Althea M. (althea) reviewed on 12/4/2009 + 774 more book reviews

A beautiful tale of a mermaid, told simply but with strength (in
first-person present tense, which some may find awkward, but I didn't
mind).

Sirena and her fifty mermaid sisters are victims of a curse - they
must lure human men to sleep with them, or they will die. However,
after seeing first hand the unpleasant fates of the Greek sailors the
siren song lures from their ships - and witnessing the violent revenge
against one of her sisters that the sailors enact, Sirena decides to
accept mortality and cause no man's death.

However, when a sailor with an infected wound is abandoned on her
lonely island by his shipmates; left to die, Sirena's natural urge is
to help him. Love follows - but it is complicated: Does the sailor
only love her because he once heard her sing? If he gets a chance,
will he leave her on the island, off once again to fight in the Trojan
War? Is it fair for Sirena to wish him to stay, isolated from all of
humanity, on her tiny island?

A quick read, but poetic and bittersweet.

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