I didn't like this one as well as the wizard and pirate ones I just read. Mermaids like to make themselves look beautiful and throw parties. And, um, well, that's it. The book is quite repetitive. And when the author ran out of things to say, she tossed in a bit about sailors and sea monsters.

Some of the things she made up had me going 'what?' Mermaids surf the Net and use shell phones. Yea, that's got a long history in folklore, that does.

It's also very gendered. Mermen get a brief mention, as nearly an entire species unto their own. While the mermaids want to look beautiful, the mermen look fierce and thrust tridents at pirates to scare them off.

Mermaid babies are born out of eggs. (Don't ask me how they get fertilized. Maybe all that trident thrusting has something to do with it.) And then they're nursemaided by seahorses. (No mention of what gender those seahorses are.)

So, yea, this was a very weak book. And disappointing compared to the other books.