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A review by laprismaluna
A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow
emotional
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This is a vibrant story about misogynoir--very much one of BLM & ren faires & a version of our world that spins its fantasy right into normal life; not quite urban fantasy, felt much more light & casually mythical. it's not a light read ofc, bc there's a lot of poignant mentions of Black issues that have come to light in recent years. there was this moment with a shirt flipped inside out that i WISHED had been expanded upon as a concept, esp re: performative allyship esp in siren spaces ?? the whole siren-eloko dynamic going on in the book was 10/10. i think what happened was the heavier content in the first half of the book imbalanced the pacing ? as if it spent the first half of the book catching the readers up on protests without offering a cohesive tie-in to the world's mythos.
that being said i wish the worldbuilding had been given the space to expand: i think this story would have absolutely benefited from leaning more into its ideas (a lot of them were dropped in and while i *loved* them i was lost on so much of the mythos--even on how the sisters knew each other, that somehow escaped my notice). i'm not here to talk about what it could have been though, i'm here to review what it Is sdlkf tho !! the worldbuilding was very vaguely tethered together and i seem to have missed the context on past + present history dslfjd (i would have LOVED more on the ren faire, the Whiteness of that space, siren history and those dynamics re: effie's whole plotline in the second half)
i absolutely miss ren faires and their dorky charm and i lived for those moments within this book ! wish i had seen more of it (specifically the plot-related content in the second half !!) but i loved the dynamic between tavia + effie. i was dELIGHTED to see them like goddddd it was so nice having both of their perspectives. the hair care narration !! i was overjoyed !! however i didn't realize it until like 90% in but occasionally i would lose track of who was talking bc dialogue/narration-wise they read like the same person w/ different plots but clearly i didn't notice bc those same perspectives had different things going on within the story
wow i keep thinking about the actual worldbuilding. i was mesmerized by all these concepts and i was like heck yeah !! this was one of those books where i was like "this is such a neat concept" even if the delivery could have dived into it more. such a neat concept, but average delivery bc we were so wrapped up in the mystery when it would have been Such a wild ride if they had just had that reveal halfway through the book and dealt with all those new dynamics
that being said i wish the worldbuilding had been given the space to expand: i think this story would have absolutely benefited from leaning more into its ideas (a lot of them were dropped in and while i *loved* them i was lost on so much of the mythos--even on how the sisters knew each other, that somehow escaped my notice). i'm not here to talk about what it could have been though, i'm here to review what it Is sdlkf tho !! the worldbuilding was very vaguely tethered together and i seem to have missed the context on past + present history dslfjd (i would have LOVED more on the ren faire, the Whiteness of that space, siren history and those dynamics re: effie's whole plotline in the second half)
i absolutely miss ren faires and their dorky charm and i lived for those moments within this book ! wish i had seen more of it (specifically the plot-related content in the second half !!) but i loved the dynamic between tavia + effie. i was dELIGHTED to see them like goddddd it was so nice having both of their perspectives. the hair care narration !! i was overjoyed !! however i didn't realize it until like 90% in but occasionally i would lose track of who was talking bc dialogue/narration-wise they read like the same person w/ different plots but clearly i didn't notice bc those same perspectives had different things going on within the story
wow i keep thinking about the actual worldbuilding. i was mesmerized by all these concepts and i was like heck yeah !! this was one of those books where i was like "this is such a neat concept" even if the delivery could have dived into it more. such a neat concept, but average delivery bc we were so wrapped up in the mystery when it would have been Such a wild ride if they had just had that reveal halfway through the book and dealt with all those new dynamics
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Self harm