She’s destined to save the world . . . if she doesn’t destroy it first.
Calandra’s destiny is also her doom. As the most powerful healer since the woman who sank Atlantis, she’s been raised to restore the Heartstone that protects her island from humans . . . before she goes Mad like her mother and all the powerful undine healers before her. When she learns she needs both male and female magic to succeed, she becomes desperate—there hasn’t been an undine male born for over three thousand years. Instead, she’s being pressured to use the siren mind-bond to enslave her childhood friend, the one man she’s sworn to risk a death sentence to free.
When Calandra discovers a cryptic message that shows her exiled mother was not only sane but pregnant with a boy, she questions everything she’s been taught to believe. But revealing the horrifying truth of the bonds could tear her island apart—and concealing it could unleash the Earth’s oldest, most destructive enemy. With insanity looming, can Calandra find her brother and save the Heartstone, the man she loves, her people, and the world . . . before she loses control and destroys them all?
The Undine’s Tear is the first book in the mind-blowing young adult epic historical fantasy series Rise of the Grigori. Packed with complex characters, lush world-building, gritty action, and impossible odds, this intricately woven tale presents mermaids like you’ve never seen them before. Join Calandra in a search for redemption that will threaten the very fabric of the universe. Dive into the adventure today!
Osaze looked between them with fear in his eyes, then turned back to Calandra.
“Redeemed. That’s what the queen did to me before, right? Is that what you mean by ‘help’?” He clutched Calandra’s arm. “Please don’t do it again, Calandra. I—I think I would rather die than have that happen again.”
As soon as Osaze touched her, a wave of desperation and fear crashed through her. She put her hands to her ears as though she could physically block out the sudden onslaught of emotion. Is it happening already? Is this the Madness?
When Osaze’s hand fell from her arm, the emotions subsided. She slowly lowered her hands, staring at the boy. Those feelings . . . they had all come from him? Why had she felt them so strongly? Did it have something to do with the Heartstone?
“It’s okay, Osaze. It doesn’t hurt, does it?”
He shook his head and buried it in his hands. “That would be better. It’s worse than anything you can imagine.”
Calandra stared at him, stricken. As a rule, undines treated every living thing with respect. She had always been told that Redemption meant saving the men from themselves, cleansing them of impurities they could not purge on their own. But how could it be right to do something to these men that they hated so much?
Review
This book came advertised as epic fantasy, and those are the facts, folks. I like big books, and I cannot lie…and this is, by all standards, a big book. With an expansive world, many characters, lots of tension, fantastic magic, historical/modern significance, and even a touch of romance. If you think nothing of diving headlong into a 400+ page story, this one’s for you.
I’m sure I’ve said before that Little Mermaid was my favorite movie as a child, so anything with mermaids/sirens tends to hook me. (Side Note: I’ve since gotten older and realized Ariel was basically a walking [swimming?] trainwreck, but I digress). I loved what this story did with sirens, and I love the author’s note at the end about “where are all the mermen?” I wrote a blog post about this, but stories just need one question to get going, and that’s a great question. Was it just me, or was King Triton the only male merperson in The Little Mermaid? How did that work exactly (I’ll stop before I make the leap to Lion King and how Mufasa was the only male lion…). Anyway, this book answered that question in a wonderfully complex and fantastic way, and it posed many more questions that I found myself wanting the answers to.
Long story short, I quite enjoyed this. The siren society was particularly interesting. I often see articles or posts on social media about how a matriarchal society wouldn’t face the problems the world does right now, to which I always sigh because, as this book aptly puts it, violence and hate are not bound by any gender or race. The female villains in this book absolutely reminded me of women (and non-women) I’ve known. I despised those characters, which means they were doing their jobs in terms of showing me how poorly people can act.
I could go on, but I think you get the idea. This book is definitely worth reading. So, go do that. 😊
Talena Winters is addicted to stories, tea, chocolate, yarn, and silver linings. She writes page-turning fiction for teens and adults in multiple genres, coaches other writers, has written several award-winning songs, and designs knitting patterns under her label My Secret Wish. Master of the ironic GIF response. She currently resides on an acreage in the Peace Country of northern Alberta, Canada, with her husband, three surviving boys, two dogs, and an assortment of farm cats. She would love to be a mermaid when she grows up. Find her online at https://www.talenawinters.com/.
To check out other stops on the tour, visit the tour page here.
All the opinions expressed in this review are my own. Read the full disclosure here.