his book has a TON of positive reviews and I was really looking forward to hopefully putting it on our list. However, there were a LOT of confusing and contradictory scenes throughout the book which made it difficult to follow along with what was going on. The themes of the book are important, dealing with racism, specism, hiding who you are, utilizing your voice and priviledge as a weapon or as a call for change but the execution left a bit too much to be desired

Concept // 8/10
Arc of Characters // 6/10
Writing Style // 5/10
Plot & Pacing // 7/10
Intrigue // 7/10
Logic & Lore // 4/10
Enjoyment // 5/10

Total: ★ ★ ★

Tavia and Effie live together as sisters, helping each other as they learn about their magical powers. As a siren, Tavia is constantly trying to keep her identity hidden and her voice silenced. Effie is trying to find out who she really is and what she will become. This is a creative and interesting new take on race relations set in a modern fantasy. I was sometimes frustrated that the two girls were supposed to be so close but were a bit clueless about each other's current issues, though this could have been part of the themes of communication, honesty, and voice. The wrap-up was a bit abrupt at the end. Overall, it’s enjoyable story.

I enjoyed this story, and I loved that it wasn't just about mermaids and sirens, but also about the power of Black women!

I would say that this book was good. I love the friendship aspect of this book. This is normally out of my genre type, but this was actually okay. I would recommend this to those who are into the typical high school story with a kid who has a magical element to them. I like the mermaid idea as well.

A beautiful tale of Black Girl Magic at its finest, of the tragedy of family and love, and of sisterhood through the hardest of times and uncertain futures. A Song Below Water blew me away and it belongs on the hallowed list of amazing YA Contemporary Fantasies.

Bethany Morrow builds characters like she’s tearing apart her own heart and soul to make them. Tavia and Effie were some of the most wonderful girls I’ve read about this year. I can’t state enough how much I loved their sisterhood and friendship bloom throughout the story. They made me want to keep turning the page every time I picked up the book.

A Song Below Water encapsulates the story of a teenage Black siren, Tavia–a double whammy in profiling and discrimination in this fantasy Portland, where mythological creatures exist–and her friend-turned-sister Effie, a girl whose power is yet unknown but slowly coming to the forefront. Tavia has had to keep her power a secret for her entire life; not only are Black folks as under fire as they are in the real world, but sirens are infamous and primarily black women. Her life is in danger all the time, and she may very well be targeted and forced to wear a siren call suppressing collar if caught. Effie survived a harrowing and traumatic childhood experience which catapulted her to internet fame as the sole survivor of a sprite attack which left her childhood friends as statues.

Their lives are turned upside down when the murder of a black woman is put on national headlines because it’s speculated that she was a siren. Tavia’s favorite YouTube beauty guru, Camilla, shortly comes out as a siren herself, leading to protests and a call to action.

There’s love, there’s magic, there’s strange and new mythical creatures. I’m especially fond of the elokos, a forest spirit with a mean bite and an enchanting song from Congo myth (as far as my rudimentary Google searching has shown. I’m 100% going to dive deep into this research hole). Elokos have a similar song that enchants and beguiles people, but due to their mythical beauty they’re not nearly as stigmatized as sirens.

I docked a star for the ending, which seemingly wrapped up everything with a neat little monologue from a character that was introduced half a chapter before. I would have liked to have seen a tenser climax, but that’s just the action-adventure loving side of me. I loved that the twist of Effie’s magical identity was unexpected but made so much sense, and I loved Tavia’s newfound ability, though it erased one of my favorite moments leading up to the finale.

All in all, A Song Below Water is a must read for anyone who loves contemporary fantasy, mermaids and sirens, Black Girl Magic, and girls loving and supporting each other, through thick and thin, mistakes and failures, happiness and success.

