A FIVE REASONS book review: AWAKEN by Skye Malone, a YA mermaid adventure-romance

Hey readerfriends,

Headed to Disney tomorrow for a weeklong vacation (our first plane trip as a family; please send good thoughts or pray to the nondenominational god of your choice), but I wanted to post this long-overdue book review before I left. (I am a terrible, horrible review slacker. Why is it always so tough to write reviews of books you enjoyed?) YA fans–especially fans of mermaid tales that are a bit lighter on the romance and heavier on action and intrigue–will want to check this one out.

What it’s about: Seventeen-year-old Chloe defies her water-phobic parents and goes off on an ocean vacation—her first—with best friend Baylie’s family. But it’s more than just a forbidden jaunt to the Pacific. In the days to come, she’ll uncover her true identity, dodge a cult of furious terminator-merfolk who want to kill her, find out the truth about her strict and fearful parents, and maybe possibly fall in love.

This is AWAKEN, the engaging and suspenseful first book in Skye Malone’s YA mermaid series. Here are 5 reasons why you might like it:

Relatable parent-teen conflict. Anyone who’s struggled to forge her own identity and separate from strong-willed parents will relate to Chloe, whose mom and dad have a mysterious water phobia that clashes with her lifelong yearning for the ocean. More than just a plot point, this well-drawn conflict perfectly captures how frustrating and arbitrary a parent’s restrictions can seem when you’re a young person on the brink of independence. I kinda wanted to shake her parents, who seem unaware of the first rule of teenagers: the more you forbid, the more they’ll want what’s forbidden. (I mean, it turns out they have logical supernatural reasons for protecting Chloe from the water all her life, but yeah—they’re still pretty shakeable.)

Dual narration that works. I only like he said/she said narratives when there’s a clear purpose behind them, and in this case it works well. Chloe’s chapters alternate with first-person narration from Zeke, a fellow “Dehaian” (merperson) who draws us into the world Chloe’s destined to be a part of. Without his perspective, all the weird things happening to Chloe would have no context, and Malone was smart to invite us into the merfolk’s world through the eyes of a young, likable guy. Hearing from Zeke personalizes the Dehaian world and makes it believable (and it gives us two great protagonists to root for). I’d like to see even more development of Zeke’s family and the Dehaian world in book 2.

Fresh take on mermaid lore. I say that with ridiculous conviction, as if I regularly read all manner of mermaid lore. But there’s a darkness and an edge to the merfolk in Awaken that felt fresh to me, even though the broad strokes of the story were familiar. The intricacies and dangers of Zeke’s undersea world are fascinating, and Malone pulled off the worldbuilding well—there’s not too much infodumping, but still enough detail to make the Dehaian history and conflicts feel real.

Also: whenever there’s a mermaid in a book or movie, you’re always waiting for that first magical transformation scene, right? With Chloe there was no “oh cool, look at my glittering tail and seashell bra” moment—Malone wisely keeps it real, letting Chloe’s confusion and horror drive those scenes. I loved the fact that she’d nearly transform at inopportune moments—spikes rising from her arms, the whole thing beyond her control.

Action! Awaken is a bit of a slow burn at first, but that’s okay. You know everything’s going to hit the fan soon, so you don’t mind spending some extra time on setup and getting to know side characters like Baylie and her family. Malone did a great job of ratcheting up the drama once the truth about Chloe’s identity surfaces—there’s a relentless cult of rebel merfolk, the Sylphaen, who want to capture her, and the dangers they pose to both Chloe and Zeke make for some awesome action scenes. The feeling of “you are not safe ANYWHERE” was so palpable I caught myself not breathing more than once. (There’s a cliffhanger at the end, which I know some people don’t like, but don’t let that dissuade you—book 2 is already out.)

Non-obnoxious impending love triangle. I haven’t read book 2 in this series yet, but Awaken is pretty clearly setting up a Chloe-Zeke-Noah love triangle (unless Malone pulls a fast one!). I’m okay with that. The guys aren’t set up as standard-issue “good boy/bad boy” types, and they’re both good for Chloe in different ways. Zeke understands her current situation like no one else can, and Noah is her best friend’s brother, so he’s an anchor to her life in the human world (well, sort of—if I say any more I’ll reveal a final-act twist that really made me smile). So I’m really interested to see how the triangle plays out in the second book.

Congrats to Skye Malone on a refreshing, skillfully imagined read—fans of mermaid lore and paranormal YA will really enjoy this one!

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