Undertow by Michael Buckley
*I received a physical ARC copy from a giveaway on Goodreads.
**This will also be posted on Goodreads.
In Undertow, we follow sixteen-year-old Lyric Walker and how her and her family and everyone around them deal with the new appearance of the Alpha, a new [to them anyway, they're actually ancient] species. Or, well, it's been three years but they're only going to school together now, so they are only interacting now. But anyway, we read about their meetings, the situations they get into, how their enemies react, what happens to the humans who befriend or are nice to the 'fish heads', and how drastic measures have to be taken more than once. We also read about who Lyric really is, how she plans to save her parents [or, well her mom when she has to go to a trial based on Alpha terms] and how she plans to help the Alpha.
The Alpha are pretty much a variety of species who can breathe [and lived] under water. There's Sirenna, Nix, Selkie, and Ceto. There's probably more but I can't recall them at the moment, and I'd rather not say anything about the Rusalka because when Undertow is published next month and you read it [I hope you'll read it, anyway] you'll realize who, and what, they are. I think you should go into the book unaware.
Moving on now. I love the writing. Everything just flowed really well, the language wasn't complex, and we learned so much about the Alpha without getting fact-dumps or boring fillers with information about who and what the Alpha are. Every flashback, all the foreshadowing, it was all done so cleverly and smoothly. The whole time there's mention of the wild thing, and in the end it all becomes clear, and you look back and realize how well it was put out there but hidden at the same time.
The characters are pretty great too. I love how different the Alpha are, how alike they are at the same time, how whenever characters fell in love it wasn't instant but fairly slow and very likable. My only problem with the romance, is that Lyric obviously falls in love with the Prince of the Alpha. The predictability of that, when everything else was pretty unpredictable, just make me a little sad. I do love their relationship though, so it wasn't much of an issue for me. And then you have Bex and Shadow. Bex is the outgoing, strong type of best friend every girl wants. She goes through so much and yet no one would know; no know does know except for those she tells or sees it themselves. She's a character I wouldn't mind seeing more of in the next book. I won't say much on Shadow, other then he impacted many lives, mostly Lyric and Bex's. I won't say much about any of the Alpha either because I really think you should find out about them for yourself.
All in all, I seriously love Undertow, and would recommend it to all of you. There's romance, action, a new species, rebel groups and strange characters. The writing is brilliant and the story is great. And I know I didn't say a whole lot, but you should definitely pick up this book when it comes out.
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So, that's that d:
~Sage
