DNF at 23%

I wanted to like this a lot more than I did, but pirate books, much less YA pirate books, are a very hard sell for me. With #ownvoices rep, sapphic relationships, anti-colonialism and more, this tempted me to try again with the YA pirate drama.

It wasn't for me, but it might be the book for someone else!

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review

Imaginative and immersive, The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is masterfully written and absolutely gorgeous from start to finish. This book calls out misogyny, colonization, and imperialism, and there are mermaids involved?? It’s no surprise that it is now one of my faves.

Privilege, ignorance, and unlearning a lifetime of imperialist propaganda are recurring themes throughout the book. Sometimes, when a romance features two characters from different classes, there’s a focus on the equality between them, an emphasis that they are on equal standing. I appreciate that, and I think that is necessary (relationships with a huge gap in power dynamic are NOT it folks), but what I loved about The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is that it is painfully obvious that Evelyn and Flora are not equal, at least not regarding their stories. Even though Evelyn is the one who teaches Florian how to read, her upbringing and innocence result in gaps in knowledge that don’t bode well for her survival on the Dove. Still, Evelyn has the bearings of a lady, and the ability to command attention when she so desires. My favorite part about Evelyn and Flora’s relationship is that Evelyn frequently makes mistakes and has to adjust accordingly. She consciously makes an effort to bridge the gap in power that’s between them and you can’t help but root for their relationship. They both grow so much throughout the course of the book, separately and together, and that’s just so crucial to me.

You can read my full review here: https://loveyoshelf.com/2020/04/15/review-the-mermaid-the-witch-and-the-sea-by-maggie-tokuda-hall/

I love young adult fantasy especially involving friendship, mermaids and overcoming challenges together. So I thought that this book would be right up my alley.

But this book was a struggle, I kept hoping it would get better, but for me personally it just didn't. I wasn't a fan of the heavy flashback use, or the rather predictable arc of the characters which used many common tropes. There were good friendships, and sometimes I think that made it harder for me to feel much about the romance.

I give the author credit for the ethnically diverse characters, who seemed to represent real-world peoples and places, but it never went too deeply into that, and while there was magic, it was a very small part of the book from what I read.

After I reached about a little past half I started skimming just to see how it turned out. In the end this wasn't for me, and because of that I will not be posting my review publicly.

Thank you for the complimentary copy of this book :) Opinions are my own.

Flora and her brother are pirates sailing with the Dove, a ship that passes itself off as a passenger vessel but actually sells all its passengers into slavery. Trying to fit in, Flora takes on the persona of Florian, the handsome young pirate lad, who’s able to survive under any sort of conditions. But then he meets Evelyn.

Lady Evelyn Hasegawa is traveling on the Dove to marry a man she’s never seen and never met. Reluctant to accept her fate, she’s bundled up with all her belongings, coffin included, onto the ship and forced to leave the only home she’s ever known.

But when a mermaid is caught in one of the Dove‘s nets, the pirate and the lady will embark on a new destiny, one neither of them expected.

I got an advanced reading copy of The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea in exchange for an honest review.

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is a young adult fantasy novel by Maggie Tokuda-Hall. It’s Tokuda-Hall’s first young adult novel, but not her first book. In fact, she wrote a very cute-looking picture book called Also an Octopus some time before. Looks like she really likes her ocean themes!

Anyway, I should dive into a review of this book, shouldn’t I?

The book is told mostly through Evelyn and Flora’s POVs. They swap fairly frequently, the chapters being relatively short, and we as an audience spend a good amount of time in both of their heads. Occasionally, we also get some exterior POVs, one of which is the Sea, which I particularly enjoyed, as well as some other more minor characters. And while at first you might not understand why we’re getting seemingly random third-party perspectives, and not just those of our main characters, trust that there’s a reason and it will show up eventually. I know I had my moments of doubt, but eventually it made sense to me.

