Ice Massacre (Mermaids of Eriana Kwai #1) by Tiana Warner | 375 pages | Published September 2014 by Rogue Cannon Publishing | YA, Fantasy, LGBTQA+ > Lesbian
Summary:
The Massacre is supposed to bring peace to Eriana Kwai. Every year, the island sends its warriors to battle these hostile sea demons. Every year, the warriors fail to return. Desperate for survival, the island must decide on a new strategy. Now, the fate of Eriana Kwai lies in the hands of twenty battle-trained girls and their resistance to a mermaid’s allure.
Eighteen-year-old Meela has already lost her brother to the Massacre, and she has lived with a secret that’s haunted her since childhood. For any hope of survival, she must overcome the demons of her past and become a ruthless mermaid killer.
For the first time, Eriana Kwai’s Massacre warriors are female, and Meela must fight for her people’s freedom on the Pacific Ocean’s deadliest battleground.
My thoughts:
Original read July 19-21, 2016 | 4.75 stars
Oh man. OH MAN. I can’t get my mind off of this book! There are so many things right about it! I think I may just start off with the bad because I have only one or two problems with it.
So, I’ve been searching for a perfect mermaid book since the dawn of time and none ever meet my expectations, but Tiana Warner did it! This is a classic warrior-falls-for-the-enemy book, but it’s so much more than that. We have a bad ass female POC warrior falling for a beautiful, pale skinned mermaid. IT’S PERFECT! And what’s more perfect is that Meela doesn’t quite understand it until the very end, but she never fights her feelings for Lysi (mermaid).
The only issues I had was the “love interest” male character who confesses his love, quite unexpectedly, in chapter one, but Meela wants nothing of it. Another review I read called him the “Gale character,” and I agree with that comparison. Thankfully, it’s clear that Meela isn’t interested and that she only loves him as a brother, at most.
The other issue was WHY DO MAIN CHARACTERS REFUSE TO EXPLAIN THEMSELVES! That frustrates me to no end. There are so many things that could be solved with a simple explanation. Yeah, I know they aren’t real and that the author wrote them that way, but think how a story could come out if everyone was on the same page for once! But I digress.
Okay, so, a million thumbs up for (nearly all) native POC characters. Another million for nearly ALL women characters who can fend for themselves (actually they take over for men soooo...). I love that there’s an interracial/species, lesbian relationship budding and I want to gush so much!
Warner’s take on mermaids is so refreshing after reading so many trope-y mermaid books. Of course, Warner’s mermaids are beautiful and like to lure men to their deaths, but they’re not so pretty underneath. When these mermaids feel threatened, they turn to a seaweed-y green color, their teeth sharpen, and their eyes (the whole eye) turns blood red. Oh, and they also eat human flesh.
I enjoyed seeing the budding friendship between Meela and Lysi as children and how they reconnected under the worst circumstances as new adults. I loved seeing the development of the single novel, and then seeing where the series would go.
I was sad when people died, and mad when certain ones didn’t. I was pining for Lysi right along side Meela, feeling her betrayal and her love for her. I’m still pining for her...
I love this book so much and I’m so excited that the sequel, Ice Crypt comes out in 3 days (which I also pre-ordered)! The cover is beautiful, her writing is beautiful, the world is cold, and vivid, but also beautiful. This whole book is wonderful. Now, to bide my time until I get my hands on the next one. *rubs hands together menacingly*
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