Customer Reviews

Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We first met 12-year-old Emily in THE TAIL OF EMILY WINDSNAP and learned her secret: she's half-mermaid, half-human. Emily, however, never knew this secret herself until she took swimming lessons. Not only does she discover her fishy genes, she also learns that her father, a merman, didn't abandon her as a baby after all. Instead, he was imprisoned by the angry ruler of the oceans, Neptune, who found out about the illegal love affair between her human mother and merman father. At the end of the book, the family is reunited and sent to live in a secret place where humans and merfolk can live together in harmony.

EMILY WINDSNAP AND THE MONSTER FROM THE DEEP begins as Emily and her family are discovering and exploring their beautiful new home, Allpoints Island. Emily couldn't be happier. At last, she can get to know her father and also not feel like a freak about being half-mermaid. But Emily soon realizes that even at Allpoints Island, she's different. None of the other mermaids are half-human. She longs to fit in with the other kids, and in an effort to impress two mermaid girls, Althea and Marina, Emily convinces her best friend Shona to accompany her on a risky adventure. There's a secret spooky lagoon that none of the other mermaid kids ever went into because "they're not brave enough" and have been "told not to go in there so many times." But Emily and Shona are new to the area, and Emily thinks it's the perfect opportunity to show how brave they are.

When Emily and Shona enter the secret lagoon, they don't realize the trouble they're about to cause. They accidentally wake up the Kraken, a mythical monster that is supposed to sleep for 100 years and only be woken up by Neptune himself. If the Kraken is awoken before this time, it will be [...] and cause much destruction. And that's exactly what happens. Now, the monster is on the loose and it's up to Emily to save Allpoints Island!

Not only is Emily dealing with the typical problems of a 12-year-old, she also must save her family and her new home. The book is told in the alternating voices of the heroine, Emily, and her old Brightport adversary, Mandy Rushton. Mandy's family wins a cruise that ends up in the Kraken's path. The alternating voices sometimes takes away from the flow of the novel, however, and slows down the adventure. Still, EMILY WINDSNAP AND THE MONSTER FROM THE DEEP is a fun-filled middle-grade fantasy that will appeal especially to young girls.

--- Reviewed by Kristi Olson

Emily Windsnap And the monster of the Deep is A great sequel to: The Tail Of Emily Windsnap. It is A great story, loaded with action, and is A real page turner, it is a book that you won't want to put down. Emily reunites with her nemisis Mandy, Of wich mandy's father wants to catch a Mermaid. What happens? Well youll find out when you read this great underwater tale. full of fun, and if i could i'd give it 10 stars.

The second book in Liz Kessler's Emily Windsnap series starts with the Windsnap family happily relocated to Allpoints Island, with its soft white sand beaches, crystal clear water, palm trees - in short an island paradise.

If you're thinking that this all sounds pretty great, you should know that Allpoints Island is located right in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle, and that there are some parts off limits to little half-mermaids for good reason.

As Alfred, Lord Tennyson once said:

"Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth ..."

(Shamelessly quoted by me, not from the original source, "The Kraken" as you would believe, but from the flyleaf of this very book)

Being a girl of insatiable curiosity, Emily decides to explore her new territory, and before you can say "Ooops! She did it again", her exploits get her into enough hot water to really make a Kraken get steamed. Soon she's facing a three part nightmare, involving the aforementioned cranky beastie, a stubborn and bossy trident-wielding Neptune, and a blast from the past whom she thought she was rid of at last.

Better than the first, this one is to be read in one sitting, because you won't want to put it down.

Amanda Richards, August 15, 2007

I have to admit this book is far better than "The Tail of Emily Windsnap"; the first book in the series. If you read my review on the first book you would know how highly I thought of that book, making this a huge success. Again, the author is a master of making everything seem real and believable. Nothing is out of place or overly fantasized. The story sucks you in and won't spit you out until it is over. The book may not have some great moral, but it is entertaining and magical. If you have read the first book this is a sequel you won't wanna miss. If you haven't than it's a necessity that you do, although you have to come back to this one afterwards. It captures your imagination and is part mystery. This novel is filled with suspense and curiosity making unknowns. Not too predictable. Not at all scary. I would recommend this to anyone who likes mystery, fantasy, or adventure novels.

