betweentheshelves's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Finally picked this one up since the companion just came out! It's been on my to-read list for a while, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. If you want pirate sapphic fantasy, this is definitely the book for you! It has a little bit of everything you could want in a sea fantasy book: magic, mermaids, sea fighting, epic ships. Plus a little bit of romance.
The world-building was so interesting, with a lot of small details adding to this world Tokuda-Hall has created. And the characters were just as well-developed. I appreciated the way that this book also focused on figuring out your identity and finding your way in the world. While the pacing felt off a couple of times, for the most part, I didn't particularly mind. I was hooked until the end and can't wait to see what the next book brings!
The world-building was so interesting, with a lot of small details adding to this world Tokuda-Hall has created. And the characters were just as well-developed. I appreciated the way that this book also focused on figuring out your identity and finding your way in the world. While the pacing felt off a couple of times, for the most part, I didn't particularly mind. I was hooked until the end and can't wait to see what the next book brings!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Alcoholism, Rape, and Slavery
Minor: Sexual assault and Homophobia
kananineko's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
There were a lot of things I liked about this book, including the short chapters, focus on pirates and mermaids, the sea as a character, and the way the worldbuilding was developed. Overall, I enjoyed reading it. But ultimately, I don’t think it was super memorable, and I didn’t really care about the characters, unfortunately. For some reason the only character I really cared about was Rake. Honestly, couldn’t really tell you why. The romance was cute, yet a bit rushed. Everything in general felt a bit simplified and not super memorable to me.
I still think a lot of people will love this book, though. If the description sounds interesting to you, go for it!
I still think a lot of people will love this book, though. If the description sounds interesting to you, go for it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Gore, Violence, Murder, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Torture, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Homophobia, Classism, Trafficking, Mass/school shootings, Slavery, and Abandonment
Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Outing, Sexual assault, Child death, and Rape
niftynaturalist's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
If you are a fan of pirate tales then this is for you! This book was much darker than I expected, but a thrilling read nonetheless. A complex story that moves between many POVs and ties quite a few plot threads together, The Mermaid, The Witch, and the Sea primarily follows bi-gender pirate Flora/Florian and high-born lesbian Evelyn’s fight for survival, self-discovery, and freedom in a cruel Imperial world.m (and their attempt to free a captured mermaid). Each character is complex and flawed, and their relationships are as messy as they are - it made them believable and at times infuriating at the same time.
There were a few plot elements that I felt could have been explored more deeply to round out the novel, but it is still a cohesive read and one that I greatly enjoyed. A word of caution: not all of the relationships in this story have happy endings, and it covers some very tough themes, so I’d advise anyone who is interested to pay close attention to the trigger warnings!
There were a few plot elements that I felt could have been explored more deeply to round out the novel, but it is still a cohesive read and one that I greatly enjoyed. A word of caution: not all of the relationships in this story have happy endings, and it covers some very tough themes, so I’d advise anyone who is interested to pay close attention to the trigger warnings!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Alcoholism, Blood, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Slavery and Rape
Minor: Homophobia
One of the characters was raped as a child; this is not graphically described but there are descriptions of screams, etc. heard by others outside of the room and it is mentioned multiple times.evelynyle_88's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Rape, and Slavery
Minor: Sexual assault and Homophobia
discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I really enjoyed this!
One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to YA fantasy in particular, is when I can tell that an author is patronizing or talking down to their reader. I think sometimes the distinction between “accessible” and “clumsily over-simplified” can get muddy.
I notice it in particular when I read an author who’s known for their adult books, but who writes YA every now and then. The writing in the YA book will be so obviously adjusted to what, presumably, the author believes will be more “palatable” to a younger audience. I don’t think that’s always being fair to young readers. There’s obviously nuance here, but I think it can seem to communicate a lack of faith in their ability to understand complexity, dark themes, or challenging language.
This book was a pleasant surprise in that regard. I didn’t feel condescended to as I read, but it was still distinctly easy to read. The narrative flowed smoothly and kept my attention. The characters were easy to care about (I appreciated the expanded points of view as the story went on), and the plot didn’t shy away from dark or heavy material (like the impacts of colonialism, the ethics of survival at all costs, etc).
