Here there be mermaids: Bo Wu's 'Mermaids are Real'

Title: Mermaids Are Real: The Mystiq Prong
Author: Bo Wu
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy 
Published: 2018
Pages: 342
Buy: Amazon

What Goodreads has to Say:

"'Crabs talk?' asked Benji.

'Everything in nature speaks. Not everything in nature listens,' said Octavius nodding Topside."

Benji Fisher has spent the first twelve years of his life growing up in a small fishing town, Topside. He’s gotten used to the gang of dolphins who follow him on his surfboard and the voices he hears under the water; odd things that have, in their repetition, become part of normal everyday life. 

However, none of that prepares him for the recruitment speech he gets from an octopus named Octavius and three of the dolphins the night before his thirteenth birthday.

What would you do if your ‘calling’ in life required you to take a leap of faith? Would you take the plunge?

What I have to say: 

Mermaids are awesome. Which brings up a valid question: why aren't there more books about them? And why is is that all the books about mermaids I've ever read are so dull?

Now, I'm sure there's some mermaid book out there that's super awesome; but at the moment I can't think of a single non-picture book about mermaids that actually held my interest long enough for me to finish it. (Anyone read The Water Babies?)

Bo Wu's Mermaids Are Real isn't bad as far as books about mermaids go. The author has conjured up a rich undersea world and a story enthused with contemporary issues (like pollution).

It's not the be-all, end-all mermaid book we never knew we always wanted, but whatever.

First, let's talk about the good stuff.

Great quote: "The ocean always talks to those who are willing to listen to it."

There were moments in this book that really soared--and hinted that the author has a natural spark for world-building and storytelling. For example, Aquari--the home of the merpeople--is colorful, imaginative, and wondrous. It's beautiful, exciting, and holds plenty of still undiscovered secrets:

"The ocean's a big place.... I suppose it would take you hundreds of years to see all that Topside has to offer. It would take you thousands more to see all that Aquari has hidden amongst its various nooks and crannies. I see things I've never seen before every single day."

This is spoken by the main character's water fairy mentor, Montal, who happens to be my favorite character.

One of my favorite scenes was the one in which Montal's daughter, Payton, grows some high-speed coral by shooting multi-colored sparks from her wings as she spins. The moment captured that childlike wonder often associated with mermaids (and, I suppose, fairies).

Another of my favorite moments was when our hero, Benji, confronts all his insecurities and finds the strength to move past them, guided by his mother's healing spirit. That scene was beautifully played and left me with an appetite for more. (Benji's mother is dead. So is his dad. It's basically a Harry Potter situation where Hagrid is an octopus who says, "You're a merman, Harry.")

There were also some characters I thought were very fun. Montal was awesome, and I loved Octavius (which is the only acceptable name for an Octopus). Eke and Zeke--young, headstrong dolphins-- were also fun. And Joe, Benji's adopted dad, was great.

But elsewhere, I could have used a little more layering in the characters. I feel like Benji could have been a lot more complex, especially considering that awesome, transcendent scene I just mentioned: it was wonderful, but it came out of nowhere and then sunk back into the ocean never to be seen again.

And what's up with Benji and Meena (the beautiful/terrifying mermaid who first makes contact with Benji and gives him a kiss--strictly for oxygen purposes--early on in the story)? I kind of thought they'd get together. They don't have to--that's totally the author's prerogative--but it seemed like the story was setting us up for that and then never delivering. If they don't end up getting together, I at least want a really deep friendship or something. I didn't feel like I got that. They were just kind of thrown together and I guess they're friends now or whatever.

But the main thing that kept me from fully enjoying this book was its style. I've thought long and hard about how to describe it and I'm still coming up short. It's not passive voice, but it kind of feels like that. It's like the sentences are too long, or they try to do too much, or they need more punctuation or something. I'm still not sure what the issue is.

I also found some of the dialogue off-putting: it didn't sound natural. Natural-sounding dialogue is a hard thing to achieve, so I'm definitely sympathetic. But stilted dialogue is also kind of a story-crasher. So yeah.

At the end of the day, Mermaids Are Real didn't quite live up to my expectations, but it definitely holds promise. I think there's a great spark here, and I think the author is capable of doing great things in the world of storytelling.

Rating:

P.S. - if you've read the be-all, end-all mermaid book, feel free to leave a comment so I can experience this magic.



Until tomorrow.