Lost Voices by Sarah Porter

Lost Voices by Sarah Porter


Published: July 4th, 2011
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Series: Lost Voices, Book 1
Rating: YA 13+
Format: eGalley
Source: NetGalley
Amazon ❘ Goodreads


What happens to the girls nobody sees—the ones who are ignored, mistreated, hidden away? The girls nobody hears when they cry for help?
Fourteen-year-old Luce is one of those lost girls. After her father vanishes in a storm at sea, she is stuck in a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village with her alcoholic uncle. When her uncle crosses an unspeakable line, Luce reaches the depths of despair. Abandoned on the cliffs near her home, she expects to die when she tumbles to the icy, churning waves below. Instead, she undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid.
A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. The mermaids are beautiful, free, and ageless, and Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: they feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks.
Luce’s own talent at singing captures the attention of the tribe’s queen, the fierce and elegant Catarina, and Luce soon finds herself pressured to join in committing mass murder. Luce’s struggle to retain her inner humanity puts her at odds with her friends; even worse, Catarina seems to regard Luce as a potential rival. But the appearance of a devious new mermaid brings a real threat to Catarina’s leadership and endangers the very existence of the tribe. Can Luce find the courage to challenge the newcomer, even at the risk of becoming rejected and alone once again?
Lost Voices is a captivating and wildly original tale about finding a voice, the healing power of friendship, and the strength it takes to forgive.

**This Review is based on an ARC (Advanced Reader's Copy). The final text/cover may change.**

Lost Voices was a terrifying and beautiful novel about mermaids. It was quite a different portrayal of mermaids then of what I’m kind of used to, but it’s more accurate. Mermaids are like the Greek mythical creatures Sirens in this book. They use their singing voices to lure people into the sea and drown them, and crash boats to get the loot onboard.

This story follows Luce as she becomes a mermaid, and then realises that drowning people isn’t what it’s cutout to be, and in time learns the mystery of her father’s disappearance and some of the mermaid’s strange behaviors.

Luce was a main character which I didn’t really ever get to know that well. I found her frustration with the other mermaids understandable and the hurt from her past life realistic as well. The story does focus on a whole lot of other characters, but you never really get to know some of them. Catarina, I really did hate from the start. She kept on flipping sides, and has secrets and all, and yet she gets mad at everyone else for keeping stuff from her. I hated Anais, another mermaid, SO much. This girl is so spoilt and intent on having things done her way.  Miriam was one of the only mermaids other than Luce I actually liked. They're both so selfless and have better things to do rather than be infatuated with themselves.

I found the description in this book so beautiful! Honestly, there were fascinating details about everything: the cave, the movement of the waves, the mermaid's tails etc. This book felt like one of those timeless classics, where you really DO get transported into another world and feel apart of what's happening then. 

What I didn't like however, was the fact that nothing really happened. There were some parts, like secrets and plots being found out, Luce's past, talents discovered, but other than that, there was rarely any action. A lot of it was about the mermaid's daily lives, how they eat, sleep etc. A whole ton of singing was also described, but it somehow didn't create a very good picture to me. It just makes the novel slow-going and harder to read through when a lot doesn't happen during the course of the story.

The ending is one I didn't really get either. It seemed like a good drop-off spot, but there was quite a lot left out not mentioned or solved. There is going to be a sequel, but I have no idea of how it would continue on. 

Lost Voices is mesmerizing, captivating and dark, where the fairy-tales are proved wrong and these mythical creatures aren't what they seem to be. Sarah Porter's writing is beautiful and rich. I'm curious to see what happens next!

If you like this, try...

• Ingo by Helen Dunmore (Amazon ❘ Goodreads)
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis (Amazon ❘ Goodreads)

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