This book gave me everything I needed and wanted and even more. Yes, I'd been wanting to read about sirens, who doesn't? (honestly) But this book gave me more. It's about misogynoir (!!!!!) the way it handled current issues such as sexism and racism was so well done!

Some of the best #blackgirlmagic - well, more like #blackgirlmythos - I've ever read. Morrow takes you on a journey through Portland reimagined with mythological beings and events. Tavia and Effie have to navigate not only the trickiness of high school but also their own awakening into who they are meant to be within their world. The connection between sirens and the treatment of specifically Black women is painfully beautiful. It's direct without being aggressive, and it sends a necessary message to all readers, regardless of race. As a teacher of primarily white students, I am always eager to find strong writing with Black characters - not only to put on my bookshelves for my students of color but also to use to educate my white students on realities and ideas they may not be aware of or subjected to. I feature 10 books at the beginning of the school year, and this will - without a doubt - be one of them. Morrow develops her characters with a unique voice and style. Even though they're "sisters", they are uniquely unforgettable. This is a gorgeous read from start to finish.

This is an amazing book--I only wished I could connect with the characters more.

When I first saw this ARC on Netgalley, I was so excited to get into it: black characters taking the centre stage, sirens, and fighting back against the hegemonic views of society. However, this book missed the mark for me due to shallow characters and difficulty connecting with them.

This is an amazing urban fantasy where Morrow has used creatures and beings of mythos while creatively making them her own. The magical beings are used to not replace or metaphor the social injustices, but, to highlight them even more.

Sirens are always black girls, but not all black girls are sirens, they are profiled, and they are not seen as victims. It starts with the death of Rhoda Taylor, a black woman who was killed by her boyfriend, but then rumours swirl, was she a siren? Suddenly her death seems...acceptable, her boyfriend is even seen as the victim and sirens are under even more scrutiny.

Morrow seriously blew this out of the water, the girls are sisters in every way that matters, their families try to protect them with the fear that only parents who face the brutal realities of losing their children due to simply who they are [whether color of skin or for being a siren or magical being].

I would highly recommend this book to any urban fantasy fan who is ready to have a more creative look at sirens. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really wanted to like this book.
Unfortunately, I DNFed it at 27%, around the 6th chapter.
And I feel so guilty that I gave this book 2 stars.

Why did I DNF this book?
Well, I was so confused. I had no idea about what was going on, and I has no connection to the characters. Tavia and Effie were quite shallow, I didn’t feel anything for them at all which made me reluctant about whether I should bore myself with the rest of the book or just let my impatience take over. I made the decision to close this book, and DNFs usually make me really guilty. I really really wanted to like this book. Honestly! But there was no connection, there was no plot progression after a quarter of the book and I was confused about the author’s terminology.

What I liked about this book
1) Pointing out problems in the society Well, there was something I liked, though I felt like the author was trying to tackled TOO MANY PROBLEMS in one tiny book. The theme of this story is obviously trying to point out racism and discrimination of sirens and people of color. I appreciate her effort to do that, but I guess the story didn’t lure me in.

Disappointments

1) Character voice The character voice between Tavia and Effie, the two narrators, is indistinguishable. They sound exactly the same, and there was no connection to the characters. Why? The author TELLS the character’s emotions instead of SHOWING them. For example, Tavia says ‘I’m terrified.’ It feels shallow. I had no connection to them, and...I’m sorry. Again, I wanted to like this so much.
2) Terminology The author talks about sprites, gargoyles and ekolos. I had to google what they were (except for gargoyles) but the author had her own spin to these creatures. I am not condemning the fact that the author chose to have a unique spin on these creatures, but there was a very vague explanation that did not paint a picture for me.
3) High-school problems are not my type I guess this is more of an opinion than disappointment, but I am not so interested in high-school and IB things. Scenes about those felt shallow and had me skimming past them quickly.

Conclusion
Would I recommend this book? I would only recommend it if I can reread it when I am in a better state of mind.
Why did I pick this book up? I saw this GORGEOUS cover on NetGalley, read the captivating description, and the point where I click ‘request’ was when I saw it was set in Portland, Oregon.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review

This book was so much fun to read! It combined so many things I love to read about; strong women, sibling relationships, fantasy with a sprinkling of mythology, found families and highschool drama.

A Song Below Water is a fantasy story that talks about real-life inequalities such as racism, sexism and the intersections of the two. This book discusses these struggles in a way that is raw but as we are looking through the lens of the two powerful young Black women protagonists we are filled with their hope and their drives to not give up. As some of the themes discussed are dark the book could easily feel sad or heavy-handed, but it doesn't at all! The book is so much fun and filled with such love and joy between the two sisters. I am hoping this gets turned into a series because I am not ready to leave Tavia and Effie yet!

