A wicked storm sweeps lifeguard Tristan out to sea, and as he comes to, he realizes things are not as they seem. He starts growing strange scales along his arms and scratches appear on the side of his neck. After learning his true identity he embarks on a quest to fulfill his true destiny at sea. It's like a breath of fresh sea-breeze, or a nice dip in a cool familiar pool.
The Vicious Deep is incredibly original and is plump full of funny, witty, charming, likeable characters. Even though the events unfolding throughout are seen in the eyes of Tristan, his family and friends are given unique voices and personalities all their own. Love interest/best friend Layla is incredibly strong, as are Tristan's royal guards, siblings Thalia and Kurt. Incredibly cute and sweet mentions to other famous mermaids from pop culture are mentioned (Tristan's mother has red hair and collects strange baubles-sounds familiar right?).
The plot is a bit scatterbrained at points and I don't understand what happened under a couple pages later. However, the writing style is very easy and comforting to read. Even though this whole world of merfolk is completely new to me I could follow the imagery and world building excellently. It's not as serious as the cover and title make it out to be either, it's very funny and lighthearted. Both the cover and title come off unremarkable. The story however, is anything but.
For Tristan Hart, everything changes with one crashing wave.
He was gone for three days. Sucked out to sea in a tidal wave and spit back ashore at Coney Island with no memory of what happened. Now his dreams are haunted by a terrifying silver mermaid with razor-sharp teeth.
His best friend Layla is convinced something is wrong. But how can he explain he can sense emotion like never before? How can he explain he's heir to a kingdom he never knew existed? That he's suddenly a pawn in a battle as ancient as the gods.
Something happened to him in those three days. He was claimed by the sea...and now it wants him back.
