Review: Lost Voices

Author: Sarah Porter
Pages: 291
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Source: Library
Challenge: Ultimate Reviewer's Challenge
Synopsis: Fourteen-year-old Luce has had a tough life, but she reaches the depths of despair when she is assaulted and left on the cliffs outside of a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village. She expects to die when she tumbles into the icy waves below, but instead undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid. A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: the mermaids feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks. Luce possesses an extraordinary singing talent, which makes her important to the tribe—she may even have a shot at becoming their queen. However her struggle to retain her humanity puts her at odds with her new friends. Will Luce be pressured into committing mass murder? The first book in a trilogy, Lost Voices is a captivating and wildly original tale about finding a voice, the healing power of friendship, and the strength it takes to forgive.


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Lost Voices was an unforgettable story of lost, hurt girls. It was unlike any other YA novel I've read this year.

What happens to the poor girls that are broken and have no where to go? They become mermaids that take revenge on humanity by drowning ships. Their beautiful voices lure people to their deaths.

Luce is one of these girls. After her uncle crossed the line she becomes a mermaid with an incredibly powerful voice. Luce is different though. She doesn't feel good about killing humans, even if it would be easier if she did. I really liked Luce. She was relatable and true. She has such compassion and does what's right. Luce, while a bit timid at the moment, is the kind of character I have no doubt will become incredibly strong and wise when she reaches her full potential.

Honestly, I'm not sure what else to say in my review. I want to convey the feeling of struggling morally like Luce did. The plot wasn't exactly fast paced, it was more subtle than that. It sort of lulled you into peace before major events happened making you question the future. The world was addictive full of darkness, anger, loss, but with small, tiny glimmers of hope and redemption. I was thinking a lot about morality while reading Lost Voices.

There were also no romantic interest, which I thought was nice. I love romance, but I noticed when I kept looking for possible matches for Luce while reading Lost Voices that romance wasn't always needed in YA. There may be romance in the future, but it was refreshing to read a book in which friendship prevailed.

I've seen many reviews where readers were put off by the content. It's very dark, dangerous, and a bit twisted. What I liked was that there wasn't an obvious tone of hope. The world has so much darkness and every story doesn't have a happy ending. Lost Voices isn't a very happy book. There is suffering and again, awful stuff happens. If you can deal with that, and the fact that the mermaids aren't Disney-like, I think you'll like this book.

The part I didn't really enjoy can be summed up to one word: Anais. I hate her, I hate reading about her, I hate how the other mermaids act around her. I'd be happy for her to die (since she's in a book, I'm not that hateful toward real people). She's an empty character and I'm still wondering why she's there. Her part in the story is the only part that really disappointed me.

Lost Voices is very different. It didn't feel overdone in any sense. I liked reading it and I think it was definitely one of the better mermaid/siren books. 3.5 stars,

*** & 1/2 *