Of Poseidon Book Review

My rating: 7/10 stars

Goodreads average rating: 4.05/5 stars

Some spoilers throughout.

Book Cover

From reading some of the reviews for Of Poseidon, I can tell that people either loved or hated this book. It was published May 22, 2012. This means I am relatively late to the party for this book. However, I am completely thankful for the saying "better late than never" because I loved this book. I rated it a 7 because, while I enjoyed the world building that goes on, the author lets it take away from adding some depth to the character relationships. 

Of Poseidon is 324 pages and the first book in The Syrena Legacy series. Mermaids have often been thought of as mythical creatures and this book really does a great job at making their existence seem possible. (My apologies for saying mermaids. They prefer to be referred to as Syrena). Something interesting in this book, as far as the writing goes, was the author’s use of perspective. 


For Emma, the author chose to use first-person perspective, but for Galen the author used third-person perspective that focused on his thoughts. Also, in an attempt to give Galen a more personal feel she often states his direct thoughts. 

The first thing I want to talk about now that we have covered the basics is the love interest. Galen and Emma are the two main characters who happen to feel a deep connection to one another. I think one of the reasons I fell in love with this relationship was the fact that you got to see each person's perspective on the other, so you did not have to guess what one person was feeling at any point in time. Aside from that, their relationship is simply meant to be. Despite the fact that they run into some issues with how Emma fits into his world. 

SPOILER ALERT COMING UP NOW! Originally, Galen suspects that Emma is a Syrena with something called the Gift of Poseidon that allows her to speak to fish so that they can understand her. This fact would make her Syrena loyalty, but there are a few problems with this theory. Like the fact that she can't grow a tail! Later, they determine that Emma is a Half-Breed. Furthermore, Galen is forced to admit to her that his reason for staying on land to train her was to teach her how to use her gift, so that she could mate with his brother Grom. It is Syrena law for the third generation, first born of the royal bloodline in both the house of Triton and Poseidon to mate in an effort to perpetuate the Gifts of Poseidon and Triton. 

The supporting characters include: Rayna, Toraf, From, Emma's mom, Rachel, and Dr. Milligan. Each of these characters adds another layer to the story. Ryan is Galen's sister who is mated to Toraf. However, she is in constant denial of her love for Toraf. SPOILER ALERT! One of the best scenes in this book is when Toraf attempts to play hard to get in an effort to enforce Rayna's feelings for him. Galen is not happy with how he tries to accomplish this. By kissing Emma in front of them! Of course, Galen responds completely rationally by tackling Toraf to the ground and punching him while Toraf lies there laughing at his jealousy. 


The final character in this book I feel like I must discuss is Emma's mom. She is completely overprotective and hilarious. Her response to Galen is becoming completely torn up with the idea that her daughter is dating some guy. Originally, her only focus is that she is too young, but then she just becomes paranoid. Below is a passage from the book where Emma introduces Galen to her mom. Her mother manages to get herself alone with Galen, where she begins interviewing him relentlessly. 

Galen and Emma's Mom: 

She smiles. “Well, good luck with getting her in the water. Since I’m a little pressed for time, I can’t follow you over there, so I just need to see your driver’s license while Emma runs outside to get your plate number.”

Emma rolls her eyes as she shuffles through a drawer and pulls out a pen and paper. She slams the door behind her when she leaves, which shakes the dishes on the wall.

Galen nods, pulls out his wallet, and hands over the fake license. Mrs. McIntosh studies it and rummages through her purse until she produces a pen—which she uses to write on her hand. “Just need your license number in case we ever have any problems. But we’re not going to have any problems, are we, Galen? Because you’ll always have my daughter—my only daughter—home on time, isn’t that right?”

He nods, then swallows. She holds out his license. When he accepts it, she grabs his wrist, pulling him close. She glances at the garage door and back to him. “Tell me right now, Galen Forza. Are you or are you not dating my daughter?”

Great. She still doesn’t believe Emma. If she won’t believe them anyway, why keep trying to convince her? If she thinks they’re dating, the time he intends to spend with Emma will seem normal. But if they spend time together and tell her they’re not dating, she’ll be nothing but suspicious. Possibly even spy on them—which is less than ideal.

So, dating Emma is the only way to make sure she mates with Grom. Things just get better and better. “Yes,” he says. “We’re definitely dating.”

She narrows her eyes. “Why would she tell me you’re not?”


He shrugs. “Maybe she’s ashamed of me.”


To his surprise, she chuckles. “I seriously doubt that, Galen Forza.” Her humor is short lived. She grabs a fistful of his T-shirt. “Are you sleeping with her?”

Sleeping ... Didn’t Rachel say sleeping and mating are the same thing? Dating and mating are similar. But sleeping and mating are the exact same. He shakes his head. “No, ma’am.”

She raises a no-nonsense brow. “Why not? What’s wrong with my daughter?”

That is unexpected. He suspects this woman can sense a lie like Toraf can track Rayna. All she’s looking for is honesty, but the real truth would just get him arrested. I’m crazy about your daughter—I’m just saving her for my brother. So he seasons his answer with the frankness she seems to crave. “There’s nothing wrong with your daughter, Mrs. McIntosh. I said we’re not sleeping together. I didn’t say I didn’t want to.”

She inhales sharply and releases him. Clearing her throat, she smoothes out his wrinkled shirt with her hand, then pats his chest. “Good answer, Galen. Good answer.”
-Of Poseidon page 82

To me this is, pretty much, the most hilarious passage out of any in the book, and this book is really humorous throughout. I love the way the author makes light of many situations with character reactions and tendencies that make you just burst out laughing. 

Now, I must go read the next book in the series, and I suggest you do the same, because... woo... what a cliffhanger!

Works Cited

Banks, Anna. Of Poseidon. New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2012. Print. 

"Of Poseidon (The Syrena Legacy, #1)." Goodreads. Goodreads, n.d. Web. 28 June 2016.