Review of Lost Voices by Sarah Porter

Lost Voices comes out on the 4th of July, 2011. I was lucky enough to receive an early copy from NetGalley.





After Luce's father is lost on a shipwreck and presumed dead, there's no one else to stay with but her drunk uncle. One night, he crosses the line with her, and Luce is left to join all the other lost girls who were mistreated by the men in their lives: the mermaids.

The mermaids get their revenge on the humans that abused them through sinking boats and luring the sailers to death with their siren songs. Though Luce comes to have to best voice in the group - one that can have men jumping overboard, one that can control the ocean itself - she finds that she doesn't want to kill humans.

Lost Voices tackled a lot of social issues that I didn't except from a paranormal book. It explored abuse, forgiveness, friendship.

I grew to like Luce as a character. At first soft-spoken and weak-willed, as you'd expect from an abused girl, she developed into a more independent and stronger protagonist when she found acceptance with the mermaids. Her personality and feelings shone through in the narration. Luce's feelings felt heartbreakingly real.

I loved the writing style, also. Lost Voices is Sarah Porter's debut novel, and her writing reflects that of someone with a lot more experience. The prose was lyrical and beautiful, and the dialogue was believable.

There wasn't any romance in Lost Voices, and I though I like to see romantic subplots, Lost Voices pulled it off. I'd rather no romance than a star-crossed one.

The ending, I found, was disappointing, in that it left so many loose ends, but I can forgive that, considering it's only the first book in a series.

I rate Lost Voices 4 out of 5.