Not gonna lie, this was EXACTLY the kind of book my soul has been craving. Adventure, romance, magic, pirates, mermaids, witches ... it was all so much fun!!

When I say "fun," I should also mention darker aspects of the book, in case anyone assumes this is a 100% lighthearted ride. THE MERMAID, THE WITCH, AND THE SEA touches on slavery, colonialism, alcoholism, sexual violence, abuse, homophobia, and plenty of murder. The main driving force of the story is Flora & Evelyn's search for freedom ... and it isn't by any means easy.

But, oh, this world!!! Maggie Tokuda-Hall has taken generic fantasy elements and twisted them into a narrative that manages to feel both comfortingly familiar and wildly fresh. I'm a sucker for stories about stories, and there was literal STORY MAGIC! The characters were also fascinating, and there wasn't a single POV that I disliked (which is often tricky to pull off) from Flora/Florian to Evelyn to Rake; I read the whole book in 24 hours and they were the reason why. These kids see your heteronormative gender binaries - and your sharp moral codes - and LAUGH. Why stick to the rules when they could be pirate-witches embarking on an epic star-crossed romance with undertones of chaotic political intrigue?

Exactly.

The pace did falter a *little* in the middle, and admittedly, it did seem to lack the subjective spark that creates a 5-star book, but THE MERMAID, THE WITCH, AND THE SEA has so much to offer readers. I will never stop wanting breathless, diverse fantasies like this, and I'm excited to introduce it to readers this May! 4/5

3 stars!

Pirates, mermaids, the sea... these are all buzz words for me. I was looking forward to this book but was ultimately disappointed.

What I thought this book did well was the story itself and the LGBTQ+ rep. (If you’re curious, there is a sapphic relationship, a gender-fluid character, and a non-binary character.)

What I thought this book needed some work on was the writing and editing, the character development, the context of story, and the world development.

This book needed to be longer to establish more context.

I do think people will like this one though, and I’m excited to see how everyone else rates it!

I was so excited for this book (I mean, that cover!), and it did not disappoint! The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea tells a story full of stunning prose, quiet magic, and the soft sounds of the sea.

Florian, born Flora, is a pirate on a ship that tricks wealthy passengers and sells them into slavery. Evelyn is an Imperial lady, who boards the ship Flora works on, on her way to marry an important commander. They fall in love and escape, foiling plans unbeknownst to them.

This book had such great worldbuilding. The center of it is an ownvoices Japanese-inspired empire, and the author makes sure to display the negative consequences of the colonialism with characters who suffered under its regime. There are also pirates and mermaids and the magic of the sea.

There’s also so much diversity! Flora is Black and genderfluid. Although at first, Florian is just an identity she assumes, it is stated towards the end of the book that Florian is a part of her and that she feels comfortable using she, he, and they. Thus, this book takes the “girl dresses up as a boy” trope and turns it on its head. (Also, I use she to refer to Flora because that’s the pronoun used in her point of view.) Evelyn is Japanese-coded and queer. She had an affair with her maid, and she liked Flora when she thought she was male, as well as when she finds out that she is genderfluid.

The writing was so beautiful! It lent a gentle tone to the book, like the soft sounds of the sea lapping against the shore. The romance was also so soft; they sacrifice so much for each other.

Overall, The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea was a stunning debut, with its beautiful writing, lovely characters, and gorgeous prose. The worldbuilding was great, and the romance was so soft. I definitely recommend this book for fans of The Scorpio Races!

Superb! This book was captivating! The authors words brought this world to life, and it was beautiful. And it has two of my favorite things, mermaids and witches! You can’t go wrong with those! I loved this book. It was my first read from this author, and I can not wait to read more!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

I loved this book so much. The prose is gorgeous, and although I’m not one for fantasy stories, especially ones with pirates, I just had to finish it for the sapphic storyline. THIS is what more girls who loves girls need.

This was a solid story, but I personally wasn't blown away by it. In the beginning, it was a little hard to sort out what was going on which I think impacted some of my personal enjoyment of the story.