I'd recommend this book to most people, especially if you love YA fantasy and/or YA contemporary or family drama stories. The modern-day fantasy setting borders both genres really well and is easy to read, you just want to keep turning pages. I'd also really recommend this book to young people who might not be familiar with experiencing racism, sexism or other inequalities because I think this book could teach someone a lot whilst still being a really great page-turning story. I'd of loved to read this as a teenager in school! Coming out next month from Tor Teen!

I really wanted to like this book and it started off so promising but ths was so effing rough to read. It was so confusing. The author introduces a lot of mythical creatures but it's so hard to find out the lore behind them all. I would love to look some of these up but the author repeats throughout the book a lot that the most popular lore surrounding these creatures are all fake. So doing extra research seems useless. The time the author spends explaining what isn't true should have been spend explaining what is because I was so confused throughout this whole book and I just couldn't figure it out. There also isn't much character work done besides the two main characters. I got none of the side character's motivations. It made things so confusing as well. I also just don't think the social commentary was balanced well with the mythical stuff. Whenever it would switch over the more social justice things it felt a bit jarring. The last problem I had with this book is that a lot of side storylines were introduced but never really resolved. It was kind of frustrating. Yeah, I was really excited for this book but the excecution was just not there for me at all.

« I received a digital ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review. »
A SONG BELOW WATER is a story of racism and magical realism, entwined in a way I've never experienced before. This book was unique, and I have to say, it wasn't quite when I expected when I requested it (it had black sirens and this amazing cover, so it was love at first sight).
However, it was a bit difficult to me to get into the story in the beginning, I feel like it's the case with a lot of books that I read so it's just personal preference. I like it better when the story is fast-paced, but with this one the author took her time to state the worldbuilding, and it was incredibly well done. We also get to know the characters and, while the story is told from two POVs (Tavia and Effie's), the author manages to give them two different voices, and they felt so alive it was an immersive experience (my scalp was often itching alongside Effie's, it was that immersive). Although I expected more magic going into this book, the mythology was interesting enough, and I adored how Effie's storyline wrapped up. I was kind of proud of myself for seeing where the mystery surrounding her was going (mythology nerd here) and it was really satisfying to see how the author had done it.
Overall it was a great read, and there would actually be room for a sequel (we would love to see it).

Two best friends navigate issues of identity, racial discrimination, complicated families, and sisterhood with a unique, mythological take. There is a lot to like about this book and I am certain that it will find its audience. Unfortunately for me, I kept bouncing off the story. For faults that are entirely my own, I found it difficult to differentiate between the dual POVs, and while the world-building information was intriguing, it was also easy to get lost.

*Given an advanced reading copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow follows two teen girls who call themselves sisters as they evolve into their true selves in an environment that discriminates against who they are.

Effie is changing. Her skin is unbearably itchy as she keeps scratching her scalp around her locs. She tries to conceal this irritation by remembering she’s Euphemia the Mer, the town faire’s cosplaying mermaid, along with Elric, the cosplaying merman. As the faire is set to begin, Effie can’t concentrate as a murder case of a siren becomes news. And Effie still hasn’t gotten over her friends turning into stone years before at the park while she was spared. In this story, sirens live among humans and are exclusively black females, so they face severe discrimination since society wants white sirens.

Tavia is a siren who lost her voice. She and Effie become sisters when Effie’s grandmother sends Effie to live with Tavia’s family. For Tavia, she’s having a hard time getting over her ex-boyfriend, Priam, an eloko, the beings connected to sirens who manifest in other races, so they don’t get the same degree of discrimination like sirens.

This fantasy YA novel mixes fantasy and reality, but the story can get lost in the weeds amid the constant world-building involving multiple magical beings. The racial thread is interesting, but most of the time blackness is described through Effie scratching her scalp and watching a natural hair YouTuber who turns out to be a siren. Effie’s hair and skin become the main issue, above the murder trial she’s paying attention to or Tavia getting pulled over by the police. The setting is Portland, Oregon, a community that has become notorious for not supporting its black population. Also, a gargoyle is perched on their roof at home. Making sirens black and emphasizing how they’re expected to be white is an interesting comparison, especially with mentioning a high-profile murder of a black woman suspected to be a siren and how it’s playing out in the media. The threat of showing magic affects both Tavia, who already knows she's a siren, and Effie, who’s not sure who she is yet though she suspects a siren.

Overall, the black girl magic theme underlies this story of two teen girls trying to find their place in high school among human beings and other beings while remaining true to their destinies.

I'll be honest, this was a DNF and j feel.bad about that. I loved the premise and was excited to read about the struggles faced by our two herpines. However, the writing left much to be desired. We're dumped into the middle of a world where the rules/structure is never explained. I couldn't understand what was motivating our characters. The first person view is also very casual and not descriptive. The "adult" characters are stereotypical Disney adults which was annoying. I'll give one extra star for the attempt to cover a series of deep topics, if only the writing was mature enough to match.

