Half-mermaid Tempest Maguire is trying to have it all: fulfilling her duties as second-in-line to the merQueen Hailana while periodically returning home to the California coastline to be with her family and longtime boyfriend, Mark. Living under the sea and rebuilding Coral Straits is grueling work, while being back home reminds her of everyone she loves and misses. But when her old flame Kona arrives bearing news that Hailana has died and Tempest is now officially merQueen, she returns permanently to Coral Straits--even though it devastates her family and rips her apart from Mark. Once there, she discovers that an old enemy has resurfaced, hell-bent on taking over her throne...with or without her. As Tempest prepares for her final showdown against Tiamat and anyone who stands with her, she must decide what--and who--is really important to her. Because there will be few survivors in the ultimate sea battle that is brewing--and Tempest isn't sure she will be one of them.
Traveling back and forth between the sea and shore, Tempest is trying to have it all. She is trying to be there for her merpeople as the next in line for the throne under their aging merQueen, all while spending time with her family and long time boyfriend. She knows her happiness can’t last forever, and when Kona arrives to tell the news of the merQueen’s death, she leaves for the sea, this time forever. But returning to Coral Straights, she finds that ascending the throne isn’t as easy as she expected it to be when an old enemy returns and makes it clear they will rule the kingdom, with or without her. As she gathers her forces and prepares for the battle to end all battles, Tempest is losing faith that they can win. Even if they can, she isn’t certain she will live through it to see their victory. I knew this love triangle would be my undoing with my love for the characters. Tempest showed more strength here than ever before, but she also made choices that left me wanting. She kept choosing Mark, always, even when she needed to back up Kona in a way that had nothing to do with their personal relationships. She was clearly not meant to be merQueen when she couldn’t stay diplomatic about anything for longer than a second when Mark was around. And the romance angle for Kona in this book? No. Try again. It was completely out of left field and was basically a cop-out. People loved Kona, give him something to be happy about. I was almost insulted with how things went.
The story wasn’t as good here either. It fell flat for me. Really flat. The whole thing was marred with teenage drama, and Tempest’s time in the dungeons were actually the most entertaining parts of the book. Before she left Mark and her family and up until she met back up with Kona, I was really enjoying things. The love triangle killed any story that was there. Even the ending lacked impact because her gorilla love interests had to pound their chest and fly off the handle. It brought the entire climax down for me and left me horribly underwhelmed. The final battle was boring, which wasn’t what I expected.
The series showed such promise, even with it’s flaws and I just did not enjoy this ending. This book killed the series for me. While I still feel it makes for a nice read, if you are looking for something amazing, skip it. You will only be disappointed.
