(pb; 2008: third book in The Mermaid Series)
From the back cover:
"Fred the mermaid has taken the bait and chosen Artur, High Prince of the Black Sea, over human marine biologist Thomas. And just in time. The existence of the Undersea Folk is no longer a secret, and someone needs to keep them from floundering in the media spotlight. Fred has all the right skills for the job, but not for when her real father surfaces and his presence complicates matters even more."
Review:
Fish Out of Water catches up with Fred and the gang six months after the events of Swimming Without a Net. Fred, acerbic as ever, is now a media-beleaguered world-famous intermediary between "bipeds" (humans) and the Undersea Folk, and, for the most part, it seems to be going well.
Things aren't so rosy with Fred's romantic life. Dating Prince Artur (whom she hasn't yet slept with) seems to be going okay, but potentially divisive, engagement-busting issues crop up between Fred and Prince Artur. One of these issues is the surprising appearance of Fred's long-absent, once-coup-leader father, Farrem. Farrem's re-emergence causes an uproar amongst the Undersea Folk that's only secondary to the uproar of the sudden news that five hundred of the Undersea Folk have disappeared, without a trace. . . Is it linked to the secret Naval base that's located near Fred and her people (human and Undersea Folk)? And, more personal for Fred, does it have anything to do with her father's re-appearance?
Fish Out of Water is less slapstick but no less funny than the first two "Fred the Mermaid" books (its humor, like the humor of Swimming Without a Net, is more situational and plot-serious).
Excellent genre writing here. Check it out.
Showing posts with label MaryJanice Davidson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MaryJanice Davidson. Show all posts
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Swimming Without a Net, by MaryJanice Davidson
(pb; 2007: second book in The Mermaid Series)
From the back cover:
"It's not normal for a mermaid to hate being in open water, but Fred never claimed to be normal. To visit the undersea realm of Artur, the High Prince, and the rest of the royal merfamily, she has to fin it to the Cayman Islands. Luckily, hunky marine biologist Thomas is along for the swim -- in his custom-made underwater RV. he'll be able to explore where no 'outlander' has gone before and give Fred a place to escape to when the Undersea Folk start getting on her nerves.
"But as Fred tries to fit in with her own kind, she finds herself hooked on both Artur and Thomas, and caught between two factions of merrfolks: those happy with swimming under the radar -- and those who want to bring their existence to the surface. . ."
Review:
A year after the screwball shennigans that comprised Sleeping with the Fishes, Frederika Bimm (aka, "Fred") and her friends and family are back. Her best, metropolitan friend Jonas Carrey and her boss, Dr. Barbara Robinson (aka, "Dr. Barb") are still dating and cooing over each other. Prince Artur of the Undersea Folk, hunky and overconfident, as well as Thomas Pearson, also-hunky marine biologist, have been off elsewhere, presumably pursuing their destinies: past-rivals for Fred's affections, they haven't contacted her at all -- something that greatly irritates Fred.
Then two of the Undersea Folk visit Fred, who's also considered a subject of Prince Artur, and tell her she must come to the Cayman Islands, power-base of the royal merfamily...
This second "Fred the Mermaid" novel is more serious in tone; the stakes, plot- and character-wise, are higher this time out. Little of Sleeping's humor is lost, though, as the humor in Net is simply more plot-centric and situational.
The questions (and realities) to be pondered by Fred and the rest of Net's characters: Should the merfolk reveal themselves to humans (aka, "bipeds"), who, in the past, have proven themselves genocidal and earth-destructive? The Air Breathers, younger merfolk, think so. Or should they remain hidden in the sea, relatively safe, as the Tradionalists, merfolk favoring secrecy, wish to do?
Fred has an additional dilemma. With both Thomas Peason and Prince Arturo resuming their wooing of her -- both are love-worthy, in their distinctive ways -- who should she choose? Or should she choose neither of them?
It's less frivolous than it sounds. Davidson has a way with words that makes the story and its characters crackle and pop with depth, banter-worthy lines and natural good-humor. Like any author worth reading, her writing is seamless (even within its genre-boundaries), and she makes it look easy, almost effortless.
Check this out. But read Sleeping with the Fishes first -- you won't be lost in this second book if you don't, but you won't appreciate the characters and story as much.