Since I’ve started with the very basic structure of the book, I might continue on this for a bit. Mainly the chapter structure. I’m not sure if this just felt like a lot to me in my reading, but I thought it was interesting how so many chapters had the characters flashing back to sometime in their past to explain something about their present. I didn’t notice it too much at first, but the more I read, the more flashback sequences popped out at me, and honestly I lost track of how many there were. I understand that these were put into each chapter to explain something about the characters, but after so many, I felt a little taken out of the present narrative, since I was making so many trips to the past, and I would have liked a few more things to be shown and not told to me through memories that explained exactly why the character was doing x.

Continuing on the structure, I’ll say that the book is led by a very loose plot rather than anything else. I felt like the plot for the first part of the book was Flora and Evelyn’s budding romance, as well as the very real danger Evelyn was in, since I as the reader knew that she was going to be forced into slavery. But that plot disappeared about halfway through the book, and suddenly I felt myself floundering and trying to figure out what the new plot was. I was given a few breadcrumbs, which eventually turned into a whole meal at the end, but I wasn’t completely satisfied. (I know, I know: probably not the best metaphor for this but I’m eating cookies and that’s all I could think about.) It felt loosely threaded together, and while the plot turned into something much bigger than expected, I struggled a bit with it all.

I should maybe talk about the characters now. As I previously mentioned, we have our two main characters: Flora and Evelyn. Flora is non-binary and described as having dark skin and hair, while Evelyn Hasegawa’s names and cultural influences seem to be Japanese: she wears a kimono and she and her mother perform the tea ceremony. There is so much diversity in this book and I loved it! Non-binary people seemed to be the norm in some places too, and it was great to see how they could be accepted, and to see Flora come to accept two parts of their identity as being them. (In case you’re curious, Flora does say within the narrative that they’ll accept any pronoun.)

They’re great characters to follow in this story, and I thought their love was very sweet. There was little of the drama that you usually find in some other books, but their relationship grew from something and I thought it was so nice to see them together. And they both made huge strides through the book in terms of development, both of them becoming much more than they’d ever expected.

But then I come to the topic of the other characters involved in this book. Am I the only one who gets frustrated when there are characters who are evil for no reason? This book has so many of them! Evelyn’s parents are cruel and don’t love her, considering her only worth to be the potential to sell away to a husband. And there’s other characters like this peppered throughout the book too: characters who just appear to be evil for the sake of being evil. They felt pretty flat to me, and I found myself annoyed every time one of them came onto the page.

Although I did like the Witch. Maybe I liked her because she wasn’t one-dimensional like the others. She was neither good nor evil, but seemed to want to serve herself over anything. Her chapters were fun and felt almost storybook-like, although they seemed a bit misplaced where they were in the middle of the book. But she was excellent! The way that magic works in the world of this story has a lot to do with storytelling, and I love how Tokuda-Hall wove them together through the pages. It was so well done!

Speaking of something else that was well done, the character of the Sea was inspired. A large part of the story takes part on a ship, after all, so to have the Sea as an actual character in the book, someone who had thoughts and feelings, who could influence the turn of events by either helping the characters or turning against them in all her fury, was brilliant.

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea was a fun and easy read, with more than a few surprises hidden in its pages, although I found the plot to be a bit disconnected.

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea will be released on May 5 by Candlewick. You can pre-order your copy here.

3.5 stars rounded up

Florian is a pirate on the Dove and a crewmember of the Nameless Captain. While life aboard the Dove is harsh, it's better than life on the street. For Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, her journey on the Dove is most unwanted as she heads to the Forbidden Isles for an arranged marriage. There are larger plots at play, however, and in a colonized world where the Sea has a memory of her own, Florian and Lady Eveyln have secrets to uncover - both about the world they live in and who, in their hearts, they really are.

This story moved right along with me. I liked the Sea as a plot device, how it has a memory and a story. While I wanted more from the "magic" in the book, I did like how one gets the power to do magic. I just wanted more of that and I would've liked a few more of the loose ends tied up when it was over. However, I really liked the exploration of gender, looking at it both as how you feel about your OWN gender as well where the person you love fits on the spectrum of gender and how much relevance gender plays in the love equation. The colonialism theme was interesting as well - the idea that one group of people believes it deserves land that's not actually there, that one culture's superiority gives it the right to eliminate others. It's not a perfect book but I always wanted to read it and if it had been longer, I would've been happy to read more :)

"Perhaps the pirates and the witches were right to worship the sea. The sea did not die. The sea was no man".

