disappointed with this installment. Let's chalk it up to unfairly high expectations and leave it at that.
Spoilers, yay or nay?: Few. I've got mixed feelings on this book, and I think I can talk about why without getting into TOO many spoilers. I won't tell you how it ends, or anything. That said, if you're more of the paranoid sort, do not click the link below, which leads to the full review at my blog. Everyone else, onward! Comments and discussion are most welcome! :)
REVIEW: Jim C. Hines' THE MERMAID'S MADNESS
Happy Reading!
Well, there have been those that complained that there was little depth of character. I don't think that's true. I think that you have to have some very basic knowledge of the fairy tale, but I don't think there's anyone who hasn't heard the story of Sleeping Beauty, Snow White or Cinderella (at least in the US). Maybe you don't know it by heart, but there's enough background provided that if you remember key details like:
Little Mermaid
Falls in love with shipwrecked human
Wishes for legs to be with her lover
Drama ensues due to evil spell
Cinderella
Mother dies
Father remarries
Evil step sisters and mother
Father dies
Cinderella becomes servant to step sisters and mother
Cinderella has animal friends who help her with her work
Goes to Ball due to Fairy Godmother's gifts
Gets prince after putting on glass slipper.
Those who are two of the basic profiles that Hines manipulates to make these interesting, fun and exciting books. Now I'm not hiding the review because I don't think there are any spoilers. It's a pretty vague review I know, but I don't want to give any spoilers.
The Mermaid's Madness begins with the Lorindar nobles welcoming the return of the undine (merfolk) from their annual hybernation. Only this time the undine aren't happy to see the humans. The subsequent attack lands one noble greviously wounded and embroils Danielle, Talia and Snow in an adventure with consequences none of them are ready for.
The novel is fast paced, with well defined characters. Readers who haven't read The Stepsister Scheme will be confused by one or two points left unexplained from the first book, but won't otherwise have any trouble reading this book on its own. The true joy of this series is figuring out how Mr. Hines has twisted otherwise familiar (or not, depending on the version you read as a child) fairy tales. And this one is twisted indeed.
She now rules the Undine and is hunting for her other sister in order to kill her as well. She suspects Queen Beatrice is hiding her sister, Lannadae, and turns her anger on the country of Lorindar. She wounds the Queen and steals her soul which causes Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty to launch a quest to recover the Queen’s soul, save Lannadae and break the control that Lirea has over the Undine.
The Mermaid’s Madness is a fast-pasted adventure fantasy that features three powerful women heroes who each have a specialty that helps them right the wrongs they encounter. Snow White is a master of magic, Cinderella has a bond with animals and know how to be diplomatic, and Sleeping Beauty dominates when it comes to fisticuffs. This was a fun read.