Tavia and Effie are sisters by all but blood. Effie is the only one Tavia can communicate with in ASL when she doesn't trust her siren voice, which explodes out of her unpredictably and--sometimes--uncontrollably. And that's a problem since being a siren makes being a black woman in American even more dangerous--and being a black woman is already dangerous enough. But there's something strange about Effie, too. Something that might explain with a gargoyle guardian has been protecting their house. One thing is certain though, Effie and Tavia will always be there for each other no matter what.

An excellent YA novel about being a young black woman in the U.S. paralleled with a system of oppression against mythical creatures which both mirrors and exacerbates the problems Effie and Tavia are already facing. The sisterhood / friendship between the two main characters was wonderfully explored and helps balance and soothe the difficulties they face as black girls with ties to the mythological. In short--some truly excellent contemporary YA fantasy.

I enjoyed reading several aspects of this book! The pacing was wonderful, characters were well drawn, and the reading experience on the whole was delightful.

A Song Below Water lifts the veil into another Porland, where the myths and magic come alive. Gargoyles guard Black girls. Children turn to stone. Black girls voices ring with beauty and demand justice. The Supernatural resides at the local high school, in the hall ways and at the pool, at the Ren Faire and the Park.

Effie and Tavia are sisters of the heart. They are always there for each other. Each deals with a new moment in their life. A new call for justice and murder of Black people takes over the city. Sirens become a heated subject, as fingers are pointed at them.

In Morrow’s world, Sirens are dangerous. For many Sirens, it means keeping their identities secret and their voices hidden. As fingers are pointed at sirens, many come out fighting for Black justice and for Siren’s rights. Morrow beautifully tells us the intersectionality of Black girls, the marginal spaces between being Women and Black.

Things I’ve been obsessing over:

- Gargoyles
- Black girls looking like princesses= a plus
- Latino love interest
- Black sisterhood
- Ren Faires
- Natural Hair Feminism
- Black Girl Magic

It’s also very apparent that other reviewers had a hard time distinguishing Effie’s voice from Tavia’s and I agree on that. I had to check back to who was talking because sometime’s I forgot which chapter it belonged to. As people, they have different story lines. It’s more about sound of voice. They tend to sound the same, to be perfectly frank here.

This could of been a lot better. It had a purpose and a drive with a lot of interesting supernatural creatures but fell flat in the execution.

This could of been a lot better. It had a purpose and a drive with a lot of interesting supernatural creatures but fell flat in the execution. However, I could for ages about the wonderful descriptions of Black girls hair. I’ve never seen it done quite like this, to the extent of this.

Thank You To Tor Teen for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review

4.5 stars!

The cover is amazing and I would love more covers in this illustrated style.

The setting for this book was amazing and it was definitely a refreshing break from high fantasy books. ASBW is extremely relevant to current events and I enjoyed reading about characters from a very different background than me. The female friendship was so wholesome and is something that's needed more in ya books today.

One critique I would have of the book is that it's a little slow-paced, especially because of the abundance of internal monologue.

The best part of this book was the sisterhood between the two main characters. Their story was about discovering themselves and each other and it was not romance driven at all. The worst part of the book was the use of the word legiterally. I cringed every time I read it.

This is a powerful book to read right now as it speaks about discrimination, prejudice and the fallout from both. It speaks about how to the characters handle being “different.” It speaks about sisterhood and the importance of having at least one person in your corner.

Thank you to TOR for a an ARC of this book, all opinions are my own. A Song Below Water spins a fantastical world where some magic is real--mischevious sprites, sirens, and Gargoyles, but not all of it, and where black women & girls are made more "dangerous" than black men because of the hidden presence of sirens, who can command with their voices. Come for the #blackgirlmagic, stay for the sisterhood bond of understanding between Tavia and Effie. Although the world-building may lack in certain areas, the character evolution of these two is outstanding. Bonus points for their very timely side-eye at performative wokeness from allies who just discovered causes that had been there all along.