<I> Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this novel via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is currently set to be published in May 2020. </I>

<U> The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea</u> is a sapphic pirate romance novel fraught with tales of magic and mermaids. Need I say more? The story mainly focuses on two individuals, Flora/ian and Evelyn, who come together by chance (or fate) onboard a pirateship destined for...well, I won't spoil it for you. This book is full of action, subterfuge and love in all its forms. (And again...MAGIC AND MERMAIDS!!!)

There have been a host of YA novels featuring mermaids, pirate ships, and the sea published over the past few years. (<U> Sea Witch</u>, <u> Daughter of the Pirate King</u>, <u> To Kill a Kingdom</u> and <u>The Girl from Everywhere</u> all jump to mind). Fans of those novels will be equally as enthralled with this one.

One of the elements that I tremendously enjoyed in this book was Tokuda-Hall's world building. There were some definite Japanese influences with talk of kimonos and Emperors, but she really gave it her own flavor with names and descriptions completely departed from Japan. I could vividly imagine the characters surroundings and cultures with little issue, which is an important component in fantasy literature.

As for the characters; the book mainly alternated between the view of Flora/ian and Evelyn, which added another layer of understanding to the plotline that the reader would have missed out on if Tokuda-Hall had chosen to write from one perspective. It did not cause any confusion and was easy to read, even while being interspersed with brief interludes of the Sea's thoughts and feelings. This element was unique while giving more poetic depth to the underlying backstory. Each individual character outside of the protagonists were just as colourful, complex and well thought out as Flora/ian and Evelyn as well. Tokuda-Hall highlighted their background stories and developed their relationships while maintaining the pace of the plot and keeping the book an appropriate length. The incorporation of magic, stories within stories and mermaids was really just a bonus. Some of the transitions felt a bit stilted, but the novel was fast-paced and kept me absorbed until the very end. Based on the epilogue I got the sense that the author could turn this into a series and produce a sequel or two if they so desired; I would definitely pick it up to continue the tale if they did.

For a long time I’ve assumed the reason I dislike most fictional romances is that I’m a bitter lesbian sick of having heterosexuality shoved in my face everywhere I turn. That may still be the case, however, The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea proves that I can dislike fictional lesbian romance just as much as I dislike fictional straight romance.

Because that was my number one problem with this book: the romance. It was poorly developed and cliché. First, a quick background: We have two protagonists, Evelyn and Flora. Evelyn is a wealthy member of the Imperial ruling class shipped off to marry a man she’s never met. (There’s our first cliché.) Flora, called Florian, dresses as a boy (our second cliché, but I like this trope so I’ll allow it) to fit in aboard the Dove, a pirate ship that masquerades as a passenger ship to lure in captives and sell them as slaves.

Evelyn and Flora’s relationship begins with what I’m officially labeling the world’s laziest attempt at enemies-to-lovers. Flora hates the Imperials, and she tells us as soon as she meets Evelyn that she’s determined to hate Evelyn too. This doesn’t happen because Evelyn is “not like other rich people” (cliché number three). Cue insta-love, or something very close to it. Their feelings for each other have so little development I had to squint to find it. The only meaningful interactions they have before falling in love consist of Evelyn teaching Flora how to read (cliché number four).

So I didn’t like the romance, and I didn’t much like the characters either. At first, Flora seemed like a well-developed and interesting character, a morally gray young woman determined to make her way in the world… until she met Evelyn. Evelyn bulldozed Flora’s convictions with the slightest effort, transforming Flora into a completely different person, one who only cares about Evelyn, who always does what Evelyn wants, even if it isn’t in Flora’s best interests. I was far more interested in Flora’s relationship with her brother, Alfie, or her mentor, Rake, both of which were sidelined to focus on her relationship with Evelyn.

