Sirena

Wow, I really loved this book! This is the first mermaid book I've read, besides maybe the classic, the Little Mermaid. It ties in with the mythology, which I love!This is the tale of Sirena, the siren/mermaid who lives with her 9 mermaid sisters. There are a total of 50 mermaids in Oceanus, but they could all die and there would be no more.One of the goddesses gave them a gift of immortality IF they could make a human man fall in love with them. They have beautiful singing voices which lures and enchants men which should make this pretty easy for them.One day after the mermaids sang to lure some men passing through on their ship, the ship wrecked on the mermaids reef and most the men had died and the other men cursed and blamed and hated the mermaids, thought of them as monsters.Sirena, the most daring of the mermaids vowed to never sing to lure men, she felt horrible over their deaths and left her school of sisters to live alone.Sirena finds herself at Lemnos island where she finds and falls inlove with Philoctetes, the funny, playful, caring man that has been left behind by his friends because of a deathly serpent bite, doomed by the goddess Hera.My daughter right now just LOVES mermaids and when I was her age I loved them, too. I know that's why I was drawn to this book. I will definetly be putting this book in her hands when she is of age to read it :)

I love mermaids, it's not for children, it's cute and romantic. So much detail and it isn't a confusing read.

This is my second time reading this book and it is still just as beautiful and amazing as I remember. If you're a fan of Greek mythology or mermaids then this is a great book to read. It's exquisitely written and the adventure and romance will keep you entranced till the end.

I opened up the book in the front cover fell right off and the first two pages are stuck down from whoever tried to paste it together. However I still love the book and it taped it back together. But I will have to say opening a book for the first time and the cover falling off is not usually a good thing.

Donna Jo Napoli's books were recommended to me because I had purchased some Robin McKinley books through them, and I'm glad I took them up on it. I still like both authors, but Napoli's concise style is refreshing in comparison with McKinley's more cumbersome novels. Napoli's sentences did feel choppy and simplistic for about the first page, but I was quickly drawn in to the story and found it easy to connect with emotionally. (I'll even confess to shedding a few tears.) The book also made me want to look further into Greek mythology. Unfortunately I would not recommend the book for the younger end of the "young adult" range, due to some sexual content. But all in all a wonderful story and very well-written.

Sirena is a mermaid, a siren. One of fifty of her kind, the result of a rape (Eros the god of love and lust and a parrot fish) she is a creature of the gods, but not immortal. However, her sisters and her can become immortal if a man loves them. To help them with this they were given the gift of song.The Trojan War approaches and more ships come by their rocky homes. They sing for the men to come to them, but the men drown or die on the rocky islands which have no food or water on them. Sirena is disgusted and saddened by the deaths, but her sisters don't care as long as they become immortal.So she leaves and decides to forever live alone. But on the island where she decides to live a man is abandoned for ten long years, and a mermaid who thought she could only seduce becomes aware that true love does exists after all.This is beautiful, sad and the way mythology should always be told. You can only hope when you finish it that our lovers are reunited someday somehow.Five stars.

I have read many books by this author and each one is brilliantly written. This story of mermaids and Greek mythology is well researched and the perfect blend of history, romance, and morality. The prose is lush and intelligent, the characters are richly developed, and the story is well paced. Although some themes could be considered unsuitable for younger readers, I suggest this book for adults or teens who appreciate stories without erotic passages.

Great condition and a great read. One of my all time favorites.

The concept had a lot of potential, but I feel like I spent the entire book waiting for it to get going, or for something exciting to happen. Suddenly the book was finished and I felt I was still waiting.

I read this in junior high. It was good then, and good now.