**This review is of Derek Murphy’s ‘Shearwater, Part One: An Ocean Depths Mermaid Romance’. I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced review copy. Check out my review and place your pre-order on Amazon using the link at the bottom of this review!**
‘Shearwater: Part One’ by Derek Murphy is a tale of teenage drama, centered around mysteries of the past and mermaids. There is also quite a bit of contemporary high school drama mixed in, which is what I tend to gravitate toward in a young adult novel.
Clara Clark, main character, finds herself thrown headfirst into a new life when her parents are killed in a car crash very early on in the novel. Even though she’d rather live with her best friend’s family in America, she is told that her grandfather, a man named Aeden, lives in Ireland, and she is set to go live with him based on her mother’s will and the fact that she is underage and cannot make her own decisions on living arrangements just yet. In typical teenager fashion, she is quite upset and frazzled by this turn of events, but she tries to make the most of it, if for no one else other than her grandfather. However, much of her new life lies in mystery, as she didn’t even know her grandfather existed, let alone that her mother was from Ireland. Her mother had even changed her maiden name, so when Clara was told it, she thought they were speaking of someone else.
During the first few days in Ireland, Clara finds herself swept up in more and more mysteries, while at the same time making friends and enemies of her classmates. There are the typical “mean girls” who want nothing of Clara, as well as the typical friendly sorts who befriend her. It doesn’t hurt that many remember her mother from when she was a child, so she fits in easier than she thought she might.
As a fan of mysteries, I really liked the way that Murphy kept readers on their toes, wondering just what would happen next based on notes Clara received, strange occurrences that Clara felt she may have caused to happen, etc. However, even though this is only Part One of the novel, I felt that it took way too long (more than 50% of the novel) to get to more of the unraveling of the mystery of who Clara really is. Readers still don’t have all the answers, but more was given away after the halfway point of the novel. I also like mythology, but sometimes the mythological background about mermaids, warring forces, etc. seemed a bit much and made me a tad confused. I understand that the information is necessary as the novel goes on into Part 2, but those parts seemed more like a history lesson to me rather than part of the story. Maybe if more of it had been in dialogue or more of an action format, I would have been more entranced by the mythological notes that led Clara to a better understanding of mermaids and her own past.
I am intrigued to learn more about who exactly Clara’s mother and grandmother were, as well as why her mother put it in her will for Clara to live in Ireland despite running away from her homeland herself all those years ago. I’m sure the unanswered questions will be resolved in Part 2 (or later, if there are even more parts to come), but my interest is piqued. Learning more about how much her grandfather, Aeden, actually knows, as well as how her friends will react to her newfound heritage, will provide the characters in the novel with a sort of transcendent quality that readers will be able to further identify with as they continue on with the plot in Part 2.
Derek Murphy has created an intriguing and mystical world in ‘Shearwater: Part One,’ and I hope that Part 2 will live up to the hype he has built for himself through the world he has so adeptly crafted.
You can pre-order ‘Shearwater, Part One: An Ocean Depths Mermaid Romance’ by Derek Murphy here. It will be available for regular purchase on January 26, 2016.