I'd give this book three stars BUT someone who is too lazy to come up with proper names for her characters can't be taken very seriously. Just guess what color the tails of the mermen Blu, Verde and Grigio have! I really love mermaids and Disney and Disney mermaids especially, but Donnelly didn't do justice to the info and sketches Disney provided her with. Bonus points for the missing YA-romance, the broad diversity among the merls and the really cute underwater world. And yes, GIRLPOWER. Our band of sisters are going to take on the baddest baddie in the oceans! The disappointing stuff: I didn't like the childish writing. That's def. not a YA-book, but good enough to read to your 5yo as a good-night story. And OH, ALL THOSE PUNS! (money is called currensea) The info-dumps are even worse and it doesn't stop after the first chapters. Too many unexplained names, events etc. So I skipped the mer-slang and didn't miss anything. The political drama is background-noise as well and can be ignored. It's good enough to skim over it without missing much. I'll pick up the second book at some point.