The Mermaid's Sister (Carrie Anne Noble)

The Mermaid's Sister
Carrie Anne Noble
Skyscape
Fiction, YA Fantasy
** (Bad)

DESCRIPTION: Sixteen years ago, baby Clara arrived at Aunt Verity's humble cottage on a Pennsylvania mountain, borne by a stork, and Maren arrived in an enchanted conch shell. They were raised together in the Appalachian countryside, helping Verity tend to the country folks' ills and pains, playing with Verity's pet wyvern Osbert, and anticipating the annual visit of the tinker Scarff and his adopted boy O'Neill. But the passing years have made it too clear that, however happy their childhood and loving their family, Maren could not stay. She was born of the sea, and has begun the slow but inevitable transformation into a mermaid. Soon, it will be time for her to leave forever, but she cannot make the journey alone. Shy, modest, sheltered Clara will have to travel with her, as much to escort Maren (who cannot walk on a mermaid's tail) as to protect her from too-curious humans - especially men, who often fall into helpless swoons at the sight of a mermaid. Even with the company of young O'Neill, the almost-brother for whom Clara has developed shamefully unsisterly feelings, the trip proves to be far more perilous than she could've imagined.

REVIEW: The Mermaid's Sister did not start out bad. The concept has a certain charm to it, spinning a rustic 19th-century fairy tale in backwoods America, where fairies and dragons are real but elusive. Sure, Maren was a trifle shallow and selfish and Clara (the narrator) seemed a bit too shy and spineless to carry a story, but it was early. Then Maren's change starts accelerating and the plot drifts into listless doldrums, as Clara finds herself torn over the impending loss of her adopted sister and being part of an evident love triangle: O'Neill seems utterly smitten by Maren, determined to find a "cure" for her condition, even as Clara realizes that what she feels for him isn't just almost-brotherly love. But, then, another mountain boy has already laid claim to Maren, regardless of Maren's refusal of him... and here is where my first red-flag issues with this story started, though it took me a while to notice - or, rather, to realize that it wasn't just one or two incidents, but an ongoing theme. Girls in this book are, by and large, helpless things to be ogled and owned (and, ideally, ashamed of their own feelings.) Maren in particular becomes, almost literally, a thing: as she loses her humanity, she becomes more selfish, more petty, and more cavalier about her attraction to all things male as she swims about unclothed (a fact that nearly paralyzes modest Clara with shame on her behalf.) At one point, she is physically stolen by an admirer, carried off as easily as one would a bauble and with as little apparent psychological impact; she is utterly and completely incapable of defending herself, as are the other women (save very brief moments of self-defense from Clara.) Maren's changes also shrink her to the size of a child and smaller, making the attraction she engenders in full-sized men that much more squirmworthy.
Not much actually happens for long stretches of the book; it takes far too long for the journey to the ocean to actually start, even when it's beyond clear that Maren's transformation is hastening and there is no other option if they want her to survive. Even once the trip is underway, things tend to drag, as Maren is toted around like a vaguely self-aware toy, Clara has the same internal arguments with herself innumerable times, and O'Neill obliviously fawns over a child-sized mermaid in a washtub. When complications foul things up - courtesy of villains who bring their own twisted evil, more squicky undercurrents, and more than a tinge of xenophobia - Clara continues to be pretty much powerless to do anything but fret, fend off untoward advances, and occasionally snap at O'Neill, who frankly doesn't deserve half of her attitude. Events occur that suggest the world consists of fewer than a dozen people - almost everyone they encounter in their long journey from mountain to sea, they've met already before on Verity's mountain - and more than one plot-convenient coincidence helps things along to the (eventual) ending, which makes a point of meandering through one of the most warped displays of "love" I've read in ages anywhere, let alone in a young adult title. To be honest, the only character I liked by then was Osbert the wyvern. As for the human cast... I think they need some intensive therapy, because they have some issues to work through.

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