Cyberpunkgirl recommended Anne Ursu’s Greek-mythology-inspired middle-grade books, after I gave a tepid review of a Percy Jackson book. Not too long afterwards, I found myself at the bookstore, remembered Ursu’s name, and looked her up. Sure enough, they had all the Cronus Chronicles except for the first one. (Why do bookstores do this?) So I got #2, The Siren Song.

I really enjoyed it. While clever and funny, it is somehow more sweet and sincere than the Percy Jackson books. Charlotte is very believable as a spunky, stubborn, impulsive 13-year-old girl. I also liked that it is written in the third person limited (usually from Charlotte’s perspective but occasionally from the perspective of one of the villains, or of her cousin Zee), and in the past tense. Books written in the first person, especially in the present tense, are the bane of my existence most of the time.

In this book, Charlotte tangles with Poseidon. He is extremely self-involved (as we would expect of a god), and has images of himself all over his magical yacht, from mosaics to murals to his face on furniture and light fixtures. Which reminded me of something …

Ahem. Anyway.

My favorite character had to be Sir Lawrence Gaumm, a true English gentleman, and no, I won’t tell you what species he was, but he was delightful.