Guest Post by Zoraida Córdova: ON SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

I really love big casts. I love it when there isn’t just one hero. This makes sense since my favorite show is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I think it’s important to give a hero a good support system. I picked three of my favorite supporting characters from The Vicious Deep Trilogy.

Marty McKay: Marty is a character that transitions through all of my books. He’s an all around peace keeper and messanger for a society called The Thorne Hill Alliance. The Alliance is consisted of the magical creatures in the tri-state area. When Marty joins up with Tristan, he’s not supposed to be as involved as he gets. His involvement doesn’t start until there is a new king. But he’s very much still young (relatively for supernatural types), and he loves some merman tail, and of course wants to protect Coney Island, he stands behind Tristan.

AND HE NEVER TAKES OFF HIS CAP.

Penny: Penny is one of my favorites because she’s a normal young mom. She’s got a kid who is a genetic freak (he has a real turtle shell on his back) and she herself has fingers that can shift into tentacles. She is one of the Landlocked of the Sea Court. Her mother was banished to shore and gave Penny up for adoption. It wasn’t till she was in her teens that she realized where she came from, and found the support of other Landlocked in Brooklyn. She’s a baker and waitress at a cupcake shop, but when it comes time to defend her home, she gets right in it. She has one of my favorite scenes in The Savage Blue. In The Vast & Brutal Sea, her loyalty to Tristan still remains. 

(When I saw this image on Tumblr, THIS IS HOW I PICTURE HER HANDS. ONLY HER HANDS. Penny has hair and a tan.)

Arion: Arion is a merman who is magically bound as the masthead, and Captain, of a ship. His job as long as there is a king, is to carry out his father’s punishment. His father was a traitor and rebel who aligned himself with the Silver Mermaid during her first attempt to steal the throne. Despite Arion’s fierce loyalty to the throne, he was forced to carry out his father’s sentence. It’s part of the Sea Court’s traditions that makes Tristan extremely uncomfortable, as it should. Arion was a dragon slayer during the war with the dragons, and his reward became a punishment instead. Arion is one of my favorite because he’s named after one of my best friends from high school. When I write his dialogue, I can hear his baritone voice. In The Vast & Brutal Sea, I had to cut some of his backstory for pacing, but hopefully I’ll write his a short story one day.

Want to know more about other characters in the books? Shoot me an e-mail at zoraidawrites@gmail.com, or ask in the comments! Catch up on other blog tour stops at www.zoraidacordova.com

Review: The Savage Blue

Book two of The Vicious Deep
By Zoraida Córdova
Available now from Sourcebooks Fire
Review copy
Read my review of THE VICIOUS DEEP

Last year was the year of the mermaid books, and THE VICIOUS DEEP was my favorite.  THE SAVAGE BLUE lives up to its predecessor and then some.  Tristan is one of several contestants for the throne of the Sea King.  He's in the lead, with one of three pieces of the trident, but that's far from enough to win the crown.

However, Tristan's fellow competitors aren't his main antagonists.  In fact, they tend to be pretty alright guys.  Tristan, by the end of THE SAVAGE BLUE, still strikes me as the best choice for king, but his opponents aren't mustache twirling villains.  Perhaps the worst thing Tristan faces are secrets.  The merfolk are excellent at keeping secrets and many of them are coming home to roost.  (Down to the fact that if Tristan had known he was half merman he might be better prepared for a deadly competition for the crown.)  Then there's Nieve, the leader of the merrows, who makes it clear she has designs for Tristan.  Deliciously creepy designs.

I love the relationships in THE SAVAGE BLUE.  Tristan's relationship with his parents is strained by his quest, but they're still present in his life.  He's growing ever closer with his entourage and Layla, his best-friend-almost-girlfriend.  The book could've used even more Layla, but maybe that's just me.  But as people grow together, they can also grow apart.  I am very curious as to how Zoraida Córdova will play everything out in the final novel, THE VAST AND BRUTAL SEA.  (I suspect one of those adjectives will disappear between now and publication in summer 2014.)

Honestly, THE SAVAGE BLUE combines so many things I love.  Quest narratives, politics, alluring villains, friends who become family, dragons . . . how could I not like this book?  Sourcebooks invited me to be a part of the blog tour, and I really regret that I was moving and couldn't take part.  Because I love this book and this series.

If you're skeptical about mermaid books, pick up THE VICIOUS DEEP and THE SAVAGE BLUE.  If you're already a fan, you should definitely be reading these.  They're dark and funny and romantic and just the absolute best.