A Song Below Water follows Tavia and Effie. Two sisters, not by blood, but sisters nonetheless. Together they live in an alternate version of Portland, Oregon, and both of them have to fight their own battles with the usual high school drama, family secrets, crushes and magic.

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. MorrowThe story focuses on sisters Tavia and Effie. The two of them are not related by blood but still see each other as family. They live together in Portland – a city with only a handful of black folk and even fewer of those with magical powers. Tavia has to keep her siren identity a secret and tries to find her late siren grandmother in order to give up her voice and her magical powers. Being a siren means to live in fear – just because sirens are said to manipulate the folk around them, causing society trying to keep them under lock and key. With non-siren parents, strict rules for her daily life and a siren’s call that’s burning her throat, Tavia’s life everything but easy.

Effie has different challenges to overcome but still needs to fight. She prefers to stay unseen and only ever starts to bloom when ren fair season starts. As Euphemia the Mer she feels free and like her true self. Her mother introduced her to this lifestyle and since her death, it’s the only thing that connects mother and daughter. But as Effie is being haunted by demons from her past and nothing adds up anymore, all she wishes for is to finally learn about her ancestry.

Overall I enjoyed A Song Below Water – it had so much potential with the system of magical beings and the topic of misogynoir against sirens (who are exclusively black women). The author paired different topics of racism, social justice and current politics with fantastical elements and created an interesting new world. I wished it had been executed a bit better – not in terms of the aforementioned topics. Those were on point and fascinating. But sometimes I felt as if there were some information missing – like some of the lore of the world. On top of that, the most action-packed scenes only happened in the last 30% of the book, though I would have preferred them to start earlier. This is one of the reasons why the rating isn’t as high as I’d liked it to be.

But I still enjoyed the story of Tavia and Effie, the overall lore and the important topics covering all of it. I connected easily with the protagonists and was excited to see what they would discover about themselves. The writing style itself was easy to follow – but the withholding of some important information sometimes made it hard for me to understand what exactly was wrong. This bothered me, because – as I said – I really liked the idea. Still, I’d recommend this book and would encourage anyone who’s interested to read it once it comes out June 2nd 2020 and read it as soon as possible!

I really enjoyed this story, I just did not like how it was written. It discusses many important topics such as race, gender and prejudice in a very interesting setting. Too bad the interesting setting was not explained a lot. One of the opening statements is ‘myths are not to be trusted’ but then the author goes on not to explain any of the rules of the world. I was confused and frustrated for the majority of the book, especially when lines like ‘x isn’t real, Duuuuh’ came up, like it was obvious despite the fact we were never given any information, so how would I know. Because of this some sentences, I assume were supposed to be world building, made very little sense. I said I enjoyed the story because what actually happened was interesting and I loved the characters, the female friendship which is the focal point of the story in particular. I just wished there was more world building and the book went through a couple more revisions.

3.5/5
Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for giving me this advanced eARC in exchange for my honest review.
First of all, the cover is so gorgeous!! Right?
Second of all, mermaids are my thing. I LOVE reading stories about them and this one was pretty original. Its an YA dealing with some themes such as : prejudice, mythology, sirens, magic, racism, current politics. Liked the two sisters, Tavia and Effie but really didnt get along with the other characters.
The plot was a bit too slow for me, but some parts were compelling. If you like YA books, you can give it a try!

I got a free advance reader's copy in exchange for my honest review. Thanks NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor / Forge!

There's a term which I love: Black girl magic. Lately, being a black girl is like being part of an elite team in America. Looking on from the Caribbean makes me feel so proud of my sisters. A Song Below Water mixes that in with the racial conflict of our modern times. This story focuses on Tavia, a black girl who is a siren and her soul sister, Effie. Sirens are feared in America, mainly because they are black women. Not all black women are sirens, but there have not been any non-black sirens since the Second World War. Most people believe that sirens use their powers to convince people to do things they normally would not. This means that when a black woman is murdered and later found out to be a siren, the overwhelming opinion is that she did something to deserve it. As a matter of fact, that was what most of the story revolved around. The murder trial of the siren's killer has the entire nation's attention and Tavia is terrified that someone would find out that she too is a siren. Unfortunately, she uses her voice at the worst possible time and this starts a series of events which will change her and Effie's world forever. 

The writer crammed a lot into the pages within this book. I am not familiar with the mythological creature, the eloko, so I was quite confused by some of the folklore surrounding them. Sprites were also mentioned a lot without any background really. I really would have loved for her to go a little more into detail about the mythical creatures she wrote about.

The prejudice was very visible within the book, even from Tavia's own parents. That was something that got me upset. Her father was particularly harsh with her, which was not fair, considering it was not her fault who she was. Her mother, who I expected to step in and protect her, was no help. 

