nerd teacher [books] reviewed Ingo by Helen Dunmore (Ingo, #1)
Unexpected.
4 stars
This isn't a book I would've ordinarily picked up, based on the front cover. The back cover's synopsis is a little misleading, focusing on an event in the first few pages rather than anything cohesive about the actual narrative.
The actual narrative is better than what I was expecting based on the synopsis, for the record.
I mostly enjoyed this novel because it was an interesting take on mermaids (or The Mer). It was refreshingly different from other media that typically includes them, relying heavily on boring tropes; this went out of it's way to be different, mixing them more with Greek sirens than Disney's Ariel (but also deviating a lot of the Greek sirens tropes, too).
I also adore the relationship between Sapphire and her brother Conor. I liked seeing how they were strained but still came together, still protecting each other and working to solve their issues. It …
This isn't a book I would've ordinarily picked up, based on the front cover. The back cover's synopsis is a little misleading, focusing on an event in the first few pages rather than anything cohesive about the actual narrative.
The actual narrative is better than what I was expecting based on the synopsis, for the record.
I mostly enjoyed this novel because it was an interesting take on mermaids (or The Mer). It was refreshingly different from other media that typically includes them, relying heavily on boring tropes; this went out of it's way to be different, mixing them more with Greek sirens than Disney's Ariel (but also deviating a lot of the Greek sirens tropes, too).
I also adore the relationship between Sapphire and her brother Conor. I liked seeing how they were strained but still came together, still protecting each other and working to solve their issues. It was sweet.