I really loved the worldbuilding in this book. She really thought through all the implications of having deepsmen blood being the marker for royalty and I found it just fascinating. I loved the history of the Venetian deepswoman coming out of the sea and establishing European royalty
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It's not exact, no. There's no way it could be, given what sparks the alternate history, you know? Making it align too closely with real history would've been wasting the premise. :)
But in my spotty research, I did learn that Anne Boleyn had a sister named Mary. :) That was fun.
I didn't know that this was an alternate-history before jumping in either, but as soon as I did, my mind started churning and wondering if Henry was supposed to be any of THE Henrys that sat on the English throne. :) My mind immediately went to Henry VIII as well, because of Anne (and if I'm not mistaken, Anne Boleyn had an older sister named Mary as well), but when I thought about some more, there are SO many people in the English who had the names Henry, Anne, and Mary -- they were just ridiculously common names at the time. So, once I got through that, I decided that the characters in this book were not meant to be merpeople versions of actual historical figures. It's still so fun to think about the parallels though. :D
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Yes, she did have an older sister named Mary. But you're right: those names are ridiculously common during that period of history.
The head-hopping actually is Whitfield's fault though: despite how graceful it was, we were in firm third-person POV until Anne and Henry had scenes together, so while you could say you should've been paying closer attention, because of the way the book was set up, you shouldn't have HAD to have been paying closer attention. Does that make sense?
No problem with that! And this book may not be a good fit either. If you ever want to try the author again, but aren't in the mood for this one, you should try Benighted. It's completely different, story-wise.
I've finished this one a couple days ago. My review isn't up yet (probably tomorrow), but I did end up enjoying it. I've always enjoy books that mix genres, especially fantasy and historical fiction. I thought this book did really well on the fantasy side of things, by introducing us to these really unique de-glamorized versions of mermaids and showing us how they would function on land and interact with others. I don't think this did quite as well on the historical fiction front, although that could be somewhat due to personal taste. I like my historical fiction to be firmly planted in a time and place, and I was never quite certain when this book was supposed to take place (our best clue is Henry is the first Henry that the royals have had in a while, but with mermaids on the throne, they could have easily picked different names). I'm curious if this murky time period was actually a deliberate action on the writer's part.
Anyway, reading this has convinced my to pick up Benighted at some point in time :)
by introducing us to these really unique de-glamorized versions of mermaids and showing us how they would function on land and interact with others
Yes! I loved how they were de-glamorized!
I can see how the murkiness of the time period might bother those readers who want their historical fiction very firm. I didn't mind the vagueness, though I kept looking stuff up on Wikipedia to try and place the time for myself. Of course, with the royals being deepsmen, that could've screwed up everything!
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But in my spotty research, I did learn that Anne Boleyn had a sister named Mary. :) That was fun.
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The head-hopping actually is Whitfield's fault though: despite how graceful it was, we were in firm third-person POV until Anne and Henry had scenes together, so while you could say you should've been paying closer attention, because of the way the book was set up, you shouldn't have HAD to have been paying closer attention. Does that make sense?
Still, it was done well, considering.
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Anyway, reading this has convinced my to pick up Benighted at some point in time :)
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Yes! I loved how they were de-glamorized!
I can see how the murkiness of the time period might bother those readers who want their historical fiction very firm. I didn't mind the vagueness, though I kept looking stuff up on Wikipedia to try and place the time for myself. Of course, with the royals being deepsmen, that could've screwed up everything!
Glad you want to read Benighted. It's SO good!
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