Cry of the Sea

Cry of the Sea by D. G. Driver was a very interesting book about the mystery behind mermaids. It was structured differently than any other mermaid book I have read for the young adult audience. The story itself was quite realistic when it comes to this situation happening in real life. I believe that the people around us would act in this way.

The main character, Juniper Sawfeather (or June), is a 17 year old girl living in Washington with her activist father and lawyer mother. I really liked the connection that June had with her parents but mostly the connection she had with her father. The first few chapters made me smile as they joked around and had a tiny little wrestling fight before making dinner. June does not want to follow her mother's footprints and wants to be part of the dirty work when it comes to taking care of the environment.

This book is different when it came to the mermaids portion because the author didn't make them seem almost completely human. She described them as having webbed fingers, holes for ears, and gils on their necks. This gave me an interesting image as I was reading through the description of the mermaids. It made me see them in a more realistic light besides the normal way most authors portray them. I would imagine mermaids looking like this if they were real because they are an evolution from fish. Just having a fish tail isn't enough.

[ WARNING THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS ]

When it comes to the story, it was very good. It starts out with June and her father needing to go down to the ocean because there has been an oil leak thanks to an oil company called Affron Oil. They have leaked oil into the ocean and they will need to go down to report this happening plus help out the animals. This is where they find three mermaids that they need to save. Two die pretty quickly but they transfer one to the Aberdeen Sea Mammal Rescue Center. A young man named Carter Crowe comes to help them transfer fish back to the center. You can tell quickly that June and Carter have a connection and that was a good connection to keep me wanting more of them. He seemed perfect for her considering his background and the fact they have a lot in common.

The conflict concerning the mermaids started to become suspicious when two Affron “spies” came to check on the center and they seemed to be looking for the mermaids... as if they knew they had them. Afterwards, some conflict happens when June sends her best friend, Haley, a video of the mermaids. She ends up sending the video to the mean girl, Regina, and she gets it to become viral. This causes June's life to become more hectic. The most annoying part of this was Regina and her friends. I wanted to shake them and tell them to go away because they were not wanted.

The last portion of the book was about June trying to figure out Affron Oil's secret. It was obvious that they knew about the mermaids before June and her father found them. So what were they doing? What do they want with the mermaids? It was interesting to find out that they secretly had 100s of mermaids in this tiny tank! I felt so bad for them and choked up a little when some of them died.

Overall, this book was pretty good and I would recommend it to people if they wanted to read about a mermaid story that was more realistic. I enjoyed the cute romance and I wish I could read more about them. To see what June actually decides to do. Possibly stay in Washington with Carter to try and find her mermaid? I would also read a novella by this author about the mermaids and that land.