A SONG BELOW WATER by Bethany C. Morrow is an interesting sci-fi, fantasy read. It has received some great reviews - Jason Reynolds calls it "beautiful" and "brilliant" and includes it in his list of suggestions for summer reads (see video link below). Yet, I found the beginning to be slow and confusing and did not understand who these girls, friends Tavia and Effie, were supposed to be - in part because I had difficulty picturing them. Both are Black and it seems like they are also some kind of mer-people; plenty of comments about swimming and scaly skin for Effie and about Tavia's ability to use a siren call to influence others' actions. However, they try to hide their powers and often act rather sad and afraid. Like other young people, they struggle with restrictions and expectations imposed by the adults in their lives. Morrow does explore themes of marginalization, trauma, and prejudice and the fantasy aspect is reinforced with a guardian gargoyle, mischievous sprites, and privileged eloko characters. Readers who like fantasy may be more engaged than I was. The cover is indeed beautiful and A SONG BELOW WATER received a starred review from Booklist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNPmGPgBri4

A glorious and touching coming of age. I'm seriously going to give this to every teenage girl I know. The dual perspectives serve to build a compelling dialogue between the two main characters, fleshing out their world and relationship. The story itself resonates so strongly with current times, I had to put it down a few times to gather my thoughts. And then, of course, I picked it back up so quickly because I just had to know what happened. Just wonderful storytelling.

Oh boy is this gonna be hard to review but let's see if I can get my thoughts together enough to do so.

First off, the messages within this are incredibly important especially with what's going on in the world today. This is essentially a fantastical parallel to the Black Lives Matter movement and there are themes of racism (especially how black women in particular are treated) and social justice found throughout the entire book. It was wonderfully stated and I think everything to do with that was well done and should be read and understood by everyone. There's some really powerful stuff in this.

That being said, there were some major problems I had with this. This is mostly a me thing but I was very disconnected with the way the story was told and especially how the world building was done. I think this world is very interesting, but the world-building itself lacked a lot. It was hard to understand and follow and I wasn't entirely sure what was happening a lot because of that. This was so jarring in the beginning that I almost wanted to dnf it. It did get better as the book went on but it still felt messy and thrown together and because of that I never stopped thinking about it.

I also disliked the writing. The writing itself was okay, if at times a tad annoying, but the way the plot was written bothered me. It didn't flow very smoothly from one point to another and that made it harder for me to read. A lot of this I think has to do with the world-building I mentioned above but it's hard for me to explain the issues I had. In the end I just felt very disconnected from the way it was told. I don't think there's much wrong with the plot itself and I enjoyed the story a lot but I was so putt off by everything I've mentioned that it was hard for me to actually get through.

Which is a bummer because I enjoyed the message, the overall story and really loved the characters. A lot. It's just the way the story was told and the world-building that made it difficult for me to get through.

I hope this doesn't deter people from reading this though because I still think there's a wide audience for this book and that a lot of people are really going to enjoy it. I still liked it a lot, there were just some things I didn't like so much.

In a world where Sirens must hide who they are, this fantasy looks at the power of one's voice, discovering who you truly are, and the bond of sisterhood. Tavia finds it harder and harder every day to keep her Siren voice under control and from being discovered. She doesn't want to be forced to wear a Siren collar. At the same time her best friend Effie is also dealing with changes. Add in a gargoyle who lives on the roof, mysterious mirages, and the Renaissance Fair, this fantasy will keep you guessing.

Many thanks to JeanBookNerd and Tor Teen for an ARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I knew as soon as I saw this announced that I had to read this book. I mean, first, there’s two stunning black girls on the cover, and I’ve been wanting to see more of that ever since I was a little black girl who never got to see anyone who looked like her in pretty much anything. But more than that, this book felt important … and it was. For many reasons.

At its core, A Song Below Water, is about finding one’s voice in a world that has systematically enforced silence, in a world that’s repeatedly said, “The voices of people like you are dangerous.” It’s a powerful narrative, spun masterfully in a unique fantasy setting.

I’m going to be upfront and say, right off the bat, that contemporary isn’t really my thing. I’m not a huge fan of the tropes, and it’s usually so slow to me, because I really want action and intrigue. Still, I liked it, despite that, so do with that what you will.

