The sea, pirates and freedom, this is what Maylie dreamed of all her life. Restricted by the rules of her religion and society, she hopes to escape them at least a little by marrying. But all plans are put to an end when her family's secret is revealed to the whole city. Humiliated and deprived of her possibilities, Maylie breaks away from home to find a man who can fulfill her dreams and who knows nothing about her family's secret. However, that there are more dangerous things behind the events than she can imagine, leads to a journey in which she must face her own weaknesses in order to survive.
"The Lighning Bride" was a fun read in a world full of magic and mermaids. The author has created an interesting world as a basis that can produce many adventures. Maylie is a flawed main character who is still growing and could be a little annoying for me, especially in the first half of the book. But that also makes her human and with what comes up against her and her family, many would probably have fallen into the trap of making ill-considered decisions.
I liked the general mood of the story, the descriptions of the magic and the history of the world. After a very strong start, I had to push myself a little to keep reading, as it felt like a lot back and forth. Characters weren't given very much time to develop as this was pushed aside by action. This also made the story feel like it was fast forward. But after halfway through there was more space for the story and characters to develop more slowly. At that point the book drew me deep into the world. I wasn't entirely happy with the end, but it sets a good stage for the second part.
Personally, I believe that the story would have been less predictable at the beginning if I had known less about the opponent's plans (or hadn't known he even existed). But it was the interest in the supporting characters that encouraged me to read on.
It is a solid first book in the series, which makes you want to get to know this world more and makes you excited about where the characters' journey will lead. I especially liked the weaving of the mermaids and the magic into the story and I'm excited to see what the author has planned with it. Therefore I can recommend the book to all fans of fantasy, mermaids and pirates.
3 Stars
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