Between the Sea and Sky

Release Date: October 2, 2012

Author: Jacklyn Dolamore

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Age Group: Young Adult

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Book Subject:

Prejudiced 

Runaways

Different Paths

Mermaids

Winged-folk

Romance

Overall: 4/5

Book Summary:

Esmerine can't wait to become a siren-the highest calling for a mermaid-just like her sister, Dosinia. But then Dosinia goes missing, and it's up to Esmerine to find her. On the way, she runs into her childhood friend Alandare, a handsome, winged man. Will forbidden love conquer all in this dreamlike fairytale? 

My Review: 

Seventeen year old Esmerine Lorreman had always been different from her sisters. She wasn’t playfully or silly like her younger sister Merry, oh-so-serious like her middle sister Tormy, or popular like her older sister Dosia. Instead, she thought of books and her old childhood friend Alander “Alan” Dare who was a fandarsee, commonly known as the “winged-folk” who were thought to be an intellectual race of beings that looked human aside from their wings and bird-like feet.  But everything changes for Esmerine when she becomes a siren, which is the highest (social) calling for any mermaid to get. Mermaid children partake in a weeklong festival singing and displaying their magic for village elders every year. If and elder (or siren) saw potential in a particular child, they would pull them aside for further testing to see if they’ll pass. If so, they’ll receive an enchanted belt that’ll get passed down to their family members and learn to harness their powers. But not before they take their vow: 

I promise to serve as a daughter of the sea. For as long as I live and it is within my power, I shall protect the sea and all its denizens from the human race, even if it means disregarding my own desires. The water is my mother, my father, my first love, and sworn duty. Should I have children, I will keep my belt safe for them, for the safety and strength of my people. With the donning of this belt, I give myself to the sea and its people forevermore.

Esmerine couldn’t be happier to become a siren, just like Dosia who she always admired. But the day after Esmerine’s celebration, Dosia goes missing, and is believed to have been taken advantage of when she went on shore, because if a human got ahold of a siren’s enchanted belt they’ll have power over them. So Esmerine goes on a mission to find her. On the shore of Sormesen Esmerine, who painfully has to bear what it is like walking as a human, makes her stop at the House of Decency (a place where mermaid and humans can trade off goods). While she’s there, she meets the madam of the House of Decency, who helps her into her fitting, along with displaying her prejudice against mermaids who sink their ships and steal their men.

After she finishes up with the madam, Esmerine is taken to town by a servant boy, and there she encounters Swift, an orphan fandarsee who helps her find Alander. When Esmerine finds what she is looking for, she finds out that he works for a mermaid (Belawyn) who runs a book store, and that he grew even more handsome with his brown eyes and hair. After the encounter, however, it becomes anything than what Esmerine expected. He’s changed, and according to Swift, he’s an arrogant know-it-all. But despite his prudish ways—especially in what people read, he takes Esmerine in since she doesn’t have a place to stay, with the help from the maid Ginnia. But her stay with him grows on her patients, along with Alan’s as well. Esmerine can’t understand why he’s acting like a different person, at first she suspects it because she’s a mermaid and he’s a winged-person. But in reality, he doesn’t want to fall in love with her, because after she finds Dosia she’ll return to the sea. On top of what his father will say about their companionship. But the two realize their love for each other that they can’t even deny. Moving on, they soon find out about Dosia whereabouts, learning that she married a Lord Carlo Fiodor (and staying with them is his sister Christina and Octavia) and much to Esmerine’s dismay, Dosia likes being human.    

Esmerine quickly comes to terms that she can’t change Dosia’s mind about returning home, and takes the situation for what it really is. Oh and she marries Alan and they live happily ever after. I know, bad ending [chuckle]. Unlike the lovely profiled bloggers from Midnight Garden, I really like the story. It was detailed enough to leave room for imagination, and very quick to read. When I saw the cover I thought the plot was set in a contemporary time period, but when I started reading through the chapters I realized it was set somewhere between the 18^th or 19^th century.  I also liked how it introduced classism and prejudice in a fantastical sense. It made Alan and Esmerine grow as people and open their eyes to the world. Now I know it would have been a cliché if Dosia was really kidnapped, but I felt she didn’t have a validated excuse for running away and becoming human. Dosia’s whole reason for giving up her enchanted belt to Lord Fiodor was, she didn’t want to be a siren and was frankly bored with her life. Their “love” is completely different from that of Alan and Esmerine. Fiodor and Dosia have...rather a mutual agreement, he gets a pretty mermaid-wife and she enjoys the pleasures of the high life as a human. The story was inspired by Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, I haven’t read anything from Austen but if it was anything like "Between the Sea and Sky", I’ll definitely be looking forward to reading her work.