And Evelyn… I get that she’s a sheltered rich girl, but even that doesn’t justify her lack of common sense. She’s supposedly caring and kind, and in a way she is (to a fault), but she’s somehow simultaneously incredibly self-absorbed. She doesn’t consider how her actions will affect others, not even the people she supposedly cares about. She does what she believes is the right thing even when doing so is stupid and dangerous. And I know I already mentioned her “not like other rich girls” personality, but I have to mention it again because it is so grating.

The world building was completely flat. Each of the various nations is clearly meant to resemble a real-world culture. The Empire is Japan. Tustwe, where Flora’s mother is from, is Africa. Quark is Europe. You’ll notice that both Africa and Europe are whole continents made of many distinct cultures. I know that. I’m not sure Maggie Tokuda-Hall does. She cherry-picks easily identifiable traits from these geographical regions: kimonos and tea, antelope and braided hair, pale skin and sunburns. There’s zero nuance. If you’re going to borrow real-world cultures, do some actual research! Otherwise, exercise your creativity and come up with your own fictional cultures.

The fantasy aspects of the story were equally disappointing. This book is called The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea. I expected magic! And there were traces of it, but not nearly enough to satisfy me. Maybe there’s more magic in the latter two-thirds of the book, but I’ll never know because nothing in the first third convinced me to keep reading. I was over one hundred pages in and the plot had barely started moving.

The only reason I give this book two stars instead of one is that there were moments of inspiration when Tokuda-Hall explored themes of imperialism, identity, and gender. If she’d coupled these themes with more nuanced world building, I might have kept reading simply to see the concept fully realized. And I did like Flora, as long as Evelyn wasn’t around. I would read a whole book about Flora. But I didn’t want to read one more page about Evelyn.

THE MERMAID, THE WITCH, AND THE SEA was an interesting story set in a world I"ve been longing to explore. There was magic, romance, pirates, and mermaids. Maggie Tokuda-Hall's way of weaving this world for us is truly magical in itself. She does such a brilliant job of introducing the different aspects of the world with due time. Nothing feels forced or out of place with the environment.

The story goes between the POV of a few characters: Flora/Florian, Evelyn, Rake, and the Sea. Flora/Florian is a pirate on the ship who is a woman but must pretend to be a man to stay safe on the ship. Florian, however, mostly uses non-binary terms to describe herself. Evelyn is a passenger on the ship Florian works on. She is traveling on the ship to meet the person to whom she is engaged. Rake is the first mate to the captain of the ship. And the Sea is...the sea.

Through multiple POVs, we receive a wide breadth of experiences, thoughts, emotions, and loss. The Sea is particularly an interesting POV that we receive because it's not something I've seen before in other books. Although the Sea is not a "person", it plays an important role in the story by nudging different characters on their path of self-discovery and redemption.

While romance and love were two of the main themes, I was also delightfully surprised to find loss was prominent as well. These characters were motivated by love and loss and, while that's not an all too new motivation for characters, Tokuda-Hall seemed to add her own touch to it.

Overall, I gave this 3 stars (I really thought it deserved 3.5) because at the beginning, as the author was trying to establish the variety of POVs she would be using, the story felt a little slow and repetitive. I was happy things seemed to speed up further into the story, but I wish we could have jumped into things a little sooner.

As well, there were a few characters who were introduced in the story but never explored. I wish we could have received more of a backstory or some kind of foundation so that their current situation would have been more meaningful. This wasn't a huge pitfall for me, but it definitely would have been nice to have.

Perhaps there will be a sequel which is why we didn't get the full picture for some of the more prominent characters. I'm not sure. But I wish there could have been more.

THE MERMAID, THE WITCH, AND THE SEA wouldn't be the first book I recommend to my friends, but I would recommend it at some point.

*I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and Candlewick Press.*

The Mermaid,The Witch, and The Sea is a book you don't want to miss. I'm a sucker for a YA pirate novel and this one did not disappoint. It's rich with pirate life and LGBTQ friendly on top of that. The main characters are a delight and I rooted for them the whole way. This story brought out a range of emotions in me, and I'm sure I'll come back to it again and again. I cannot recommend it enough!

