Book Review: Fathomless by Jackson Pearce

Celia Reynolds is the youngest in a set of triplets and the one with the least valuable power. Anne can see the future, and Jane can see the present, but all Celia can see is the past. And the past seems so insignificant — until Celia meets Lo.

Lo doesn’t know who she is. Or who she was. Once a human, she is now almost entirely a creature of the sea — a nymph, an ocean girl, a mermaid — all terms too pretty for the soulless monster she knows she’s becoming. Lo clings to shreds of her former self, fighting to remember her past, even as she’s tempted to embrace her dark immortality.

When a handsome boy named Jude falls off a pier and into the ocean, Celia and Lo work together to rescue him from the waves. The two form a friendship, but soon they find themselves competing for Jude’s affection. Lo wants more than that, though. According to the ocean girls, there’s only one way for Lo to earn back her humanity. She must persuade a mortal to love her . . . and steal his soul.

I can’t imagine how well Jackson Pearce must know her fairy tales in order to give them a proper update and be able to let them stand on their own.  Not only does Pearce manage to make the stories even darker than the originals by the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson….but she has reinvented my perception of the possible world within world fairy tales.

Think, Once Upon A Time (see the gif with Prince Charming, Red Riding Hood, and Rumplestiltskin alive and active in the same world) with teenagers and an even different twist since the stories are all intertwined.  Not only should fans of Once Upon A Time try to pick up this series, but fans of fairy tales in general should.

I can’t say that Fathomless is my favorite of Pearce’s Fairytale Retellings, because the original Little Mermaid fairy tale wasn’t one of my favs either. I mean…air spirits? C’mon, Anderson, I really liked the Disney happy ending for Ariel.

Either way, there is somewhat of a happy ending in Pearce’s story, but I refuse to tell you because the getting there is the best part.  Plus, why should you miss out on her glorious story telling because some blogger wanted to give it away? Hm?  Think of it this way, however, if you haven’t read the first two novels, Sisters Red and Sweetly, you might not quite understand the circumstances of the overall story arc. 

Word on the street is that Pearce will be doing another Anderson tale for the fourth installment in her Fairy Tale Retellings, currently titled Cold Spell.  Does anyone else find it interesting that there are 2 Grimm tales and then 2 Anderson tales?  Mayhap Pearce will take on Perrault next! (I’m 100% okay with it.)

Overall, I’m giving Fathomless 4 Bards. Now go grab a copy!