Merfolk (Book 4 of World’s Scariest Legends)
Merfolk
By Jeremy Bates
The Sexton’s musings (spoilers are likely):
What an absolutely fascinating read! You can tell that the research that went into this one was extensive and top notch. The characters were, for the most part, people that you would root for. The scientific theories that are discussed here are believable as possibilities and really give pause to how mainstream media portrays mermaids.
Being a shark lover myself the educational part of this book during the first part makes me very happy. It’s fact that they don’t like to eat us. We are not part of their primary diet. They don’t attack out of malice. In fact, they don’t have a mean bone in their bodies, and not just because their skeleton is made up of cartilage. They are simply just trying to survive. Also we have to face that when we are in the ocean we are out of our element. We were built for land and they were built for water. They have survived for thousands of years unchanged and deserve our respect.
Now that I have climbed off my soapbox let’s talk about these characters. Elsa and Marty both have tragic backgrounds in their own right. One a personal tragedy and the other a professional tragedy. They both were running away, hiding. However, by the end they both rethink what they really want from their lives. We don’t get to see the change through the narrative but the epilogue ties it all together for us. I love me a useful epilogue. Then there’s Pip, while not a main character, she makes you smile with her wit and her errors in English sayings.
Now the two characters that I would have liked to have seen the back of, were Rad and Jackie. Through most of the book these two were absolutely obnoxious and incorrigible. For Jackie it’s just second nature to be this way as she is a journalist who does not really give a damn who she destroys to get a story. As for Rad, she comes off as a spoiled selfish bitch. When the two of these ladies get together and start bullying Marty I wanted to smack them both. Now this said', by the end of the book I had made my peace with Rad because when push came to shove she did the right thing. Jackie never really got to that point for me. A ruthless journalist to the end. And I do mean end.
And of course we can’t forget the Merfolk themselves. Fascinating and mean as hell! Although I suppose if I lived in aquatic caves under and island I would take food as I could get it. As far as their descriptive anatomical elements the eyes combined with the mouth would have to be the most unsettling attributes. I can’t get the image of the mouth out of my head. It follows me into my dreams…
Closing thoughts:
I loved it! I think it is thought provoking, intelligent writing. I enjoyed the structure where each chapter focused on a specific character. It let you get to know them individually (which is why Rad came up in my estimation eventually). Descriptively it’s lovely and impressively through in just about every aspect. While this is a work of fiction, the research that went into it makes it feel completely plausible.
