Here at YA Mag, we love sticking with favorite authors from the very beginning, and we are so excited to see a series through to the end! Zoraida Cordova plunged into the depths of aquatic fantasy storytelling with The Vicious Deep, a tale of royal scandal and intrigue 20 fathoms below, featuring a beautiful lifeguard-merman named Tristan. We interviewed Zoraida about the release as one of our first features on this site, and she shared with us her inspirations, love of Disney, and her long-held fascination with the ocean.

Now, after the release of second installment The Savage Blue (in which we saw some incredible underwater battles—as well as lives lost and gained), we are thrilled to see the close of the mer-trilogy, The Vast and Brutal Sea, hit bookshelves! Here, Tristan has to figure out how to move forward after the ultimate betrayal, but the clock is ticking with Nieve the sea-witch keeping his love Layla captive.

As far as YA mer-fiction goes, nothing beats The Vicious Deep! Make sure to pick up the books if you haven’t yet had a chance to read, and tweet us what you think @YAMzine!