What a lovely, surprising, and uniquely magical book! I was absolutely captivated by the atmosphere, and the characters.

This novel submerges the reader in a landscape so imaginative and detailed that the information of the world building/plot never feels forced, and is never difficult to understand or picture in one's mind. I absolutely loved it!

**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own**

Pirates, Mermaids, and Witches...Oh my! As soon as I saw the title and cover, I knew that I would want to read this book. Those two elements alone made it seem so interesting.

WARNING: Some minimal spoilers are ahead. Proceed with caution...

Personally, I love a good pirate themed story, and this was just that. I loved when stories have elements of gender-swapping for survival in them, because there is always the suspense of them possibly being discovered or ousted. This story had that, but also kept the female characters in the book as strong females capable of standing alone as lead characters. I found myself rooting for Flora and Evelyn throughout the book as well as some of the minor characters who were interesting in their own right. I wish we could have seen the relationship between Flora and Evelyn explored a little bit more because I believe the author could have done so without making the story raunchy as some other YA novels tend to be (not that I'm criticizing those novels). The story does reference rape and slavery so that could be an unexpected trigger for some people who are used to seeing pirates portrayed as more comical and jolly.

The magical aspect of the story is interesting and I really enjoyed the stories that helped develop the story and other characters. I was glad that the author gave the lead characters their own chapters, because it made it easier to keep track of which point-of-view I was reading; however, there were some moments in the beginning where the author was trying to do this to distinguish whose POV we were reading but it came off as repetitive and slowed the pacing. The author definitely established good pacing with this eventually. This was an ARC so there were some typos, which I'm sure will be resolved prior to the actual publication. This was a good read that I would recommend to anyone.

I was provided with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity.

The Mermaid, The Witch and The Sea is a fantastic, lyrical book full of pirates and escape from danger. It's also packed full of love, both romantic and familial. I am always here for a good mermaid book, and the mythology of mermaids and their connection to the sea was absolutely beautifully written in this one.

Flora and her brother Alfie are young pirates on the Dove, a ship captained by a tyrannical, mermaid-blood drinking man who, along with his crew, pretend their ship is a passenger ship, and plan to sell everyone on board to slavery. Lady Evelyn has just been promised in marriage and is therefore leaving her home and travelling by ship to her new spouse. When Flora and Evelyn meet, Flora is Florian, as she is only safe on the pirate ship as a he, (there's no official wording that I remember, but as far as I can tell Florian is non-binary and mostly used she/her). and with some resistance on Florian's part, the two strike up a friendship.

The Mermaid, The Witch and The Sea is a tale told in several parts, from several POVs. We have Florian and Evelyn themselves, and then Rake, the captains first mate, and even the sea herself, mother to the mermaids. As always, I do prefer books written from one POV rather than multiple, but I must admit it works very well in this story. I especially liked seeing the parts written from the eyes of the sea. It was a unique way to read.

The relationship between Florian and Evelyn is a huge part of this book, and in fact sets in motion their need for escape in the first place, and it is written so well, and so sweetly. From Evelyn teaching Florian how to read to Florian abandoning all she'd ever known to make sure that Evelyn was safe. All the characters in this book are intriguing and unique but these two by far were my favourites. I thought the ending, though slightly bitter sweet in some respects, was done perfectly.

Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who loves pirates, mermaids, or adventures at sea. I would have liked to see a little more of the sailing the open waters aspect that I enjoy about pirate books, but it didn't make a huge impact to not have much of that in this one, as the story was more about Florian and Evelyn finding freedom and happiness together rather than Evelyn learning how to steer a boat. I also would have liked to see more of Alfie, but the majority of the book wasn't spent in his presence so I guess that's understandable. The magic system, along side the mythology was also very well put together. The world building in general was done well, everything felt connected and polished and I enjoyed my visit into it. IF the author should ever decide to take another dip into this world... well I definitely wouldn't say no!