In her second book, Emily Windsnap, half mermaid, half human, has done the unthinkable: she's woken the kraken, King Neptune's personal pet. Emily and her family have just relocated from Brightport to Allpoints Island near the Bermuda Triangle, and Emily's about to start mermaid school when she and her best friend Shona decide to go exploring. They discover a magical lagoon that's off limits to merfolk, and Emily is powerfully drawn to it for some reason. She convinces Shona to explore the forbidden lagoon, and the two get more than they bargain for when they wake the kraken.

The kraken is a sea monster that looks like a giant hairy octopus, and its job is to attract and sink ships for King Neptune so he can collect treasure. It works for a hundred years and sleeps for a hundred years, but if woken before its time, it flies into a murderous rage and defies Neptune's will. Emily and Shona refuse to speak to each other after the incident, and the kraken is unleashed.

The remainder of the novel finds Emily desperately trying to come up with a way to solve the situation without involving Shona or her father. Her powerful guilt and fear of the kraken nearly paralyze her and the situation goes from bad to worse when a former classmate from Brightport shows up.

Aimed at ages 8-12, this is an enjoyable read for fans of mermaids, although the focus is more on the sea monster in this book. There is plenty of action, and deeper musings on friendship and loyalty that add depth to Emily's story. If you're new to the series, you're better off starting with the first book The Tail of Emily Windsnap, as several important characters and backstories are referred to.

I bought this book used.

Emily Windsnap is a mermaid, or rather half-mermaid half human. This is the second book in the series. In the first Emily discovers her mermaid father and convinces Neptune, rule of the sea, to release him from an ocean prison. In this book Emily and her family, including her best friend Shona, move to Allpoints Island, a beautiful, secret, tropical resort for mermaids and humans who know about them.

However in her desire to be liked and impress some new friends Emily accepts a dare to explore a forbidden cavern. In the process Emily and Shona end up waking the kraken, a vicious sea monster that escapes and wreaks havoc on the Bermuda Triangle (where Allpoints Island is located).

This book's strength is the excellent setting and description. Emily's world is vivid, colorful and beautiful, the kind of place any of us would want to live. It's weakness however is in the plot itself and the two main characters, Emily and Mandy (who are enemies in the way only ten year olds can be). Emily continuously makes poor decisions and, at the end, a series of convenient plot devices manages to not only hold her harmless, but also make her the self-sacrificing heroine. Emily leaves readers not with the idea that doing the right thing and facing up to your challenges and consequences gets things done, but running away, hiding, lying and complaining, all while meaning well, gets you attention and praise. Mandy, Emily's enemy, is pointlessly mean, vindictive and angry as well and while some set up is done to explain this the character just goes way too far before choosing to working on her temper.

It's a shame that such major flaws exist in this book because the setting and the unusual heroine held so much promise. Because of these problems this is probably not the best book for parents who want their kids to have literary heroes with morals and grow as people through the story. However if your child adores mermaids this could be an enjoyable book for them.

Emily has a pretty green tail. I liked this book because Emily stopped the kraken. ~Amber, 6

Emily is a mermaid. She swims like a mermaid in the ocean. She wakes up the kraken. I liked the book. ~Leif, 9

Unlike "The Tail of Emily Windsnap", this story was not as predictable. It had a lot more left to the imagination and gave the reader a chance to guess what might happen next. Also, the story goes back and forth between two different points of view. I think this adds a lot to the reading. It makes you want to read the next one!

Great series. Alittle frightening perhaps but because it is dealing with mermaids and make believe too, it is easily handled by a 9-10 year old. My daughter begs to continue reading another chapter.

I ordered this for my 8 year old niece. She loves this series of books. She said it has been one of her favorite books. I highly recommend this for young readers based on my nieces experience.

as another one of the emily windsnap books "mysteriousy" apears on my kindel, i natraly start reading. trust me,you just can't go wrong with emily windsnnap!!!! if you liked the1st book,GET THISBOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!