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Book Review: Lorali by Laura Dockrill

Home UncategorizedBook Review: Lorali by Laura Dockrill

Book Review: Lorali by Laura Dockrill

July 11, 2015 Posted by angelreads Uncategorized 6 Comments

LoraliLorali by Laura Dockrill

Pages: 352
Publish date: July 2nd 2015
Publisher: The Five Mile Press (Hot Key Books)
ISBN: 9781471404221
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Looking after a naked girl he found washed up under Hastings pier isn’t exactly how Rory had imagined spending his sixteenth birthday. But more surprising than finding her in the first place is discovering where she has come from.

Lorali is running not just from the sea, not just from her position as princess, but her entire destiny. Lorali has rejected life as a mermaid, and become human.

But along with Lorali’s arrival, and the freak weather suddenly battering the coast, more strange visitors begin appearing in Rory’s bemused Sussex town. With beautifully coiffed hair, sharp-collared shirts and a pirate ship shaped like a Tudor house, the Abelgare boys are a mystery all of their own. What are they really up to? Can Rory protect Lorali? And who from? And where does she really belong, anyway?

Lorali:

I received Lorali by Laura Dockrill from The Five Mile Press (Hot Key Books) in exchanged for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts on the book.

As soon as I read the synopsis for Lorali, I knew I needed it in my hands so I could read it. Firstly the cover is stunning, not only does it look beautiful. but it feels so cool. The front has scales like fish do, or like a mermaid’s tale and you can feel them.

Lorali jumps through 3 points of view; Rory the male protagonist and who the novel follows, Lorali; the mermaid that washes ashore and ‘The Sea.’

It was easy to distinguish between the different points of view. Rory had a very man like even boy like attitude in the way that he spoke and referred to things. I actually really enjoyed Rory as a Protagonist. It’s rare that I read a book with a male protagonist and I find them 1. Hard to connect to and 2. There isn’t too much of it. Rory is kind of the loner in a sense – he has friends, yes. But I got the vibe that he likes to be alone and that people just don’t get him.
Pretty early on in the book, the reader is able to see that Rory family is pretty dysfunctional. His father has left and too Rory, he is dead to him, but this took a toll on Rory’s mum and she isn’t what Rory needs.

Lorali’s point of view is interesting. All her sentences are short and don’t always make sense. But I think that added to her character. Lorali acted like a little girl and in a sense she was. She didn’t really know all too much about the land and ‘walkers,’ so she was new to everything. She acted like a 3 year old and it was so cute. She was excited about so many different things that a normal 16/17 year old wouldn’t get excited about. It was so adorable and I love the way that Rory acted about it as well; yes it thought it was so wired before he knew what she was, but after…oh it made my heart flutter.

‘The Sea’ was an interesting point of view. I haven’t read too many things when an author personifies something and I think that Laura Dockrill, did it perfectly. It was humanized in a way that if the chapters of Lorali didn’t have ‘The Sea’ at the top, you would have thought it was human.

‘The Sea’ followed a different people and it also gave the reader some back story on things and people that were brought up through the book.

One of the groups of people that the sea followed were aboard the Liberty Ship, the Ablegares boys, who are pirates. Otto, Oksa and Jasper are quite entertaining characters and I really enjoyed following their story. They shared such an awesome bond it was fun to read, but then they could be harsh and mean.

‘The Sea’ also follows Orla a mermaid whose job is to keep an eye on the walkers, again she was a really interesting character, which kind of disappointed me in the end.

Although I loved the plot, the characters and all the twists and turns. I didn’t fall in love with the writing style. I am not a massive fan of lots of short sentences, I felt that when the book was in Lorali’s point of view it made sense, but not when it was in others. I also felt the ending lacked – I was just really confused by the ending. I don’t know if that was just me and I missed something.

Overall, I really enjoyed Lorali. It was a fun, exciting read, that had me turning page after page. It was fast paced and exciting. I also loved that Laura Dockrill put newspaper/internet and other forms of media pieces in the book about things that occurred it added something different to an already unique book. There is so much more that I could go on about, but I won’t. If you like fantasy/paranormal, romance anything really, I think that you would enjoy Lorali.

Rating

 

 

 

 

Have you read Lorali yet? Did you like it? Are you plannign on reading it?

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  • Melanie (YA Midnight Reads)
    · Reply

    July 12, 2015 at 12:09 AM

    I definitely want to read this book now after reading yours and some other people’s reviews! It sounds like such a wonderful fantasy and I need a good fantasy in my life (the ones I’ve read recently have been extremely MEH)

    Nice review, Angel <33

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    • angelreads
      · Reply

      Author
      August 5, 2015 at 5:24 PM

      I think you sound, it’s not perfect but it’s a really good read.

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  • Emily @ Loony Literate
    · Reply

    July 12, 2015 at 10:51 PM

    I can’t WAIT to read this. And I love the idea of “The Sea” as a point of view! That’s so cool. First review I’ve read that’s mentioned that, actually (which is strange – you’d think it would be a big thing). Maybe I should use that in my own writing…

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    • angelreads
      · Reply

      Author
      August 5, 2015 at 5:25 PM

      That is really strange. I loved reading in the pov of the sea, it’s was really intersting.

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  • Kelly
    · Reply

    July 19, 2015 at 5:20 PM

    I finished this one last week too Angel and while I didn’t love it, the second half I really enjoyed. It started off as another teen mermaid book, which sadly I haven’t read one I’ve enjoyed, until now. I liked the characters, and wanted to know more about the pirate brothers, rather than seeing them through the eyes of ‘the sea’. The second half was much, much better wasn’t it. I love that darker and more sinister storyline, but the media fawning over their ‘spokesperson’ didn’t add anything to the storyline at all. Glad you were able to enjoy it for the most part too, it’s definitely one of the better mermaid YA books I’ve read. Lovely review poppet <3

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    • angelreads
      · Reply

      Author
      August 5, 2015 at 5:27 PM

      yes!! The first half; i think was a way of setting up the book, the hisotry etc. yes I wanted to know more abotu the brothers, i really loved them!
      yes!! it was dark and awesome.
      Thank you love

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