REVIEW: Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga #1) by Jennifer Donnelly

Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly
Series: Waterfire Saga #1
Published by Hachette Children's Books on 1st May 2014
Pages: 368
Source: *Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

When Serafina, a mermaid of the Mediterranean Sea, awakens on the morning of her betrothal, her biggest worry should be about reuniting with handsome Prince Mahdi, her childhood crush. Instead she finds herself haunted by strange dreams foretelling the return of an ancient evil, and dealing with the deaths of her parents as assassins storm the betrothal ceremony, plunging the city into chaos.

Led only by her shadowy dreams and pursued by the invading army, Serafina and her best friend Neela embark on a quest to avenge her parents' death and prevent a war between the mer nations. In the process they discover a plot that threatens their - and our - world's very existence.

Sadly this novel I have to DNF after three quarters of the way through, I really wanted to finish it but I sadly had not-a-clue what was going on. The cover is beautiful, so elegant and captivating it draws you right in.

Serafina is to be betrothed to Prince Mahdi, her childhood crush, and yet he does not seem to love her. However, with peculiar dreams hiding messages start to invade her mind, and the assassination of her parents soon to follow Serafina and her best friend flee on a quest to take revenge of her parents and citizens death. But they soon find it is bigger and more dark than they first realised.

Serafina was a character whom I could sometimes but sometimes not connect with, I felt we were unable to explore her character as much as one would like. She had no 'WOW!' factor or anything to remember her for. There was also suppose to be romance in this novel, I kept becoming confused by this as there were, from what I saw, three different love interests! Three! It was incredibly confusing and then they would all go! I strongly disliked the character of Neela, Serafina's best friend; she appeared incredibly selfish and a little rude throughout the novel, though she had some good moments, most were bad.

The world building of this underwater world was truly powerful, Donnelly really must be admired for her imagination and descriptive writing. The first half of the novel was exceptional, however as I began reading the second half all seemed to break lose. I had not a clue what was going on. I think also what confused me were all the names and puns that were used made it really hard to remember who and what was doing what as I could not pronounce them in my head let alone remember them!

This novel contained a wonderfully built world though the plot sadly did not live up to the world it was built for.