Followed by Fish Out of Water.
From the back cover:
"It's not normal for a mermaid to hate being in open water, but Fred never claimed to be normal. To visit the undersea realm of Artur, the High Prince, and the rest of the royal merfamily, she has to fin it to the Cayman Islands. Luckily, hunky marine biologist Thomas is along for the swim -- in his custom-made underwater RV. he'll be able to explore where no 'outlander' has gone before and give Fred a place to escape to when the Undersea Folk start getting on her nerves.
"But as Fred tries to fit in with her own kind, she finds herself hooked on both Artur and Thomas, and caught between two factions of merrfolks: those happy with swimming under the radar -- and those who want to bring their existence to the surface. . ."
Review:
A year after the screwball shennigans that comprised Sleeping with the Fishes, Frederika Bimm (aka, "Fred") and her friends and family are back. Her best, metropolitan friend Jonas Carrey and her boss, Dr. Barbara Robinson (aka, "Dr. Barb") are still dating and cooing over each other. Prince Artur of the Undersea Folk, hunky and overconfident, as well as Thomas Pearson, also-hunky marine biologist, have been off elsewhere, presumably pursuing their destinies: past-rivals for Fred's affections, they haven't contacted her at all -- something that greatly irritates Fred.
Then two of the Undersea Folk visit Fred, who's also considered a subject of Prince Artur, and tell her she must come to the Cayman Islands, power-base of the royal merfamily...
This second "Fred the Mermaid" novel is more serious in tone; the stakes, plot- and character-wise, are higher this time out. Little of Sleeping's humor is lost, though, as the humor in Net is simply more plot-centric and situational.
The questions (and realities) to be pondered by Fred and the rest of Net's characters: Should the merfolk reveal themselves to humans (aka, "bipeds"), who, in the past, have proven themselves genocidal and earth-destructive? The Air Breathers, younger merfolk, think so. Or should they remain hidden in the sea, relatively safe, as the Tradionalists, merfolk favoring secrecy, wish to do?
Fred has an additional dilemma. With both Thomas Peason and Prince Arturo resuming their wooing of her -- both are love-worthy, in their distinctive ways -- who should she choose? Or should she choose neither of them?
It's less frivolous than it sounds. Davidson has a way with words that makes the story and its characters crackle and pop with depth, banter-worthy lines and natural good-humor. Like any author worth reading, her writing is seamless (even within its genre-boundaries), and she makes it look easy, almost effortless.
Check this out. But read Sleeping with the Fishes first -- you won't be lost in this second book if you don't, but you won't appreciate the characters and story as much.
Followed by Fish Out of Water.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Sleeping with the Fishes, by MaryJanice Davidson
(pb; 2006: first book in The Mermaid Series)
From the back cover:
"Fred is a mermaid. But stop right there. Whatever image you're thinking of right now, forget it. Fred is not blonde. She's not buxom. And she's definitely not perky. In fact, Fred can be downright cranky. And it doesn't help matters that her hair is ocean-colored.
"Being a mermaid does help Fred when she works at the New England Aquarium. But, needless to say, it's there that she gets involved with something fishy. Weird levels of toxins have been found in the local water. A gorgeous marine biologist wants her help investigating. So does her mer-person ruler, the High Prince of the Black Sea. You'd think it'd be easy for a mermaid to get to the bottom of things. Think again. . ."
Review:
Quirky chockful-o'-zingers paranormal-romance breeze read, this. Davidson keeps the tightly-plotted laughs rolling along through the book. The characters are engaging and worth caring about; the comic drama feels natural and unforced, and the one sex scene fits well with the story: it doesn't feel shoehorned in, requisite-genre banging for its own sake.
Check this one out, even if, like myself, you're not into "paranormal romance" novels. It's a minor masterpiece of genre writing.
Followed by Swimming Without a Net.
From the back cover:
"Fred is a mermaid. But stop right there. Whatever image you're thinking of right now, forget it. Fred is not blonde. She's not buxom. And she's definitely not perky. In fact, Fred can be downright cranky. And it doesn't help matters that her hair is ocean-colored.
"Being a mermaid does help Fred when she works at the New England Aquarium. But, needless to say, it's there that she gets involved with something fishy. Weird levels of toxins have been found in the local water. A gorgeous marine biologist wants her help investigating. So does her mer-person ruler, the High Prince of the Black Sea. You'd think it'd be easy for a mermaid to get to the bottom of things. Think again. . ."