My Thoughts:

- This book reads more like a contemporary with fantasy elements thrown in, so I would definitely recommend it more to those who trend towards reading contemporary. Really, this book reads like a thinly veiled allegory, where obvious parallels are drawn between this fantasy world and real life. While reading it, there are things that alluded to national news events in a rather heavy-handed way, so I doubt someone could miss them. But then there were the subtleties … and oh, how wonderfully they came together. Because microaggressions are a thing, and I don’t think a lot of people realize that. What I loved about this setting is that I think sometimes real-world struggles benefit from being taken out of the real world and transformed into allegory. It eases a person’s knee-jerk, defensive reaction in a way that often lets them actually think about what they’re reading in a more detached way, rather than the immediate, real-life effect on them. It’s actually what I love about fantasy, and it’s what I think worked so well about this book. These are based on real-life occurrences, but it’s so much easier to digest when you’re thinking about bias against sirens than something in real life.

- Speaking of the sirens … the racism/prejudice in this is pretty heavy handed and hard to stomach, so if that’s a trigger, I’m going to warn about it right now. Sirens are dangerous, because of course they are. Their voices are dangerous, and they have to be silenced because of it. Which would make so much sense … if not for the fact that elokos have a similar charming power, and they’re seen as pillars of the community. They just don’t all happen to be black. I thought this distinction was so well done, that creatures with similar powers could be treated so differently by society, simply because of a narrative in history so old that no one really remembers its origin. Make no mistakes, though, some of the things you’ll read in this book should churn your stomach, because they were just … not cool. That’s an understatement for it, but I don’t think there are adequate words to express it. The fact that these things happen to everyday people in real life should add another layer of outrage. As I said in the previous point, though, removing it from the real world makes it much easier to focus on the thing and not the narrative surrounding it.

- Let’s talk about this world for a second, because I absolutely loved it. It’s mythical creatures layered into a real-world setting. It’s basically contemporary plus every mythology that’s ever existed. It’s this interesting cross-section of fantasy and contemporary that just worked. Really well, actually. The fantasy added an element of mystery and intrigue, as new species are revealed and the interactions among them are shown and the way society treats them. It added a really interesting and unique layer to it all that added to some of the mystery. And there’s gargoyles! I can’t remember the last time they popped up in a book, but I happened to love the gargoyle in this.

- Aside from the obvious social commentary, there is some mystery and intrigue, particularly in Effie’s story, as she tries to figure out who she is. Something happened in Effie’s past that made her well-known, but for not-so-great reasons, and she carries the guilt from it with her. Survivor’s guilt, basically. She doesn’t know why or how it happened, and that’s part of the mystery. I was really caught up in Effie’s struggle, and once it really got going, I found it was hard to put down because I just had to know. For me, this was the crux of the story because I do so love a good mystery to solve. Plus, the way the fantasy elements came together with this (and the way it sits in juxtaposition to the prejudice against sirens) really brought the storyline together in a unique way.

- Even though this is a fantasy, what this boils down to is if you want to try to start understanding Black experience in America, this is a good place to start. What I loved about this book is that, while telling a compelling story, it slipped in little things that make up the entirety of the Black experience that I think someone may not understand or might just overlook as insignificant. When added up, though, it is significant.

Sticking Points:

- This book felt so slow until about the middle of it, when Effie’s mystery really amps up. I’m not sure if this was because this is geared towards contemporary readers and I’m a fantasy reader or what, but it didn’t work for me. Tavia’s story of being a siren is really the important one here as far as real-world events, but it was kind of uninteresting to me. Effie’s struggle with finding her own identity was what really pulled me in, and I’m not sure the book could have stood as well without her. Though, at the same time, the fact that there were two differing struggles and storylines also meant that the story ended up being pulled in multiple different paths, and because of that, I’m not sure I got the full effect of either.

