Tempest, a teenage mermaid, is the leading character in Tracy Deebs' novel for teens, Tempest Rising (Walker and Company, 2011). Readers of all ages will enjoy the combination of romance and fantasy in Tempest's quest to save the ocean and herself.
Synopsis of Tracy Deebs' Tempest Rising
Tempest has the perfect life with sexy surfer Mark, a loving dad and brothers, and a passion to become an artist. Except for being a mermaid, that is. Tempest must choose on her seventeenth birthday between life on land, with her father, brothers, and familiar on and off boyfriend Mark , or life under the sea with the mysterious and intoxicating Kona and an environment where her changing body thrives.
After Kona is injured by the wicked sea witch, Tempest journeys through the depths of the deep, frantic to save him. She encounters new peoples and new threats, as the Pacific Ocean is at risk of destruction and only she holds the power to save it. Tempest battles the wicked sea witch and finds her mother, only to have more questions than answers. In the end, Tempest must choose between the world she knows and the world that feels right.
Review of Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs
The novel is slow to get into, and Tempest's character can be annoying, always shutting herself off from others and ignoring the traumatic signs of her transformation as a mermaid. How can someone not freak out about sprouting gills' behind her ears? Only a teenager, perhaps, but the reader doesn't yet know that Tempest isn't an ordinary teenager.
The plot accelerates after the mysterious Samoan Kona, part surfer and part god, enters Tempest's life, and the reader's compassion for Tempest grows as she struggles with why her mother abandoned her. Battles rage not only with the evil sea witch, but also with who Tempest is and what she wants in life. Though few readers have had to save the world, all can relate to Tempest's quest for love and life in the midst of loss.
Deebs does not candy-coat the events in the novel. Main characters die, and tears are shed by Tempest and the engrossed reader. Though Tempest wins the battle with her heart in the end, the battle for the Pacific rages still. Tempest and her gang are charged, breathing characters easily animating a sequel. Grade A.
About Tracy Deebs
Author of Tempest Rising, Tracy Deebs is a literature and writing professor at Austin Community College in Texas. According to her blog, she is working on her second young adult novel, a parody of the Greek myth Pandora's Box.
For more on paranormal reads for teens, readers may enjoy book reviews of Kim Harrington's Clarity or Colleen Houck's Tiger's Curse.
Sources:
- Deebs, Tracy. Tempest Rising. Walker and Company, New York 2011: ISBN: 978-0-8027-2231-7.
Melissa Roberts - A trained hospital chaplain, Melissa is a freelance writer, teacher, retreat leader, and spiritual director.