*3.5

This book is so beautiful. I think there is no other way to describe it. With an almost lyrical and soft writing, Maggie Tokuda-Hall introduces themes such as colonialism, exploitation, human ambition and even sexual abuse in a careful way. It is a story about deciding your destiny and living your life the way you choose. It is a story of love, respect for nature and survival. A story where the sea is a character, trying to save loved ones from those who want to destroy it and erase their identity.
Another point in favor of this novel is that it features a diverse and queer set of characters. There is POC, lesbian and non-binary representation. Without a doubt it is one of the most diverse books that I have had the pleasure of reading.
Although I think it is a good book, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and which I found very addictive, it is not perfect. The story seemed superficial to me, I think it lacked development in the world and also in the characters, since although we had some information about them, it was not enough to comprehend the plot enterely.
Also, I don't know if there will be a sequel, but the end was very open, after certain situations occurred that seemed even miraculous and convenient. Definitely, I think a more defined closure was missing.
Despite everything, "The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea"" was a book that I liked a lot, with a beautiful romance, with pirates, battles, mermaids, and a lot of magic, with great representation, which is always appreciated. It could have been better executed, but I still recommend it for the nice feeling it leaves after reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ebook to review!
All opinions expressed are my own.

Review was also posted on Goodreads.

The Mermaid, The Witch, and the Sea
⭐⭐⭐⭐🌠
Pub Date: 5/5/20
I just finished this one today and what a ride it was! When I first heard about it I was told that the only way to describe it was in exclamation points and I don't disagree. It is such a trip and full of diverse characters and adventure. Towards the beginning I was a little confused as to how everything would connect, but the author managed to weave everything together super well.
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Essentially it's a queer love story between an orphan sailor and a girl on her way to meet her soon to be husband. Evelyn is to set sail after being cast out and sold by her parents to go and meet a man on an island. She must travel for multiple months upon a ship to get there, but the ship has its own plan. Flora/Florian is an orphan who managed to gain access to the ship with her brother in exchange for their work. They both are sailors on said ship and when Evelyn arrives, Florian is tasked with watching over her. Neither one of them could have predicted what would've happened next.
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I love the unpredictability of this story. There is magical realism, mermaids, witches, queer POC protagonists, lesbians, non-binary characters, badass warrior women, and a love story. It's a critique of colonialism and a celebration of mother nature and her power. It's a celebration of the power of women honestly.
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If you're a person who demands a label, Flora/Florian is most likely bigender or genderfluid. It's never really specified but Flora is a narrator but she works aboard the ship as Florian. They don't have a preference for pronouns and use both names at different parts of the story.
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There's a nonbinary pirate captain, lesbian mermaids, and a cool af queer witch.
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My one critique of this book is the lack of closure for side characters. The two MCs end up with an ending of sorts, but there is a lot of subplots that go unfinished.
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All in all though I highly recommend if you're in search of a queer fantasy story with pirates and mermaids ✌️
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Thanks again to @candlewickpress and @netgalley for sending me an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This story was so whimsical. The writing style was something I struggled with, particularly the scenes with the witch. However I did enjoy it, read it in 2 settings. Will try other things by this author.

I read the description for this book and went in so excited I was practically turning back into a 14 year old. It took about a quarter of the book to get drawn in fully despite all this excitement and I was. not let down. The characters are stunning and vivid and thoughtful and humorous and important and INCREDIBLE. The world building was incredible, I felt like I was on the ship with these people the entire time.

It has a slow start- in my opinion- but the book was wonderful. This was my first foray into this Author and I am so looking forward to reading more.

Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. For Flora, former starving urchin, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don’t trust, don’t stick out, and don’t feel. But on this voyage, as the pirates prepare to sell their unsuspecting passengers into slavery, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is en route to a dreaded arranged marriage with her own casket in tow. Flora doesn’t expect to be taken under Evelyn’s wing, and Evelyn doesn’t expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian.

Soon the unlikely pair set in motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood, which causes men to have visions and lose memories) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, and the all-encompassing Sea itself.- Goodreads

There is a lot going on in this novel but happily enough the author broke down this book into different POC and sections. I loved that because it shows skills as a writer.

There is a lot of character building in this novel and it stresses the fact that not everyone is who/what they seem. I liked Flora. For everything that she had to do in order to live, to help her brother and Evelyn, she was honest with herself and that is oddly hard to fine in Young Adult books.  Flora was realistic with her environment and what she needed to do but she open minded and I liked that.

Evelyn, however, was alright. She was the typical I am not your average rich person. She played her role really well but there was nothing ground breaking about her. The aspect of this novel that I really enjoyed was the mermaid/the sea. I love magical stories even with realistic situations to them. I would have loved to see more history and details in this particular part of the story but I was entertained.

The pace of the novel was good. There were painstakingly slow moments, where nothing at all was going on but it was worth it. This is my first read by this author and I am looking forward to see what else she has in store. 

Overall, 

3 Pickles

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is a hard book to review because I liked it and didn't like it at the same time. I was also confused by the pacing of the story it felt like it jumped around too quickly.

Things I did not like.

Most of the characters.

I don't like insta love. I mean how did they even fall in love? All Evelyn did was teach Florian/Flora to read. Their interactions were not delved deeply enough for me to get a sense of a romantic relationship. I thought both were pretty flat.

Flora/Florian confused me. Flora disguised herself as a boy to fit in on the ship. She did not do so because she was confused about her gender identity. Later she is confused about herself and I suppose from that takes on the non-binary identity. The only thing that helps me make sense of this is she spent so much time pretending to be a boy that she lost herself. I don't know it was confusing. Even at one point Rake refereed to Florian as a she. That could have been an author mistake.

I would have wanted more world building. It is not clear how communications is done. How was the Nameless Captain able to steal whole ship loads of people and sell them off as slaves without anyone of the Empire knowing or stopping them? Maybe I missed something.

We get it Lady Ayer was the Empires most formidable operative even though she was female and never received her due credit. This was repeated very frequently at the end and I found myself rolling my eyes at every mention.

What I liked

The magic but there was not enough of it. I loved the concept that magic is achieved through the telling of stories. However, there was only a tiny snippet of it in the story and only served as a reuniting mechanism. It was not clear on why the witch was waiting for Flora. It is not explained why she was so special.

I loved the sea and her mermaids. I believe they were my favorite of the characters. Mermaids are my jam.

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I would recommend this book to readers who love sea adventures and want a different kind of romantic relationship.

This book was absolutely magical. Things I thought would happen at the end, happened near the middle. Leaving much more story to be told than I had anticipated. Flora & Evelyn took my breath away.

I feel like in the past year, I've read a lot of fantasy that really pushes the envelope, and this definitely falls into that category. It's a fascinating mix of Asian culture, pirate stories, and fantasy, sort of like if you combine Naomi Novik with Pirates of the Caribbean. This book has phenomenal world building, perhaps some of the best I've read this year. It's atmospheric and evocative, and the motivations of the characters are well-crafted. It is getting four stars instead of five due to the fact that the front portion of the book drags (seriously: I almost quit a few times) and there are definitely sections that could have used tightening up. But overall, it's a fascinating read full of new ideas.

When I first read the description for this book, I was hoping that it would take me on a high seas adventure and I would feel like I was in Pirate's of the Caribbean. The beginning of the book swept me away, and I found myself submersed in the pirate crew. There was a sense of adventure, it was fun to read. I liked that the early part of the book features mermaids. While it can seem almost cheesy to include mermaids in a story that features pirates, I liked the way the author incorporated them.