- There’s so much happening in this book, that I think it suffers a little from being pulled in so many different directions. Tavia’s storyline is heavily skewed towards racial injustice and fighting for equality, which is a super important message that I in no way want to detract from. But it was also kind of boring. Shoehorned into this, though, was the struggles she has with her identity and her parents (which is never fully resolved and left me feeling a little annoyed) and a failed romance. Her story is very much about finding herself, which I enjoyed, particularly the whole concept of finding her voice, but I’m not the target reader for that kind of book. It just doesn’t hold my attention.

Effie’s storyline, on the other hand, was much more fantasy. There were things that happened in her past that she doesn’t understand, a father she’s never met and knows nothing about, and weird things that start happening to her that she can’t explain. This definitely caught my attention, but again, there was so much more happening that the story felt pulled in a bunch of other directions. What it boils down to, for me, is that the story felt like it was trying to do so many things, each important in their own way, that it lacked focus. I didn’t feel like everything was sufficiently wrapped up for me, and the ending ended up feeling rushed to a conclusion, because there was so much to try to wrap up all at once that things necessarily fell to the wayside.

- I wish the world-building and character development had been a little more sound. Yes, I loved the world, as I said, but at the same time, I was confused by parts of it. For example, elokos. They’re not really described, and I had to Google what they were, but the real-world mythology didn’t seem to match the book mythology, so even now, I don’t have a very clear picture of what they are. More than that, in a world full of potentially dangerous mythical creatures (because who knows how many are really out there, aside from what are mentioned), why are sirens the only one persecuted so? I felt like this is where the allegory broke down, because this background just didn’t seem explained all that well. As far as character development goes, there were a lot of characters, and I kept getting them confused, because they mostly sounded the same. This was especially true for our two point-of-view characters, Effie and Tavia. There were times when I was reading a chapter and I had to go back to the beginning because I thought I’d been reading from one perspective, but then something that was mentioned made me realize I was wrong, so I had to go check the chapter heading again and reorient myself. It felt like both perspectives had basically the same voice, which made it kind of confusing to keep the two girls separate, and they kept blending together in my mind.

This novel is an inspiring novel about the amazing friendship between Tavia and Effie. I am obsessed with mermaids and sirens, so when I saw this cover, I knew I had to read. My favorite part about this novel was the fact that it was a fantasy that dealt with racism, social justice, and current politics. I was in awe while reading the delicious world that Morrow created. As an educator, I cannot wait to include this book in my classroom and curriculum. There are so many places where this book will be able to fit.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Tor Teen for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Holy cow... I know I will never have the words to express how this story completely blew me away. Morrow took on the incredibly challenging task of bringing fantasy into a realistic world as a way to confront racism, misogyny, social justice, police brutality, and the current political climate of the modern United States. Regardless of its YA status, this book takes all of those topics and brings them right to the forefront, shining light onto them until they are hot enough to burn you. She pulls no punches and absolutely knocks it out of the park. It's emotional and raw, but written so beautifully, so poignantly - ugh, I ached with this book. Bethany Morrow went hard in this book and it's exactly what this world needs right now.

Readers also experience all of the turbulence and heart that accompanies female friendships, sisterhood, relating to one's parents, growing apart from friends, school bullies, young love, and so much more. Morrow writes girl besties so perfectly - from the tone of their conversations, to the comfort being physically close, to the gentle teasing, to the inside jokes - it's perfection. Any girl with a best friend who is more like a soulmate will truly relate to Effie and Tavia's dynamic.

Outside of its masterful handling of culturally relevant content, Morrow also accomplishes a well-crafted fantasy. She gives us just enough information about this world without overwhelming the reader with a ton of world-building or lore. I love that Morrow chose to explore mythical beings that aren't frequently seen in literature - sirens, gargoyles, among others. These choices are just one of the many things that make ASBW feel so fresh and new, especially for readers who consume a lot of fantasy or fantasy adjacent literature.