The redeeming point was the strong bond between Effie and Tavia. They were not biological sisters but they could not have been closer if they had blood to connect them. They protected each other no matter what. 

I feel like this book should have been longer so I could have understood the worlds of both girls better. I wanted to find out more about sprites and elokos. Effie was part of a fair in which she pretended to be a mermaid and I would have loved to know more about that part of her persona. The story was quite entertaining despite its flaws. I would not say no to trying another one of this writer's books. 


Suitable audience: Because of sensitive topics, I would suggest this book be read by older teens and adults. 

Recurrent themes: Magic. Mythology. Prejudice. 

Violence: There is mention of a murder. There is also mention of violence at a riot. There were also some scenes where people were changed and this may be disturbing for some readers.
Sexual Content: Kissing
Profanity: None
Religious Themes: None
Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: None

Mini review:

I received this e-arc via the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF

I was so excited to read this! When I saw it on Netgalley I didn't hesitate to request it. Unfortunately I didn't like it.

My biggest problem were the adults. I had absolutely no respect for Tavia's parents. I knew based on the synopsis that her father was 'protective' but I personally felt that he was controlling. Her mother wasn't any better.

I didn't get around to reading about Effie's grandmother, though I suspect I wouldn't like her either.

I still recommend. In large part due to the rep. It's not mentioned in the synopsis, both girls speak in ASL (American Sign language). Plus the writing style, and two main characters were enjoyable.

Fun fact: Sirens are my absolute favorite mythical creature. I literally never pass up on an opportunity to talk about how much every book needs more Sirens. A book about sirens, racism, and activism? I was ecstatic.

A Song Below Water tries to do too much in too little time. The world is complex and intricate and while not every aspect of a world needs to be explicitly explained, I legitimately checked to make sure I hadn't accidentally stumbled upon a sequel or same universe book. Dual protagonists are fun, but the combination of trying to get to know two MCs, their story lines, and the world in the short length of time made it really hard to get invested. I feel bad for not liking this book because in theory it's magnificent and I honestly think if it had a hundred or so more pages to properly delves into it's characters and politics it would have been great but as is I was mostly just confused.

THIS COVER!!! Isn’t it gorgeous?! I love mermaids, sirens, mystery, and magic. A Song Below Water is urban fantasy with elements of today’s racial and political climate for a story that rings hauntingly true.

A Song Below Water is a story of family and chosen sisterhood, of fear of being your true self and the freedom of fully walking in who you are. I loved the juxtaposition of the mythos we are familiar of sirens and mermaids with the black experience in America. It was interesting to see how the author, Bethany C. Morrow, relates being a siren to being a black woman silenced and how one television personality willingly chooses to be silenced (with a ringed collar to prevent her from using her siren voice) to be accepted and seen as safe by white America. Even with the eloko, another magical type who are beloved and accepted within the culture, where Tavia and Effie have to hide their magical selves.

While there were parts that felt slow, I found the story well-paced and compelling. It’s a slow build as the sisters both grow together and apart as they discover more about themselves and their gifts, their families struggles with their gifts, and who they are becoming. It’s definitely black girl magic.

SOOOOOO GOOOOOD!

Fantasy novel that overlaps with modern discussions about racism, social justice, and the power of black voices. Must read!

This was really enjoyable! I loved the premise of this YA fantasy novel, set to publish by Tor Teen on June 2, wherein mythical creatures like Greek sirens and Central African elokos exist in our world. Set in Portland, Oregon, this story follows Tavia--a young black girl who also happens to be siren, although no one but her family and her "sister" Effie knows. Effie who, while is definitely not siren, also seems to have some magic within her. The novel opens when the two teenagers learn that a young black woman, Rhoda Taylor, who was murdered by her white boyfriend, may have been a siren. This sends the two best friends on a mission for justice as their fellow students (and some of their teachers) at their predominately white high school begin to use her abilities as a siren as proof of her boyfriend's innocence.

I loved the integration of the Black Lives Matter movement into this novel, as well as the use of mythical creatures to explore the oppression and silencing of black people through fear and misinformation, particularly women. Tavia and Effie were well-drawn, very realistic teenagers and I loved reading about their sisterhood and their love for one another. I also loved the Portland setting. Thematically, I think this is a really important and well-done read, and I applaud Morrow for her ability to explore these topics so well in this YA fantasy.

I did wish that the lore of the world had been explored a bit more, as I sometimes was confused about the defining characteristics of each of the different beings introduced. Additionally, I found the pacing of the novel to be a bit fast at times, particularly during the protest and the prom scenes in the second half of the novel, and I was sometimes unable to follow the action. Finally, as with many YA novels, I wish the parents had been a bit more developed, as I sometimes questioned their reasoning and motivations.

All in all, however, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys YA fantasy!