The Mermaid
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
Once there was a mermaid who longed to know of more than her ocean home and her people. One day a fisherman trapped her in his net but couldn't bear to keep her. But his eyes were lonely and caught her more surely than the net, and so she evoked a magic that allowed her to walk upon the shore. The mermaid, Amelia, became his wife, and they lived on a cliff above the ocean for ever so many years, until one day the fisherman rowed out to sea and did not return.
P. T. Barnum was looking for marvelous attractions for his American Museum, and he'd heard a rumor of a mermaid who lived on a cliff by the sea. He wanted to make his fortune, and an attraction like Amelia was just the ticket.
Amelia agreed to play the mermaid for Barnum, and she believes she can leave any time she likes. But Barnum has never given up a money-making scheme in his life, and he's determined to hold on to his mermaid.
I think The Mermaid might be my favourite of Henry's books so far! I really enjoyed this one, and I had a lot of fun reading it. The opening/first part was brilliant, we had a love story in this little seaside town and it had a very fairy tale feel to the storytelling, with the wording and the lack of dialogue and so on. It really caught my interest and had me paying attention!
After that we head in to the next part of the story, which is set in New York in the 1840's which is quite the contrast in setting to the previous one, as it's you know....a city. So it's busy and bustling. However, Henry still managed to weave in the mythology for the mermaids in such a...non-mythology setting, if you catch my meaning. Despite being a fairy tale retelling, it felt like it was quite plausible, the mythology made sense and I was kind of nodding along like, yep. Totally true. Probably happens every Thursday.
The historical aspects where on point as far as I'm aware, although I don't know much about Barnum. The Barnum of this book was a bit of an a-hole, I'm not going to lie, I really disliked him. I felt for his poor wife Charity, who took Amelia under her wing, and I loved the friendship between the two! I wasn't entirely sure how to feel about Levi at first, I ended up quite liking him, but then at one point I wasn't sure I still did.
I feel like our opinion of Levi changed as Amelia's did. We saw him one way, but then we started to see his real views on things at the same time as Amelia. Amelia, I loved. She isn't afraid of Barnum, and she's not afraid to stand up for herself. She also struggles to understand the things humans do to each other, I liked seeing the world through her eyes.
The Mermaid is a riveting story, that pulls you in and captivates you and has an edge of believability to it! I also particularly liked Henry's vision of a mermaid, it made for a nice change!
Lost Boy
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
There is one version of my story that everyone knows. And then there is the truth. This is how it happened. How I went from being Peter Pan’s first—and favorite—lost boy to his greatest enemy.
I'm not going to lie, I'm going to straight up tell you guys that this book was so much better than the Alice in Wonderland books by the author! I genuinely enjoyed this book so much compared to the Alice book.
I used to love the movies Peter Pan and Hook and although I haven't read the original story, I'm familiar with what happens because you know...movie. In Henry's world, the Island becomes a dark and twisted place with a severe Lord of the Flies vibe. Peter was creepy and so damn unlikeable I can't even fully form ones to describe it. It has to be read to be believed. He was brilliantly written, don't get me wrong, he was just super creepy! He lies and twists things to suit himself and he's quite a slippery character and yet incredibly like a child. A malicious, nasty child who doesn't know right from wrong and wants everything his way.
I really felt for Jamie. He's the original Lost Boy. He's looked after all of the boys that have come to the Island, and taken responsibility for them when Peter wouldn't. He buried them when they died. It was heartbreaking because he'd been doing it for so long and Peter was just such a douchebag. Over the course of the book Jamie develops a lot as a character and it was brilliant to read and see. He feels more and more responsibility but he loves Peter, Peter saved him. It was so interesting to read his internal struggle and then the end reveal happens and it's like BOOM. Final straw.
There's some interesting side characters, Sal who was brilliant but I was a bit disappointed by her exit from the book and how it happened and everything. Crow, Nod, the other boys who weren't raging douchebags where all brilliant. Particularly towards the end I loved the interaction between Jamie, Sal, Nod and Crow and then Jamie and Nod at the end. I have my theories about Nod and Charlie. Charlie was kind of annoying, but he was actually really necessary to the plot.
I didn't actually read the synopsis before I dove in to this, so I didn't know it was a Hook origin story so I reached the end and I was like OH MY GOD. Everything fell in to place and I was like DAMN. Like I had my theories about Jamie and who he would become but I assumed he'd be someone else so when the reveal happens I was like OH SNAP HE'S HOOK! HOLY SHHHHH! Then my brain made up who the other survivors where in relation to that and I'm just so satisfied with it!
This is the best Hook origin story I've read, it hooked me in (excuse the pun), and I loved all the nods to the original story and how the author twisted everything so darkly. Things are twisted, but it's a twist you could see, it was believable and to be honest it was more believable than the happy "oh we're boys forever on the Island isn't this fun" narrative that the actual story has. I'm explaining that all wrong but hopefully you vaguely get what I mean! It's dark and twisty. Vicious. And bloody brilliant. This is hands down my favourite book by the author and I thoroughly enjoyed every page.
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