Morrow's writing is such a treat to experience. She writes teen voices that feel incredibly realistic. Her descriptions of human emotions and experiences are so perfect that they cut deep. Some of her lines reminded me of how I feel when I read Elizabeth Acevedo's work - there's just so much heart that you can't help but feel it in your core. In a book that has so much heavy, emotional content, I enjoyed Morrow's humor that always seemed to insert itself at just the right moment. The amount of cheese is just right - I have to admit to laughing aloud once or twice.

A stunning read. An absolute success. Add this one to the YA required reading canon.

Being a black girl in today’s world means often being denied a voice. In A Song Below Water, Tavia’s voice is especially suspect. The author has taken real-life issues and isolated and magnified them through symbols, so that Tavia is a siren, and all the world is in fear of her voice and its power and so does all that it can to silence that voice. Tavia’s world looks much like our own, but with an added layer of fantastical beings–mermaids, elekos, sprites, live gargoyles, and gorgons, to name a few. Sirens are famous for controlling people through their voices and so it’s best if no one knows you’re a siren at all. A popular TV show has one siren voluntarily wearing a voice-canceling dog collar. Sirens only show up in the black, female population, so you can see why no one gets too excited when they show supernatural abilities of any sort.

On top of that, Tavia is dealing with other typical teen issues. Her relationship with her father is strained. She inherited her siren-ness from his mother, and she feels that he hates that part of her and doesn’t accept it. However, he moved the family to Portland in part for her protection. He obviously worries about her safety a lot–something that is certainly normal for a father of a teen daughter. Tavia is also dealing with first boyfriends, kisses and break-ups, and prom dates.

Tavia’s best friend, Effie, is staying with their family as the two girls navigate their junior year of high school together. Effie has her own issues. For one thing, she seems to be becoming something else entirely–but what? Her identity is a cause of great stress to her. Additionally, she carries the trauma of being the only survivor of a childhood event that left her 4 playmates turned to stone statues. Her favorite place is the RenFaire where she has longed played a mermaid, but her attempts to make RenFaire playacting into reality don’t succeed.

A Song Below Water takes place amongst issues ripped from today’s headlines–protest marches, police brutality, “say her name” chants–but it’s dealing with issues that have long plagued our world. Author Bethany Morrow does a fantastic job of making her point without being too heavy-handed or didactic, weaving together reality and fantasy into a seamless whole. The result is compulsively readable, with a fast-moving plot and sympathetic characters that build throughout this coming-of-age story. I loved this book, and have already gotten my sister-in-law to buy her own copy. Highly recommended.

A Song Below Water is a beautifully written fantasy novel that you won't want to miss. The world-building alone is reason to read it. Set in an alternate world where there are various fantasy beings living amongst humans, and where one of our two protagonists, Tavia, is a siren forced to deal with extreme bigotry at all times - this on top of her being a Black girl, one of very few in Portland, though Portland is also home to a pretty good network of sirens within the Black community - it comes as no surprise that she has her work cut out for her if she's to survive in this world. A world where a murder trial in southern Oregon is expected to end with the defendant's acquittal just because the victim was a siren. A world where Tavia inadvertently uses her voice to get out of a police stop - and attracts the wrong kind of attention from a cop whose son she knows pretty damn well. And, of course, one of the most popular reality shows in this world features a siren who willingly puts on a collar that suppresses her voice - if you could see the number of times my stomach turned over every time that came up...

Alongside Tavia in this story is her adopted sister Effie, who has played a mermaid in the local Ren Faire for years. (Well technically, it's in Vancouver across the river, but still.) Just as Tavia fears for her ability to live freely in a world that's extremely anti-Siren, Effie has these constant recurring dreams about playing Red Rover, and these kids that have long since disappeared, but may have something to do with a popular piece of local art...let's just say that the truth of Effie's identity has to be seen to be believed.

It's not a big book, but it's powerful and not to be missed, with its layers of allegory and blistering social commentary. Now, I'm going to have to find a way to get a hold of Morrow's earlier adult novel, Mem, because I'll be damned if that one doesn't look like a good story too...