I also loved that the magic system in this book takes the shape of stories and storytelling; I thought that was really beautiful and unique.
There’s quite a few loose threads left dangling at the end of this book, which I hope get picked up in the forthcoming sequel!
One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to YA fantasy in particular, is when I can tell that an author is patronizing or talking down to their reader. I think sometimes the distinction between “accessible” and “clumsily over-simplified” can get muddy.
I notice it in particular when I read an author who’s known for their adult books, but who writes YA every now and then. The writing in the YA book will be so obviously adjusted to what, presumably, the author believes will be more “palatable” to a younger audience. I don’t think that’s always being fair to young readers. There’s obviously nuance here, but I think it can seem to communicate a lack of faith in their ability to understand complexity, dark themes, or challenging language.
This book was a pleasant surprise in that regard. I didn’t feel condescended to as I read, but it was still distinctly easy to read. The narrative flowed smoothly and kept my attention. The characters were easy to care about (I appreciated the expanded points of view as the story went on), and the plot didn’t shy away from dark or heavy material (like the impacts of colonialism, the ethics of survival at all costs, etc).
I also loved that the magic system in this book takes the shape of stories and storytelling; I thought that was really beautiful and unique.
There’s quite a few loose threads left dangling at the end of this book, which I hope get picked up in the forthcoming sequel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Death, Colonisation, Child death, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Murder and Gun violence
Minor: Homophobia, Torture, Vomit, Gore, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Death of parent
kibberbl's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Torture, Death, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Drug use, Gore, Murder, and Trafficking
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Rape
Minor: Homophobia
thesupermassive's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Is this book fantastic? nah. but it does have actually nasty pirates and a bigender main character and secret badass gay people so it’s absolutely worth the read. I also think it could have a better title, which is not usually an opinion I find myself with.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Gun violence, Slavery, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia
sundayfever's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Fantastic read, dark but with a bittersweet ending. Great plot twists along the way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Abandonment, Kidnapping, and Rape
Minor: Homophobia
maeverose's review against another edition
2.5
I think this might be one of those books that just didn’t work for me because I’m not within the target age demographic. I did love the casual non binary and queer rep, even if there is still homophobia (and a sh*t ton of misogyny) in this world. But tbh that’s really it.
I didn’t feel connected or invested in the romance between Evelyn and Flora at all personally. It seemed like their only reason for liking each other was they found the other pretty, and I definitely didn’t buy their love for each other by the end. . I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. Evelyn the most maybe, but not until about two thirds in, and even then not much. All the characters felt pretty bland to me, they needed to be fleshed out better.
Spoiler
It also made me uncomfortable with how okay Flora was with the slaving until she found one of their victims pretty…I found it a bit slow, especially in the middle. Even though there were more povs with different (though still connected) storylines, I found none of them particularly interesting so it felt like it dragged on. Which is weird because it really was trying to do a lot, there were a ton of things happening but it just felt slow to me. Maybe because I didn’t care? I heavily skimmed the last 20%.
This book gets dark at times, almost gratuitously. It’s not extreme I wouldn’t say, it’s still appropriate for upper YA, maybe 14 and up, if they’re okay with reading about death of children, gore and threat of rape (non explicit for that last one but still). To be fair I watched horror movies much more gruesome than this when I was 11, so it really depends on the person.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Gore, Child death, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Excrement, Lesbophobia, and Vomit
Minor: Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual content, Cursing, and Eating disorder
Waterboarding, poisoning.cecinamo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I love this book! It is incredibly diverse and has really good sapphic, gender-fluid and non-binary rep. It is written absolutely beautifully! Reading it was such an amazing experience. The characters, the world building, the words, everything just fit and was so beautiful. It was so mythical and magical, the author just transports you straight into this amazing and beautiful world. I was invested the whole time, the story never felt dragged out or disconnected. The ending was so sljdlslskslsj T^T. I would 100% recommend this book. Already in the first chapter I knew it would become one of my favorites! 💕🌊🪼
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Blood, Classism, Drug abuse, Racism, Grief, Homophobia, Sexism, Addiction, Confinement, Death of parent, Violence, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Torture, Misogyny, and Murder
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault
Minor: Child abuse and Child death