Lost Voices by Sarah Porter

Lost Voices
Author: Sarah Porter
Pages: 304
Lost Voices #1
Release Date: July 4th 2011
Published by Harcourt Children's Books
Source: ARC
My Rating: 4.5/5 stars
My Grade: B+

Summary: (From Goodreads)
  Fourteen-year-old Luce has had a tough life, but she reaches the depths of despair when she is assaulted and left on the cliffs outside of a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village. She expects to die when she tumbles into the icy waves below, but instead undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid. A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: the mermaids feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks. Luce possesses an extraordinary singing talent, which makes her important to the tribe—she may even have a shot at becoming their queen. However her struggle to retain her humanity puts her at odds with her new friends. Will Luce be pressured into committing mass murder?
The first book in a trilogy,Lost Voicesis a captivating and wildly original tale about finding a voice, the healing power of friendship, and the strength it takes to forgive.

My Review:
An excellent, excellent book! Lost Voices was such a vivid book and there were so many elements that I enjoyed.

Sarah Porter's writing never failed to impress me, no matter the time and chapter. Lost Voices is absolutely dripping in fabulous and beautiful description......I was always impressed. I was really able to capture the essence and emotion in this novel through the writing.

Luce's story of how she became a mermaid is horrible and dark. As much as this novel is full of beauty, it is also very dark and full of sadness. Each mermaid has a story to tell of how they became mermaids.....they almost had me in tears. It was definitely dark at times, which I think was a good element of this novel, no matter how tragic.

Each character in this book has a back story, a very heartbreaking one, which really shapes their personality in this book. Catarina, Anais, Miriam and many others were all wonderfully entertaining and intriguing individuals.

The only issue I had with this book was that I found it a little hard to get into at the very start. It's one of those tiny things that was probably just me, though.

Overall, Lost Voices is a fantastic read. I am impressed with Sarah Porter's writing talent, and I will definitely read anything else she writes.