Stayed up late to finish this gorgeous tale of love and redemption. Thank you to @netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in advance for an honest review! .
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I was immediately drawn into our hero/heroine’s tale within the first few pages. The story switches between several of the main characters, giving you a wider sense of the motivations and complexity of each of their lives. The Sea, as hinted at in the title, is it’s own character, weaving through the narrative and “nudging” the fates of those who sail her waves. Her diverse cast of characters was refreshing, and I loved how @maggietokudahall brought everyone’s tales together, leaving you with both a sense of closure and a taste of more to come. I can’t wait to read more of this author in the future (check out her blog at http://www.prettyokmaggie.com to read more)! Pub date: May 5 2020.

Thank you to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for sending me an advanced copy in exchange for a review.

*Review contains spoilers*

This book checked all my boxes: pirates, magic, an enticing love story; this book has it all. The overall story was well written and the main characters growth throughout the story was my favorite part of the book. However, there were some aspects of the story I felt could have been expanded upon.

The MCs of the story are Florian/Flora, Evelyn, and Rake. Florian/Flora’s journey of self-discovery and their (the story establishes that Florian/Flora uses she/he/they) relationship with Evelyn was my favorite part of the book. Too often stories rush into the romance and it feels forced, but the pacing of Evelyn and Flora/Florian’s relationship made it feel genuine.

The magic system, although confusing at first, was quickly elaborated on and so unique. Each “spell” being cast required a cost that was almost poetic in its complexity. Maggie Tokuda-Hall uses her poetic writing style throughout the book, making things as simple as stones into an object with a soul and a story. This writing style aided to story specifically in the interludes, where the Sea was personified as a mother who could love and experience loss.

Love and loss were two of the themes present in the story. All the characters had lost something in their lives that influenced the decisions they made. Evelyn grew up without a loving family to care for her, Flora/Florian struggled with their identity for their whole life, and Rake lost his family to the Emperor’s men. Each character has a unique reason behind their actions and this reason stays with them throughout the book.

The plot was, for the most part, very well paced and coherent. However I felt like the ending scenes were rushed and the overall “battle” between The Pirate Supreme and the Emperor's men was more like a swift defeat. There was no “back and forth” between ships, The Leviathan sailed in and wiped out the enemy in record time.

Some points that I thought fell flat were Alfie’s character and Lady Ayer’s storyline. Alfie was Flora/Florian’s older brother who was sexually abused when he and Flora/Florian first boarded the Dove. Although the author did a great job writing out Alfie’s trauma and how it affected his life, I felt like his trauma defined him. Alfie’s character held little emotional weight for me and seemed to disappear after Flora/Florian left the Dove.

Lady Ayer and her handmaiden Genevieve’s character arcs seemed forced and of little importance until the end of the story, where they seemed to hold all the power. I wish the author had slowly introduced Lady Ayer’s power/influence instead of doing a big reveal towards the end of the book.

Genevieve’s character was another that I felt had a forced arc. She had little narrative weight until the last couple chapters, where it’s revealed that she’s been a trained operative the whole time. The “operative of the Emperor” plot point felt thrown into the story and the author did little to expand on a plot point I felt was very important.

Despite my grievances with some of the characters and ending scenes, this book was a really interesting read that I blazed through in record time. Hopefully there will be a sequel that will expand on this world Maggie Tokuda-Hall has created.

(More of a 3.5)

"The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea" really throws me some "Pirates of the Caribbean" vibes. Almost everyone is morally gray. In fact, we start off the prologue with one of our protagonists, Flora/Florian, straight up murdering a man in order to take a sort of transition from woman to man. And you know what? I do love morally gray characters! We get a ton of that in this novel where Flora/Florian helps the pirate ship called the Dove force people into slavery. I always remembered what one of my writing professors said: “In order to let your characters grow, you can either drop them from the pinnacle of wealth and power only to force them back up and earn their power back, or you can drop your character in morally gray ground and let them decide how their journey goes—a journey towards the dark or the light?”

I thought Flora/Florian, was alright. We get to see her/him/they shed the identity of a female in order to be protected as a man:

“The men of the Dove knew she was a girl. Or had been one. But after the captain had ordered her to kill – and she had, unflinchingly – she earned the respect to be something far better than a girl. Something safe.”