Once the main characters escape the ship, taking the mermaid with them, I found myself drifting away. They eventually make it to an island, and one of the characters learns the powers of witchcraft, while the other is kept prisoner by a wealthy Imperialist that was actually supposed to be her future husband. I found that this part of the book did not grab my attention as much. Personally, I found that it wasn't as exciting to me as the previous part on the pirate ship. I understand the importance of it because it gave the story more depth. It also made it more unique than your basic pirates tale. However, it just didn't hold my attention as much and almost felt like a different story at parts. All in all, I would say it was an original story line.

The part that I fond most troubling with this book was the amount of violence it had for a young adult book. I find young adult books to be tricky sometimes, just because the audience is not adults and is meant for a younger crowd. Usually I think some violence is okay, but this one seemed a little heavy for me. I know it is a story about pirates, so there is going to be some violence, but it features at least 3 gruesome scenes where passengers throats are sliced. The main character also is punished by getting her finger chopped off. And there is mention of a character getting raped, though it does not come out and say it. While I can see this being okay with most people, I think it is something people should be aware of before they start reading it.

I picked up The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea as soon as I heard about the diversity it would include. I'm cis, but I have several nonbinary and genderfluid friends, so I was excited to see so much representation. I won't be speaking on how those particular characters are handled in relation to their genders as I do not feel it is my place to do so, but I still have plenty of things to say about the book!

There are two main groups within the novel: Imperialists and pirates. The Imperialists are based in a combination of Japanese and British Imperialist history. There are also several other nationalities mentioned, but they don't play a larger role than being under the rule of the Imperialists.

The novel begins with Lady Evelyn Hasagawa being told by her family that she's being sent off to marry a man she's never met. Evelyn isn't thrilled about this, because 1) she doesn't want to be forced out of her home, and 2) she's a gay. So Evelyn boards a ship to go marry her new husband, with a casket filled with her things (the casket has to be one of my favorite touches to the story). Once there, Evelyn meets Florian, also known as Flora, and the quickly form a bond.

I really enjoyed this book. I was surprised by several of the events in the story, and while I saw part of the ending coming, I was shocked by how the story truly ended. The plot is filled, and I mean FILLED with twists and turns. I loved the ensemble cast of characters, and how everyone seemed to be a bit different than they first appeared to be.

However, the story's pacing is incredibly fast. I felt like this could have been divided into two books, and certain parts would have benefited from the expansion. There is one section of the book involving the witch, which to me felt like an unnecessary detour. Spending more time in those locations would have allowed the character's feelings to be better explored.

The magic system in this book is interesting, though it took a while for me to understand it. Magic is inherently tied to truthful memories and stories, but it comes at a cost. The Sea itself is a sentient being, and the mermaids are her children. There's also a witch and a pirate supreme, but that's all I'll say about them.

The diversity in the novel is amazing. There's a genderfluid character, a nonbinary character, queer characters, and both main characters are people of color.

Overall, I really loved this story. It was unique and intricate and unlike other things I have read. While this is clearly a stand-alone, the author has left the door open to continue telling stories that take place in the same world. I would highly suggest this book to anyone who loves fantasy, but especially to those looking to find a wonderfully diverse read. Definitely pick this one up when it's released in May!

A fun adventure with LGBTQ romance - would recommend to all ages though it's main characters are teens.

I feel like the framework of this book, the stuff that went into the summary, was interesting, but the premise didn't necessarily pay off. I found the writing pretty lackluster, and the world-building confusing and shallow. What's particular about Rake's homeland of Quark? How widespread is the empire and how slowly does news spread if a ship can sell people into slavery for years and literally never change its name or identifying marks such as the masthead figure. And obviously regardless of any real-world influence (in this case mostly Japanese imperial with some African) this is fiction, fantasy, and can therefore include a mixture of invented cultures, but the way they were combined was somewhat baffling. For example, the maid character has her name changed to Keiko to help her fit in with imperial culture...where no one else seems to have traditionally Japanese first names.

