Fins

Was intrigued with this series because I have never read any fantasy with regard to Mermaids and Mermen. Well written young adult adventure with a lots of action. Emotions run high with love, hate, revenge and intrigue. Racism against Halflings is very well done. Courage, excepting responsibility for your decisions and your actions are a wonderful plus. I was caught up in this book so rapidly that I purchased the other two books in the series before finishing. A magical world of wonders and insight await you. Am on the last one and still enjoying the ride. Just wanted to take a break and share "The Love".

Mermaids have been objects of fascination to mankind since the first legends appeared in Assyria about three thousand years ago. Folklore has it that the goddess Atargatis loved a mortal shepherd and unintentionally killed him. Embarrassed, she dove into a lake to take the form of a fish, but the waters could not conceal her beauty, and thereafter, she took the form of a mermaid: human above the waist and fish below. This fascination has continued in so many forms over the ages since then, so it's no wonder that author Ashley Knight's debut novel, Fins , is gaining some attention among readers. This fast-paced book for young adults is about Morgan, a young woman in her late teens who goes to spend the summer with her mother in Central Florida's Treasure Coast. We shortly find out that her mother is actually a mermaid, as is her new husband. And as things like this go, Morgan begins her own biological transformation into a mermaid as well, but one with some very unique qualities. As she evolves into her newly found status as quite a unique mermaid, she revels in each new discovery of herself, along with a budding then growing love affair with a young merman named Thayde. But all is not finny frivolity, as Morgan shortly finds herself in the midst of a frequently aquatic family feud that has been going on since before her birth. And it looks like it's up to Morgan to find a solution to this aquatic vendetta before it has some very dire results. Ms. Knight's book is fast paced and obviously written for young adult female fantasy readers, so it was a new experience for this reviewer. Recommended by a friend who knew that I had enjoyed the parts that both mythology and folklore had played throughout history, I mentally raised an eyebrow at first, but trying to be open minded I bought the Kindle edition. Early into it, I quickly found that here was an author who could captivate with some well crafted words, as can be seen here: "I arched my back out of the coach class airline seat and stretched. It had been a long flight. Almost four hours from Denver and before that, one from Boise. Florida. Two things came to mind when I thought of Florida: Mickey Mouse and the Orlando Magic. And that it was hot. I wasn't a huge fan of the heat, but imagining lying on a white beach with a nice blue ocean for two weeks seemed ok." Ms. Knight has a way of wording her sentences that for the most part keep the reader moving right along from one page to another, without sidetracking too much into frivolous detail. At times the book had some fairly weak parts where this reader began to think that sections of the overall plot was being stretched a bit thin, but as can often be found in classical folklore and mythology, there can be some surprising twists and turns that kick the interest level back into high gear again. There were paragraphs with descriptions that made this reader smile, both from the author's subtle sense of humor and the way that she has of creating visual images, such as this: "When he surfaced next to me, I felt as if I was staring at Father Time. His long, gray hair matched his scraggly beard. Wringing the water out of it, he smiled and the lines about his face wrinkled even more. He reminded me of a character from one of the old movies my dad had collected. Chong from Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke. I instantly liked this old man." Ashley Knight's Fins is just one of a plethora of mermaid fantasy books aimed at young adults, and though this reviewer generally shuns such in favor of other genre, this one comes off quite good in terms of uniqueness and originality. Her character descriptions are not flat or vapid, and though there are some dips and valleys occasionally in the plot, the author manages to pull it all together in an interesting fashion. For those who look the topic of mermaids as being just parts of mythology, ancient folklore, or half-nude paintings in museums, the Animal planet television channel is currently showing 'Mermaids: The Body Found,' an admitted science docufiction built on a few strands of fact and made to look like an actual documentary. This just adds to the mermaids-are-real hypothesis that has appeared in abundance in cultural references over the centuries, and makes Ms. Knight's novel an even more interesting read. Some have compared this fantasy to the Twilight Saga , but since I've not read that one, this reviewer cannot comment on a qualified basis. I would prefer to look at FINS as a standalone novel, and as such would rate it as a 3-star read. But considering that this is the author's debut book, this often picky reviewer will call it a solid 4-star read, which is better than some of the current bestsellers on the market today, especially those that deal with various shades of grey and such. And this one is good enough that this reader has already purchased Fathom , Ashley Knight's sequel, the next one in this trilogy. Though this story is not my normal genre of choice, I must admit to being fascinated with where she's taking this story.

