Graphic Novel Review: Mera Tidebreaker by Danielle Paige | Blog Tour #gifted

Mera: Tidebreaker by Danielle Paige and Stephen Bryne
Genre: Fantasy | Young Adult | Graphic Novel
Length: 192 pages
Published on 2nd April 2019 by DC Ink
Purchase*: Amazon | Wordery | Blackwells
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Danielle Paige: Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Received for free in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis: From Danielle Paige, the New York Times best-selling author of Stealing Snow, comes a Mera and Aquaman origin story that explores Mera’s first steps on land as well as her first steps as a hero or a villain, forcing her to choose to follow her heart or her mission to kill.

Mera is teenage royalty, heir to the throne of Xebel, the other not-so-lost colony under the sea. But Mera is destined to wear a different crown, that of Atlantis. When the inhabitants of Xebel plot to overthrow their homeland of Atlantis, Mera is sent to kill the heir to the throne, Arthur Curry. As the unrest between their colonies grows, Mera and Arthur unexpectedly fall in love…will Arthur Curry be the king at Mera’s side in Atlantis, or will he die under her blade?

Mera by Danielle Paige is an astonishing story that explores themes of duty, love, heroism and freedom, all through the eyes of readers’ favorite undersea royalty.

I spent a lot of time online whilst healing my bones back together so I stumbled across Nina Douglas on Twitter looking to add more bloggers to her list and ya girl felt confident enough to reach out.

Though I am also drowning in books so I only looked at the graphic novels knowing I could do a quick read and review turn around!

I actually don’t pick up or follow DC comics often any more so I’m actually not familiar with Mera all too much but I love mermaids and she’s from the sea so whats not to love?!
I found that Tidebreaker was a really good introduction to Mera and her world, I definitely felt like I had a good understanding of her personality and her as a character with a lot of potential in her future too.

Even in this story alone we get to see her address her own desires for her country future and how she can gain the support of her father with what she wants.

Her father is currently planning to marry her off as a political tactic but she’s not super into this idea yet. She’s also not super happy that her country is under Atlantean rule so she is doing what she can to rebel without drawing too much attention to her father.

It’s upon over-hearing her father and planned husband-to-be plotting to kill the Atlantean prince (Arthur) to cause disruption she realises this is her chance to stand up and do something worthwhile for her people.

Whilst on land she has to adjust to the lack of water and ends up under Arthur’s protection, though its very clear he has no idea who she is or his own legacy.

I really liked her time exploring the land and coming to terms with how much of a contrast life was. Additional love for the gay kiss panel!

I think one of the main reasons I liked her exploration is because she did do things that were wrong, acted in ways humans might not usually, and had to take the time to asses the plot at hand.

Because of this she’s gets the chance to reflect and use her brains to see a different outcome for her kingdom, but also has the internal struggle of keeping her father happy.

I’m glad that the new generation could put aside their families existing hate to try to work together for a better outcome for both of them.

At the heart of Tidebreaker, this is a story of Mera finding her footing in world and her role as princess.

My only gripe with the book is the huge intense focus on insta-love. The story takes places over a few days and thus so did the relationship. It felt rather juvenile. I can’t recall how young Mera is when this takes place so its probably acceptable in some ways but for it to be such a huge plot point kind of took away from the rest of the story from me a little bit.

Needless to say though I still enjoyed this and can’t wait to see what else DC Ink have in store for us and the other DC characters. (There are Catwoman, Raven, and Harley Quinn stories due throughout the year and I’m super excited about all of these even more so as I’m much more familiar with these characters!)

Oh, and lastly, I can’t really end a graphic novel review without mentioning the art!

I actually really loved it and the use of a muted colour palette. It really fit the story and setting – at first I thought the choice was due to the initial setting being underwater but they kept it throughout and it worked super well. A big fan indeed.

I mean honestly, we love a red-head!

This was one of my favourite pages tbh!

Super lastly, thank you so much to Nina and DC Ink for providing this copy and having me along for the book tour! You can follow along with the rest of it below

3.5 stars / 5 stars

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