Amae Waters is a mermaid blending in with humankind. Her mission? Prepare the oceans for the return of her people. But a new predator has entered the Puget Sound, defying human understanding, and Amae must face it and darker dangers lurking in the deep.
Available September 18th – Siren’s Calling, The Sea King’s Daughters IV, An urban fantasy novella by Piper J Drake.
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Author: Piper J. Drake
Series: The Sea King’s Daughters
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: September 18, 2018
Publisher: Independent
Print Length: 22,000 words
ASIN: B07FWSWV5T
Amae Waters will never live up to her father's expectations--she's not a leader and she's not a soldier. Rather than live with his disappointment, she's left his realm and built a life for herself in Seattle, a mermaid blending in with humankind. Her mission? To prepare the oceans for the return of her people. But she's not sure she's cut out to accomplish that either. A new predator has entered the waters of the Puget Sound, ravaging orcas and leaving their carcasses to wash ashore for humans to find. Whatever is killing them is beyond human understanding and Amae must find it before it irrevocably damages the complex balance of the ocean ecosystems. But a greater danger lurks in the deep. Amae is done evading traps. She'll defend her territory and prove she needn't be a soldier to be a warrior or become the sacrifice used to end her people.
Look for other stories in this exciting Urban Fantasy series from Philippa Ballantine, Stacia D. Kelly, Lauren Harris, Katee Robert, and Asa Maria Bradley.
Rating:
Review:
The world may believe that mermaids are nothing more than a legend, an old explanation for unexplainable things, but Amae Waters knows better. She is a mermaid, her folk has lived in an alternate dimension for a long time, and has just been exiled by her father for having let him down.
Suddenly, orca carcasses start appearing in the water of the Puget Sound. She doesn't know what it is but it has to a creature of legend since it has to be very big in order to be able to hunt an orca. Amae must find it before this creature destroys the delicate balance of the sea's ecosystems.
Other dangers, and maybe friends, are waiting for Amae in the waters but will she able to survive this?
This is a very short story, I believe it took me about 4 hours to finish it. Still, it has managed to be an enjoyable read. Tales about mermaids hang in the delicate balance of being overly cliché or not interesting enough and this book can be considered a success.
Even though I would have liked to see a little more development in certain aspects of this book, I can deem it a well-written book. It is noticeable that the author was careful with using the right terms and definitions, and that all the details come from a good world-building.
I liked the fact that the author did not fall back on a romantic relationship to drive the story but instead, on the personal growth and development of the main character. There's still a soft uttering of romance but it does not overpower or take control of the narrative.
I advise this book to everyone who might be searching for a short fulfilling read!
Excerpt from Siren’s Calling:
I tasted blood in the water.
Changing course with a flick of my tail, I swam against the fast-moving ocean current toward the source. There were no vibrations in the water to indicate the thrashing of a living thing in distress and the seas were quieter than usual. Not surprising, with this much blood carried on the currents. Predators would be drawn to it and prey would be wise to leave the area or hide.
Curious, I’d come to investigate, thinking one of the killer whale pods had taken a baleen whale. It wasn’t unheard of, though it didn’t happen often. A big kill like that would draw plenty of ocean denizens, and I hadn’t tasted whale in a long time. I wouldn’t kill one, not when I couldn't finish consuming it myself and not when so many whale species were endangered, but I wouldn’t let it go to waste, either.
When I didn’t find anything in open water, I’d pulled myself up onto the rocky outcropping between islands and found it. The body. But it wasn’t a humpback or gray whale, not a mink or fin whale, either. It was an orca, a killer whale, and that didn’t make any kind of sense.
Before I could take a closer look, the sound of a powerful motor cut through the morning calls of seabirds. Harbor seals lifted their heads and looked around from where they lay on another rock outcropping. A lone Steller sea lion grunted and scratched his head with a huge hind flipper. He turned to stare at me and I met his gaze, unconcerned. He was a prime specimen of a bull, the largest I’d ever encountered, but he posed no threat to me.
The waves slapped against the rocks around my tail fin in a changed cadence. A boat was approaching, and with it, humans. They were probably whale watching, which meant every one of them would be on the lookout for wildlife. Most of them would have binoculars. I couldn’t let them see me in this form.
I dove back into the water, darting through forests of kelp and berating myself for lingering past dawn. There was too much light and I had to dive deep to be sure nothing on the surface caught sight of even a tail flick from me.
As far as humans were concerned, I didn’t exist. I was a myth, a fairy tale.
If they saw me, they might not even believe what they’d seen. In their dreams or after too many drinks, they might whisper, “Mermaid.”
And they’d be right.
Piper J. Drake is a bestselling author of romantic suspense and edgy contemporary romance, a frequent flyer, and day job road warrior. She is often distracted by dogs, cupcakes, and random shenanigans.
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