That shield of male Florian then crumbles until the line between male and female blur. It just comes to the point where actions and feelings define who you are more than gender or sex. I liked that idea a lot. But, I still don’t know if I liked Flora/Florian despite her/his journey. Also, I came into the novel thinking that only Flora knew that she was a she. I didn’t see why she had to hide her gender from the crew when the crew already knew from the get go. Did I miss the reasoning there? (Let me know if I did!)

I also thought that Evelyn Hasegawa was just…eh. So, you already know that this is a novel that has a romance between two girls. It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that the beginning shows Evelyn kissing her lady’s maid, Keiko. I don’t know why I can take Flora/Florian’s murder alright, but Evelyn not really meaning her “I love you’s” to Keiko and using her for kisses? Hmn. Nope. But in all seriousness, I did end up liking her a bit more towards the end of the novel.

The world building was at first a bit clunky. We are given so much information, I actually had to pause to write down who was who and what was what. Normally, I am fine with a proper amount of world building, but more in a gradual, more natural manner. The names and people and factions do eventually die down after the first eighth of the novel, but be prepared to immediately wrap your head around the capital of Crandon, the Known World, the Nipran Empire, Sty’s End, what the heck Tustwe is, the mystical Floating Islands, Imperials, non-Imperials, Quack—I mean, Quark, and so on.

The novel’s formatting could have used a little brush up (nothing so much as to take away from the novel’s enjoyment factor, but a little clean up as to add an extra polish shine.) Inner monologue or communication via mind could have been differentiated through italics. Some colloquial vernacular (ex: OK or totally) could have been replaced with more world specific vocabulary. Like I said, just a little bit more polish.

I did feel like the romance progressed a bit too quickly and that it was done as such in order to make Evelyn even more devastated when Flora/Florian eventually betrays her. Actually, why would the pirates wait so long to reveal their true colors? If they just up and did their “Oooo, we’re pirates!” schpeel from the get go, then they would have avoided the risk of the crew members getting too attached to passengers. I guess there would be no story, then?

Okay, so, here’s this. I really wanted to super, SUPER like this novel. I want some queer romance in YA, but I don’t want just any queer romance. I want GOOD queer romance. I felt like there could have been more to this novel. The characters could have been fleshed out. The world could have been eased into better. The formatting could use a fresh coat of paint. The romance was a little stale. I just felt like we got the surface of what we could have had. That being said, I liked the book. It was entertaining, and I would love to see more from the author.

#TheMermaidtheWitchandtheSea #NetGalley
A fantastic and fun novel about pirates, mermaids, and adventure! I love to read books like this one.

4.25/5 stars

I'm gonna be honest and say that I wasn't expecting to like this. Pirates and mermaids have always been a sore spot for me, and I have trouble getting into books that have anything like that. This book did a fantastic job of getting me to care for the characters and the overall story! I'll say that this book focuses more on the romance and not enough in the actual adventure. Because of that I dropped my rating a bit, bit I still enjoyed it!

This book was received as an ARC from Candlewick Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I was not expecting to read a book like this. I was expecting a retelling of the little mermaid but I got something completely different. However, I did find the story very compelling and eye-catching so I did continue to read on. Florian's background as a pirate and orphan really captivated me and the rules he had to follow in order to survive and stay on the ship. Then with fair maiden Evelyn on her way to an arranged marriage, the captain of the ship captures Evelyn and she is imprisoned on the ship. Now she meets Florian and the connect and start to fall in love. Now with something to fight for, they take matters in their own hands and will stop at nothing to be together. When I finished the book, I had such a strong love for it that I could not wait to share it with our teen book club. I know they will have a lot to say and it will provide entertaining discussions.

We will consider adding this title to our YA collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea is pure magic. I'm so glad I had the chance to receive an ARC for this book that turned out to be one of my favorites. The beautiful cover is an added bonus.