Fins by Ashley L. Knight is the first book in what I'm sure is to be an amazing trilogy. From the very beginning, the story captivates you and takes you on an adventure worthy of every little girls' dreams. What if you suddenly found out you were a mythical creature? A creature thought to live only with the imagination of those daring enough to dream. What if you have dreamed of boy since childhood and he has slowly become the love of your life? There is one catch. You have never met. Honestly, there is the real possibility that your hearts desire doesn't even exist! Roll all this together with your changing perception of the world and you have the making of a fairytale. A fairytale far from your wildest dreams. A fairytale you are a part of and you control the destinies of those you love.

I liked this book, it kept me entertained, but I had to push a lot of flaws that could be easily fixed to the back of my mind. Honestly, I think that three stars is a little generous, but it *is* the first book in the series, so i was lenient. WHAT I LIKED: - The plot of the story was very original - The author was very descriptive. - Kept me turning pages. WHAT I DISLIKED: - The book didn't have enough detail, especially in the beginning. I wanted Morgan to practically have to *beg* to know what was up with her mom and Tammer and why they were keeping so many secrets from her. - Morgan's personality changed. Repeatedly. First she was snotty, then she loved everyone and everything. Then she was a coward, then she was brave, and then she was a coward again. I understand how characters are meant to change over the course of the book, but the way that Morgan changed was choppy and unrealistic. -It suffered from being severely unrealistic. *SPOILERS AHEAD! I WARNED YOU! When Morgan's dad died, she got over it in a few sentences and never brought it up again. Just a few weeks after he died, she called Tammer 'Dad'. As to her situation with Thayde, no one falls in love that easily. I understand that that was part of the whole mermaid thing, but the author just avoided a very potential conflict that could have strengthened and lengthened the story by three-fold. -The plot kept changing! I could practically *see* the ideas going through the author's head! They would have worked, but she combined them in such a sloppy way that I wanted to slam the book shut and never look at it again. - The writing is repetitive in a way that gets on my nerves like no other. I'm sorry for not having a specific quote as honestly, I don't want to look at it again. To show you what I'm talking about, I'll make up a couple of sentences of my own and starred the repetition. "I closed the door slowly and slipped into my room. I didn't want to wake the other's, but I was so *angry with Michelle that I wanted to shout. I couldn't help but be *angry, after what she had done to me." One word should not be used twice in the same tense within two sentences of each other! - The vocabulary was minimal. Morgan was *sad when she heard that her father had died. Morgan was *distraught when she heard that her father had died. Which do you like better? Unfortunately, I didn't like this book enough to purchase the second one in the series. There were some parts that I did enjoy, don't get me wrong, but the parts that I didn't like much outweighed these. I wish I could recommend an age range but honestly, the content was so jumbled that I can't choose. I'd say try this book if you really want to, as plenty of others seem to enjoy it, but if you are a more advanced reader I don't recommend this for you. Would you recommend this to a friend? No. Would you read the continuing series? No. Would you read another book by this author based on this novel? No.

In its first few pages, Fins seems like your archetypal YA holiday romance story. Teenage Morgan is on her way to spend some time in Florida with her mother, whom she hasn't seen for a couple of years. Mom sounds like your typical hippie mother - more interested in travelling around having a good time than worrying about her daughter. Yet there's much more here than meets the eye. Soon, Morgan learns the life-changing and seemingly incredible fact that she comes from a line of mermaids. Her Mom is a mermaid, Mom's husband Tammer is a merman, and Morgan has a half-sister, Naira, who is also a mermaid. And just as this impossible news starts to freak Morgan out, guess what? Her body begins its own transformation, forcing her to face some of the toughest moments of her life. Fins is a wonderful coming-of-age story, a tale of developing relationships. Yet it's also a story of courage, of digging deep, of defending what you love. A spiraling family feud threatens Morgan's new-found life before she's even had a chance to accept it, and the man of her dreams, her true soul mate, also stands to lose his life. Morgan will have to do much more than embrace her heritage in order to protect them. Ashley Knight's prose runs strongly like the tide, and Morgan's voice flows clear as tropical waters. Highly recommended YA fantasy.