Thank you to Candlewick Press via Netgalley for sharing an ARC in exchange for my honest review!
Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. For Flora, former starving urchin, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don’t trust, don’t stick out, and don’t feel. But on this voyage, as the pirates prepare to sell their unsuspecting passengers into slavery, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is en route to a dreaded arranged marriage with her own casket in tow. Flora doesn’t expect to be taken under Evelyn’s wing, and Evelyn doesn’t expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian. Soon the unlikely pair set in motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood, which causes men to have visions and lose memories) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, and the all-encompassing Sea itself. Queer pirate story??? YES PLEASE! The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea has been one of my highly anticipated reads for a while now, and is on my list of 2020’s hottest queer YA as well. This magical tale of adventure on the high seas is not one to be missed. Without further ado, let’s jump into the review! While reading this book, I found myself breaking it down into three parts: writing, plot, and character, so I’m going to review like that as well. Writing: Tokuda-Hall has great prose, that’s for sure. The chapters each generally follow the perspective of one character, but my favorite parts were the short passages written about the Sea. The power and beauty encompassed in those paragraphs certainly impacted my experience of the novel and the world within. The flow was perfect as well—I appreciated the relativelyy fast pacing; it was both appropriate for the fantasy setting and also exactly what I needed right now. It is also clear that this book has cutting commentary on misogyny and the effects of colonialism and imperialism. I did appreciate this and the role it had within the context of the story. Would 10/10 read another book in this style. Plot: It was a fairly standard, quickly-paced fantasy read, which I appreciated, but some things were predictable. I genuinely wish we could have spent more time with the magic—partway through, the “Witch” piece of the title makes a stunning appearance and I was so fascinated! I wanted to see a thousand more spells and really get a full understanding of this part of the world, but unfortunately it’s only used a couple more times. I also wasn’t a fan of the insta-love. It was sort of… “Lady teaches sailor to read… BAM they’re in love” which I just found jarring. I was able to keep reading though, and Evelyn and Flora do go on some fantastic adventures. There are definitely interesting side-plots, and the twists kept me on my toes! I’m a big fan of stories set at sea, so I loved the various pirate adventures and I think I learned some new things about boating along the way. Character: This is where I had the most issues. I liked Flora—her arc was really well-written and I enjoyed getting a glimpse of her life. She was by far my favorite character and I think she had the most interesting position in the story. However, I didn’t feel very much empathy for Evelyn, especially given how she treats everyone around her. She doesn’t seem to care very much for anyone—even Keiko, her maid with whom she is purportedly in love is tossed aside without a second thought when Evelyn has to leave at the beginning of the story. This really didn’t win her any points with me. Aside from Flora, I felt generally apathetic towards the entire cast. Creating compelling fantasy characters is difficult, but I think part of it needs to be *not* deliberately emphasizing the negative traits of every single person. That just made it harder for readers, I think. Regardless, I would encourage you to give The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea a try! It’s an entertaining novel and a quick read for anyone looking towards fantasy for a distraction. 3/5 stars.
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The BaronessHey, I'm Shreya! I love to read, write, travel, and drink tea. Disclosure: I am an affiliate of bookshop.org and I will earn a small commission if you click the above link and make a purchase.
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