...here are some statements by the author herself, more peeks at Ondalina, Astrid's home realm. Abs Excerpts from an interview...
One: Astrid and her family live in an ice fortress!! :O Given that she's a dictator's daughter and princess of a proud warrior race, and that theirs is a Nordic/Arctic themed realm, it makes sense.
Two: The author resonates with Astrid (like I do) and would live in Ondalina!
Three: Astrid's secret will be key to turn the tides of the war over to the leading cast's favour -- the traumatic personal secret that brings her so much shame... Can't wait for the end of the month to find out what her secret is!
Oh... and some more preview. Astrid will travel with my second fave, career-oriented Becca, and both of them will find love (the straight or queer kind?) in the most unlikely of places after they have parted... Moreover, Astrid is tempted by the dark side... will she perform a face-heel turn, pretend she is performing a face-heel turn, or resist completely?
I've got to resist the urge to spend more money on old books at the local book fair, which we have in Castellón during the first fortnight of November...
Like the Starks say, winter is coming... (Cue GOT theme song)
Do you have a favorite site that you have created in the mermish world?
JD: One that I really love is Astrid’s icy home, the Citadel, in the Arctic.
If you were a merl, in what kingdom would you make your home?
JD: Maybe in Ondalina, because I love the idea of an ice realm.
Is there one of the six (either the Six who Ruled or the current Six) that you most associate with? What about them do you connect with?
JD: I connect pretty strongly with Astrid – the difficult, blunt, kinda rude one! Probably because she likes to ride, and so do I. And she loves orcas, and so do I. And we both love northern landscapes – or rather, seascapes!
So intriguing to discover Astrid’s secret... So moving to discover how Ava uses her blindness to immense advantage, and to learn the reason for Becca’s hyper-organized nature. It was also exhausting to keep track of them all, and to do justice to each character’s individual storyline!
Are there any particular characteristics that you think will help your characters succeed?
Astrid’s secret – the thing she’s so ashamed of – will become the key to obtaining the very thing the six friends need.
In Book 3 of the epic saga about six mermaids, Astrid struggles with a devastating personal secret while Becca tries to figure out how to extract her talisman from a killer whirlpool.
Astrid finally returns home to Ondalina to find that all is not as she left it, and a sinister human with empty, black eyes offers her power she never dreamed of ...
Astrid has a terrible secret that Becca finds out while they are together. When Becca and Astrid separate, Astrid goes back to her home up North, and Becca starts to look for another talisman. Becca meets some important friends, and Astrid frees someone that will change her life.
Becca meets someone unexpected along the way, as does Astrid. Astrid is prickly and a grouch, but she meets someone that is perfect for her. I want to see where Becca's romance goes especially!
Along the way, the eternally prepared Becca finds herself thrown for a loop when she is reunited with Astrid, the final member of the Six. After a close encounter with some Death Riders, the duo develop a closer friendship, but is it close enough for Astrid to reveal her darkest secret to her newfound partner? Once she decides whether or not to open up, she finds herself faced with a new set of horrors upon her return to Ondalina, where the proud warriors are faced with a serious threat from Vallerio. Similarly, Becca finds herself charged with an impossible task. How will she surmount a force of nature to achieve her goals, and how will she and Astrid deal with the love that they discover in the most unexpected of places?
Well, Astrid is now confirmed to be emotionally disabled (is she an aspie like me?)
Astrid, Ava, Ling, Neela and Becca provide fresh "heroines". Astrid, in a world of magic has lost hers. Ava, a blind mermaid must search the oceans for a talisman with death riders at every turn. Ling has a strained relationship with her mother, who has just about given up after the loss of Ling's father. Neela buries her problems in food and learns that eating does not make her problems disappear. Becca grows up an orphan, struggling often to make ends meet.
(WOW. So Becks is an orphan... this explains a lot about her career-driven attitude, trying to make herself a name.)
Awesome book!!! I loved how Astrid saw more of herself and how she has good friends that accept her for who she is.
Ling's and Astrid's chapters are filled with such beautiful imagery. Oondalina! AH! Astrid's ice palace was breathtaking! I wish I could erase the chapters from my mind so I could experience that awe all over again! Even now, my mind is back exploring her palace. Ling's chapters are darker. It's very similar to the concentration camps the Nazi's created during World War II. It was sad, and terrifying. The glimpses we were given of Ava's world were also impressive, but not as much as Oondalina. I suspect we'll see more of her world in the final book.
Oh, I would luve to have an ice palace myself...
4. Becca and Marco need to get together!
Beck's official canon LI is called Marco...
Also, Astrid having an official LI in canon (and Beck too)... what would Oberyn say? Would he ditch Astrid and hook up with Kveldbera? Imagine him setting up a proclamation: SINGLE COASTAL DORNISHMAN WHO LOVES INTENSE EMOTIONS SEEKS FAIR-HAIRED AND FAIR-SKINNED GOOD-LOOKING YOUNG PERSON, PREFERENTLY FEMALE, FROM SCANDINAVIAN COUNTERPART CULTURE (EXCEPT THE NORTH AND IRON ISLANDS OF WESTEROS, OR ARENDELLE, OR THE SOUTHERN ISLES). SAID PERSON MUST NEVER BE TIRESOME.
Cue Kveld storming in and taking Astrid's place (while Oberyn also flirts with Khalan royal/diplomat Rajani Adali). Kveld setting up a Tycho Brahe poster and her telescope. Maybe accompanied by Dornish-accented question: "So you admire Tycho Brahe?" Kveld over the top throwing herself at his arms, dramatic as always. Though the Elia shrine... Astrid at least respected the Elia shrine, knowing that Oberyn had a sister and nephews to brood over... Kveld would at first desecrate it and touch the special objects in the shrine, wondering whether this Elia and the children Rhaenys and Aegon are... (friends? lover and her children? lost spouse and children?) That would lead to a fall-out at the start, with a tirade of insults and threats like a battlefield roar on both sides, followed by some serious lonely brooding (shade of the evening for him and reading astrophysics for her), until they finally reconcile and Oberyn tells Kveld, reluctantly, the whole story (And Kveld, after hearing of this repression, would go psycho, roaring "why don't we do anything about such a tragedy!? Is Tywin Freaking Lannister still alive!? For we should tell that blooming bastard a few things..." She can't stand injustice either, is far more impatient, and cue her Dornish lover telling her that revenge is best served cold). And, hopefully, that he sees Elia in both Ellaria and Rajani. Kveldbera, detachedly, replies: "So you date others? Well, nevermind." And then she would take out the Moët that Astrid forgot in her pretty cabinet, the Moët she has found, and pop the cork as if she were firing a cannon, complete with exclaiming a word of command... Astrid knew at least that champagne was meant for sipping, not for quaffing. Cue Kveld face-flat on the floor, singing some upbeat song while her face is all scarlet.
Definitely, that first day of Kveldberyn would be eventful and a great start for a brand new ship a-sailing since Astrid got paired.
