Scan barcode
A review by megsbookishtwins
The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
2.0
disclaimer: I received this free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
rep: sapphic genderfluid Black m/c, sapphic Japanese-coded m/c, secondary Black characters
content warnings: multiple mentions of rape, colonization, torture, murder, violence, sexism and homophobia, slavery and human trafficking
Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora becomes Florian in order to earn the respect and protection of the crew. The Dove isn’t just any old pirate ship though, it is also a Slaver that tricks Imperial passengers aboard in order to sell them. Florian owes the Dove their life, it has helped and taught Florian how to survive. When Florian unexpectedly falls for one of the ships unsuspecting passengers, things are set into motion. Florian and Evelyn’s adventure soon leads to freeing mermaids, escaping the ship, fighting a much larger battle, coming in contact with an opportunistic witch, and even coming in contact with the all-encompassing Sea.
I am so conflicted about The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea for many reasons. There were plenty of positives but also plenty of negatives. One main thing I want to point out though is that I thought having the Black character working on a Slaver ship was a bad move, despite the ship only trafficking their colonizers, and while Flora’s role on the ship was a relatively minimal part of the novel, it still did not sit right with me.
The characters were both the positive and negatives of this book. Our main protagonist is genderfluid, happy being referred to as either she/he/them and by either Flora or Florian and I thought they were a really great character. They were a morally grey character and had a really interesting character arc – from orphan to pirate to witch. Evelyn Hasegawa though? I could not care less for her. Evelyn is a Lord’s daughter and she is Imperial. She is being sent off to one of the colonies to marry. There could have been so much potential for this character, and the romance, but my god, her chapters were mind-numbingly boring.
The romance was such a disappointment. I am a real fan of enemies to lovers and this one could have been so good but, and I don’t say this lightly, the insta-love was very strong in this one. Pretty much within the first 50 or so pages, Evelyn decides to teach Florian to read and then they are pretty much in love and it was, unfortunately, extremely underdeveloped that it made it hard to really care or root for the couple.
Now the world-building is probably the strongest element of this novel. The nuanced discussions about colonialism and imperialism, and the consequences of it, were really good. But I think my favourite part was probably the little snippets we got of the Sea – a mother, a protecter, an absolute force to be reckoned with. They were fantastic and I really wish more focus was put on that element. Honestly give me a whole novel that takes place in this world’s sea, please.
Overall, I was super excited for The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea – a sapphic pirate adventure?? Unfortunately though, it was a pretty big letdown.
rep: sapphic genderfluid Black m/c, sapphic Japanese-coded m/c, secondary Black characters
content warnings: multiple mentions of rape, colonization, torture, murder, violence, sexism and homophobia, slavery and human trafficking
Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora becomes Florian in order to earn the respect and protection of the crew. The Dove isn’t just any old pirate ship though, it is also a Slaver that tricks Imperial passengers aboard in order to sell them. Florian owes the Dove their life, it has helped and taught Florian how to survive. When Florian unexpectedly falls for one of the ships unsuspecting passengers, things are set into motion. Florian and Evelyn’s adventure soon leads to freeing mermaids, escaping the ship, fighting a much larger battle, coming in contact with an opportunistic witch, and even coming in contact with the all-encompassing Sea.
I am so conflicted about The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea for many reasons. There were plenty of positives but also plenty of negatives. One main thing I want to point out though is that I thought having the Black character working on a Slaver ship was a bad move, despite the ship only trafficking their colonizers, and while Flora’s role on the ship was a relatively minimal part of the novel, it still did not sit right with me.
The characters were both the positive and negatives of this book. Our main protagonist is genderfluid, happy being referred to as either she/he/them and by either Flora or Florian and I thought they were a really great character. They were a morally grey character and had a really interesting character arc – from orphan to pirate to witch. Evelyn Hasegawa though? I could not care less for her. Evelyn is a Lord’s daughter and she is Imperial. She is being sent off to one of the colonies to marry. There could have been so much potential for this character, and the romance, but my god, her chapters were mind-numbingly boring.
The romance was such a disappointment. I am a real fan of enemies to lovers and this one could have been so good but, and I don’t say this lightly, the insta-love was very strong in this one. Pretty much within the first 50 or so pages, Evelyn decides to teach Florian to read and then they are pretty much in love and it was, unfortunately, extremely underdeveloped that it made it hard to really care or root for the couple.
Now the world-building is probably the strongest element of this novel. The nuanced discussions about colonialism and imperialism, and the consequences of it, were really good. But I think my favourite part was probably the little snippets we got of the Sea – a mother, a protecter, an absolute force to be reckoned with. They were fantastic and I really wish more focus was put on that element. Honestly give me a whole novel that takes place in this world’s sea, please.
Overall, I was super excited for The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea – a sapphic pirate adventure?? Unfortunately though, it was a pretty big letdown.