Review:
Quirky chockful-o'-zingers paranormal-romance breeze read, this. Davidson keeps the tightly-plotted laughs rolling along through the book. The characters are engaging and worth caring about; the comic drama feels natural and unforced, and the one sex scene fits well with the story: it doesn't feel shoehorned in, requisite-genre banging for its own sake.
Check this one out, even if, like myself, you're not into "paranormal romance" novels. It's a minor masterpiece of genre writing.
Followed by Swimming Without a Net.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Derik's Bane, by MaryJanice Davidson
(pb; 2005)
From the back cover:
"It's always good to have a psychic around -- except when she tells you the world will soon end unless you do something about it. For werewolf Derik Gardner, 'doing something about it' means heading to sunny California and destroying the reincarnation of possibly the most powerful sorceress in history: Morgan Le Fay.
"But the beautiful -- and slightly ditzy -- Dr. Sara Gunn has no idea that she is Morgan Le Fay. Her masses of wild red curls and crystal blue eyes make knocking her off an unpleasant prospect for Derik... and his half-hearted attempts don't meet with much success. So if he can't kill Sara, he'll join her, on a cross-country odyssey to change her fate, confront a medieval evil -- and get a little something on the side."
Review:
This "paranormal romance" has most of elements of a screwball comedy: lively, on-target banter between its quirky couple (a fiery female sorceress, laid-back male werewolf), and plenty of slapstick silliness.
There's one notable flaw in this otherwise fun beach read: two explicit, genre-stipulated(?), non-humorous sex scenes that threaten to upset the mainstream tone of the rest of the book. The first sex scene is built up to -- the lead characters are hot for each other, as the reader is constantly reminded -- so that's kind of understandable, even if it runs too long. But the second, running about a page (like the first sex scene), is too explicit for such a comic-minded romance, unless Davidson wanted to cause her readers to roll their eyes at Derik and Sara's cliched passion.
Aside from those pesky sex scenes, this is a good read. Not one worth owning, but worth borrowing, provided you can justify occasional story-jarring, generic-explicit sex.
[**Two prequel "Wyndam Werewolf Tales" for interested readers to check out: "Love's Prisoner" (from Secrets Volume 6), and "Jared's Wolf" (from Secrets Volume 8). I haven't read them, but Derik's Bane contained blurb-listings for them.]
From the back cover:
"It's always good to have a psychic around -- except when she tells you the world will soon end unless you do something about it. For werewolf Derik Gardner, 'doing something about it' means heading to sunny California and destroying the reincarnation of possibly the most powerful sorceress in history: Morgan Le Fay.
"But the beautiful -- and slightly ditzy -- Dr. Sara Gunn has no idea that she is Morgan Le Fay. Her masses of wild red curls and crystal blue eyes make knocking her off an unpleasant prospect for Derik... and his half-hearted attempts don't meet with much success. So if he can't kill Sara, he'll join her, on a cross-country odyssey to change her fate, confront a medieval evil -- and get a little something on the side."
Review:
This "paranormal romance" has most of elements of a screwball comedy: lively, on-target banter between its quirky couple (a fiery female sorceress, laid-back male werewolf), and plenty of slapstick silliness.
There's one notable flaw in this otherwise fun beach read: two explicit, genre-stipulated(?), non-humorous sex scenes that threaten to upset the mainstream tone of the rest of the book. The first sex scene is built up to -- the lead characters are hot for each other, as the reader is constantly reminded -- so that's kind of understandable, even if it runs too long. But the second, running about a page (like the first sex scene), is too explicit for such a comic-minded romance, unless Davidson wanted to cause her readers to roll their eyes at Derik and Sara's cliched passion.
Aside from those pesky sex scenes, this is a good read. Not one worth owning, but worth borrowing, provided you can justify occasional story-jarring, generic-explicit sex.
[**Two prequel "Wyndam Werewolf Tales" for interested readers to check out: "Love's Prisoner" (from Secrets Volume 6), and "Jared's Wolf" (from Secrets Volume 8). I haven't read them, but Derik's Bane contained blurb-listings for them.]
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