AVALON ARCHIVE SERIES REVIEW: Mermaids of Eriana Kwai
Mermaids of Eriana Kwai trilogy by Tiana Warner
[Ice Massacre, Ice Crypt, Ice Kingdom]
Reminds Me Of: Deadliest Catch meets Lord of the Flies, with killer mermaids added to the mix
Quick and Dirty Summary: The people of a Pacific Northwest island send a party of teenage girls out on an annual mermaid hunt. One girl’s childhood friendship with a mermaid complicates matters.
Come for: the killer mermaids
Stay for: the inter-species lesbian romance! And kaiju!
Bonus Points: For solving the inter-species romance problem!
Diverse Characters: The protagonist and most of the characters are from a fictional Pacific Northwest native tribe. Protagonist and her Love Interest are lesbians.
Great White North: The author is Canadian, so expect some Canadian spellings and slang.
Foreign Language Fun: Have fun with the fantasy conlang, which shares visual similarities to Haida, but not much else. There’s also some Spanish, but you won’t need to bust out Google Translate to understand it.
Ooh, Navy SEALS! Um, there’s Navy SEALS in this series. They fight Killer Mermaids. Things don’t turn out well for them.
Did I Like It: I was pleasantly surprised by the first book – it was basically “almost everything goes wrong when teenagers are tasked with a life-or-death mission.” Even the teenage drama was put to good effect! And the slow build with the Protagonist’s relationship with her Love Interest was handled well. The second book was a step down, mostly because of the ridiculous resolution of a Fetch Quest (check the tags for my rant). Unfortunately, the third book is rather dull until the last quarter, where all the action takes place. The lack of appearances by supporting characters from the previous installments doesn’t help.
Recommended: Definitely read the first book. Only track down the rest of the series if you’re invested in the inter-species romance.
Content Warnings: For infanticide, graphic violence, and abuse. Also, don’t get attached to any named characters! There’s a good chance they’ll probably die.
