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Tears of the Sea by MaryLu Tyndall - After writing historical novels that featured pirates and sailing ships, it wasn't a big surprise that Tyndall decided to write a novel about a mermaid. What I found unusual is that this one is written from a distinctly Christian perspective. Although it is a fantasy setting, it retains the historical novel feel of many of her previous pirate novels, so it's easy to imagine the story taking place right alongside the events of The Ransom or "Pirates of the Caribbean".
Perdita has been cursed to live forever as a mermaid - cursed because she is alone and longs for love and companionship. The only way to break the curse is to find a man who loves her enough to die for her, and she has the chance to find such man only once every ten years. After hundreds of years of failed attempts, Perdita has almost completely given up hope and wishes she could die. But when she rescues Savion Ryne after he falls from his ship, she has one last sliver of hope that he could be the one. Savion is the most honorable and courageous man she has ever met, but he doesn't fall for her attempts at seduction (that being the only way she knows of winning a man's love) during her month as a human, but he does genuinely care for her. Not surprisingly, Perdita falls in love with Savion and as her time on land nears its end she faces a terrible decision - save Savion and his ship's crew and remain doomed to her lonely life as a mermaid forever, or finally break her curse but watch the man she loves die.
The fantasy setting allowed the unbelievable to happen in a believable way. In Tyndall's historical novels, the circumstances and events often stretched credulity (and in fairness, most fiction does that to a certain extent - if it wasn't fantastic it wouldn't make a very interesting or exciting story, right?) but when dealing in an imagined world where there are warlocks and mermaids, and a visible battle between the forces of good and evil, anything could happen. For the most part, I thought the allegorical elements worked very well. Tyndall makes use of many of the well-known elements of mermaid lore - seductive and deceptive nature, beautiful singing, and tears that turn into pearls - and weaves them into a character that represents sinful humanity, helpless to save herself and desperate to find love and redemption. Perdita wants to be loved but goes about it in all the wrong ways. Savion is the Savior character, and although he represents Christ in many ways, he is definitely human and differs from Jesus in a couple of important ways - Savion has made mistakes and it's implied that he has made wrong choices and his being sent away from his homeland (his father is the King of Neveah - easy to figure out the representation there!) is a sort of punishment for that. Savion is on a mission to destroy the power of Natas (another obvious representation) and to save someone or something in order to 'earn' his acceptance back home, but he doesn't know exactly what that will be or when it will happen.
The book was a very enjoyable read, and a unique and insightful combination of mermaid fantasy, historical novel, and Christian perspective allegory.
By the same author: Elusive Hope, The Ransom, Forsaken Dreams, Veil of Pearls, Surrender the Dawn, Surrender the Night, Surrender the Heart, The Falcon and the Sparrow, Charles Towne Belle Series (The Red Siren, The Blue Enchantress, The Raven Saint), The Legacy of the King's Pirates series (The Redemption, The Reliance, The Restitution)
(Book #50 in the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge)
Perdita has been cursed to live forever as a mermaid - cursed because she is alone and longs for love and companionship. The only way to break the curse is to find a man who loves her enough to die for her, and she has the chance to find such man only once every ten years. After hundreds of years of failed attempts, Perdita has almost completely given up hope and wishes she could die. But when she rescues Savion Ryne after he falls from his ship, she has one last sliver of hope that he could be the one. Savion is the most honorable and courageous man she has ever met, but he doesn't fall for her attempts at seduction (that being the only way she knows of winning a man's love) during her month as a human, but he does genuinely care for her. Not surprisingly, Perdita falls in love with Savion and as her time on land nears its end she faces a terrible decision - save Savion and his ship's crew and remain doomed to her lonely life as a mermaid forever, or finally break her curse but watch the man she loves die.
The fantasy setting allowed the unbelievable to happen in a believable way. In Tyndall's historical novels, the circumstances and events often stretched credulity (and in fairness, most fiction does that to a certain extent - if it wasn't fantastic it wouldn't make a very interesting or exciting story, right?) but when dealing in an imagined world where there are warlocks and mermaids, and a visible battle between the forces of good and evil, anything could happen. For the most part, I thought the allegorical elements worked very well. Tyndall makes use of many of the well-known elements of mermaid lore - seductive and deceptive nature, beautiful singing, and tears that turn into pearls - and weaves them into a character that represents sinful humanity, helpless to save herself and desperate to find love and redemption. Perdita wants to be loved but goes about it in all the wrong ways. Savion is the Savior character, and although he represents Christ in many ways, he is definitely human and differs from Jesus in a couple of important ways - Savion has made mistakes and it's implied that he has made wrong choices and his being sent away from his homeland (his father is the King of Neveah - easy to figure out the representation there!) is a sort of punishment for that. Savion is on a mission to destroy the power of Natas (another obvious representation) and to save someone or something in order to 'earn' his acceptance back home, but he doesn't know exactly what that will be or when it will happen.
The book was a very enjoyable read, and a unique and insightful combination of mermaid fantasy, historical novel, and Christian perspective allegory.
By the same author: Elusive Hope, The Ransom, Forsaken Dreams, Veil of Pearls, Surrender the Dawn, Surrender the Night, Surrender the Heart, The Falcon and the Sparrow, Charles Towne Belle Series (The Red Siren, The Blue Enchantress, The Raven Saint), The Legacy of the King's Pirates series (The Redemption, The Reliance, The Restitution)
(Book #50 in the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge)
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