The main pairing wasn't really engaging to me: individually, I found Evelyn sort of flat and useless and a little obnoxiously obtuse/privileged, and Flora/Florian a little overstuffed between the childhood on the street, undercover gender-disguised violent piracy, and apparent magic powers, and they seemed to be in extremely deep, death-defying love for two people who basically hung out for a month having reading lessons together.

I did find some of the mythology related to the ocean/mermaids interesting, and some of the side characters (Rake and Lady Ayer in particular) were complex, and the story did have a lot in it, but I found it sort of underdone.

I LOVED this book. And I'm so glad because it was one of my most anticipated titles coming out this spring.

It has a gorgeous cover, and luckily the inside is just as gorgeous.

We have two MCs: Florian/Flora - a black, genderfluid pirate and Evelyn - a fantasy-equivalent-of-Japanese queer (lesbian?) noblewoman. Their relationship is sweet if a little instalove-y at first, and changes both of them. And that ending! I won't spoil it, but it was unexpected and lovely.

The twist on mermaids and witches was fascinating and something I've never seen before, and I adore it.

The plot was seemingly simple but grew in complexity as the characters' layers and secrets and unexpected connections were revealed. I love how we got to see sections of the story through other eyes than our dual-POV MCs - it allowed the twists to be revealed even when the MCs were not present. Also, I really loved the interludes from the Sea's POV. They were lovely and haunting and moving.

The Mermaid, The Witch and the Sea is a Fantasy novel which first grabbed my attention with it’s gorgeous cover and the story contains mermaids, witches and sapphic romance. WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED !

The story is set in the capital of The Nipran Empire, Crandon which is inhabited by the Emperor and the Imperials who were the native people of the land and much richer than the other colonies which the emperor colonized to establish their power. Evelyn Hasewaga, was a sixteen year old Imperial girl who was being send off in a ship to one of the colonial islands, the Floating Islands to marry a man ”one who does not demand too much in the way of dowry”. Flora is an orphan from one of the colonies who joined the pirates of a slave ship ‘Dove’ with her brother Alfie. There she took up the identity of Florian to protect herself and to earn respect from the sailors.

This book gives every thing which you could possibly want. There is abundance of diverity in the novel but in term of LGBTQ+ as well as racial The Empire and the colonies were representations of countries in our world such as the capital Crandon was representaion of Japan and Quark was Europe and then Tustwe from where Flora’s mother came from was Africa.Various issues such as alcoholism and poverty were talked about which were made to contrast with the rich, posh and sophisticated backgrounds of the Imperials.

The character development was pretty good. The various relationships that the characters had with each other were well written. The relationship between Flora and her mentor on the pirate ship Rake was refreshing for a change. She saw him as father figure and although he was not very affectionate and showy in his feelings, he cared about her and made her into who she was.The relation between Flora and her brother Alfie was raw and emotional. The incident of their children dented their relationships growing up and the love behind all the vexations and anger was something which I feel was wonderfully expressed in the book.

The reason why the I didn’t give the book 5 stars was just because magic was so less in the book. Yes, there is a witch but her scope was so limited. There are some bits and pieces here and there but I feel Maggie Tokuda-Hall could have made the book a lot more gorgeous by putting in more magic. Maybe it is just my whim..but I love magic okay!!!

The Mermaid, The Witch and The Sea is a wonderfully written book with a great representation, swooning romance with pirates, witches and mermaids. I loved the book and would highly recommend picking up a copy.

This is one of those wondrous books that defy traditional genres. Teen brother and sister orphans run away to become pirates but when a young woman on board is about to be sold into slavery instead of being sold into marriage and the Captain becomes obsessed with catching and drinking illegal mermaid's blood, plans change. Flora, now Florian, changes her gender to become a pirate but really she isn't sure which she is more comfortable with. She is sure about her feelings for Lady Evelyn and it is this that will change the course of Flora's life. Violence, spies, magic, adventure and a love story all under an Asian umbrella marks this as something to delight everyone. I am hoping that this will become a new series. It is intended for young adults but there are plenty of adults who will enjoy it as well. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.