A tumultuous journey of magic and misadventure, THE MERMAID, THE WITCH, AND THE SEA easily belongs alongside fantasy greats like Robin McKinley and Dianna Wynne Jones. The lore of this novel is steeped in seawater and blood, and has its fair share of gruesome moments, but also is achingly romantic. Flora/Florian and Evelyn are richly drawn characters and their love story amidst their search for identity is so moving and powerful. Add this to your must-read pile immediately!

The Mermaid the Witch and the Sea was an excellent read. However, I was hoping for more adventure vibes and pirate feels. It definitely focused more on the romance and less on adventure. There was a mermaid and floating islands and a ship called the Dove. There was pirate moments and a witch and a stone. I can't say I loved the characters either which made it a bit difficult to love the story. The interludes were my favorite parts about this book, they were so magical and lyrical! I really did enjoy this book though! It will be a perfect spring/summer read!

3.5 stars

There is a lot of fun to be had here, and some of that is apparent even in the title: mermaids?! Witches?! The sea?! Count me in! I love a well executed YA fantasy novel, and it's an added benefit that these characters possess diverse identities in human and supernatural ways. I also enjoy all of the LGBTQ+ elements in terms of sexuality, identity, and expression. Flora's/Florian's evolving identifications are a highlight here.

While there are many engaging elements, there are some plot-related pitfalls that - for me - mostly center on organization. Rake becomes a more significant character, but this happens oddly late in the novel. I'd have liked to see more of and from him early on so that I could feel more bought into his story and outcomes. There is NOT ENOUGH MERMAID TIME here! The first mermaid event is so awesome. I wish there had been a stronger and more prevalent thread of this kind of material throughout. Alfie's entire presentation is sad: SO sad. We can experience some traumatic reality in YA, but he is just one bummer event or recall after another, and I found myself dreading what was coming when I'd see his name. I wish the land-based scenes had not existed at all or had been significantly more concise. Honestly, I lost interest during that entire section, which was surprising since I was pretty engaged prior to and after that. One of the strangest parts of the novel to me is the epilogue. I do NOT understand the character choice here or the final message. It seems like we're going in a really different direction with an entirely flat character: weird choice.

Three cheers for mermaids! There's a lot of promise in the storytelling here, but I'm hopeful for more economizing and thoughtful character choices in future works by this author.

I am a nautical fan. This one fell a tad short for me. I hate to say it. But let me say, the chapter and POV dedicated to the sea were incredible. I loved them so much. The sea was a character, a part of the story. I would read this book just for that imagery.

Queer pirates, magical mermaids, morally gray witches...I mean what else could you ask for? Not a whole lot, but there definitely was a few things I found to be rather bothersome or annoying.

The story's MC are Florian, Evelyn, and Rake, though you don't get much from Rake until closer to the end of the book. Florian or Flora, has been a crew member of The Dove since she/he/they were ten years old. I use all of the pronouns for a reason, which I will get into later. Her brother, Alfie, is also a crew member of the Dove, but is rather worthless for he spends his time drinking himself into a drunken stupor or is full of mermaid blood. I did not feel as if his character was relevant or added much to the story line. I would have enjoyed more substance from him.

Evelyn is a fun character as well. She is a highborn lady whose parents just sold her off to the highest bidder. What's really messed up about her voyage to meet her future husband is that she travels with her own coffin. They take the saying "until death do us part" way to seriously and once her role has been served, they will bury her in said coffin.

Rake is a double agent/pirate. He is a member of the Dove crew, but serves another pirate by the name of Pirate Superior, which is a slightly lame name, but that neither her or there. He is another morally gray character and I'm not sure how I felt about him by the end of it. Yes, he helped Florian/Flora and Evelyn escape, but he also sat by and watched Aflie get sexually abused (that's alluded to, but maybe it was something else. I highly doubt it though,) and beaten so badly that some of his bone could be seen from his back.

This book does a wonderful job showing the fluidity of gender. Flora took on the name Florian after joining the Dove crew. We see her struggle with her gender and answering the question, who are they? The witch, in fact, was the one who prompted Florian / Flora to really question who they were. Florian identified as both Florian and Flora and liked any pronoun. Evelyn, her love interest, was extremely accepting of Florian and Flora and proved to love them rather than an assigned gender.

So all of that was cool.

What I was not fond of was the build up to this impending brawl/war, or whatever you wish to call it, and having a very abrupt end to it. Lady Ayer, a highborn that accompanied Evelyn, along with Genevieve, both turned out to be plotting against the wealthy people on board. However, Lady Ayer's death seemed sudden and Genevieve's epilogue seemed...abrupt. Was this an attempt to set up a sequel? If that is the case, then I might understand it. However, I still felt the ending was much to be desired.

I will say I did enjoy the ending Evelyn and Flora got. It was cheesy, but cute.

Overall, this book is a cute, fun read. It's innocent in the romance side, but definitely goes into deeper and heavier things in terms of violence. Overall, it was a fun, fast paced novel.

This was one of the top books I wanted to read this year! It did not disappoint and I wish I could read it again and again. I love pirate books with action, adventure, and love and this book had it all. I will be recommending his book to all of my teen patrons and will be purchasing it. Great book!

Okay, I have to admit that I was a little reluctant to read this book because pirates are not my thing, but after thinking what the heck? and going for it anyway, I am so so happy I did. The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall is a journey of self-discovery and acceptance, love and magic. Told in alternating points of view, it is a book with incredible diversity and perhaps one of the most in depth self-examinations I’ve read in a while.

There is a lot room for expansion when it comes to the world building in this book as we are limited to the places and cultures the characters are familiar with, though this is not to say that it hasn’t already been done well here. I find the magic system fascinating and am entirely appreciative of how Tokuda-Hall doesn’t gloss over it as some authors tend to do.

The characters, on the other hand, are solid and believable. In my opinion, Flora’s growth as the story progresses is the most substantial one. The other important characters, including minor ones, do grow and change as well, but I feel that theirs weren’t as weighty as Flora’s, which is a little disappointing considering how this book is told in alternating points of view. Character reiteration is strong here as well, which helps as a continuous reminder to reader of their individual identities, though it was a little ramble-y at some parts. The characters also got a little muddled up in my head while I was reading because when they’re examining themselves, they start to sound like each other as they share similar philosophies.

The pacing is perfect for this book. It’s not too slow and not too fast, and the plot unraveled nicely. However, I feel that the impact of the main plot is somehow not there? I don’t know how to explain myself well here, but the most major plot (which I believe is the romance between Flora and Evelyn) doesn’t have a strong enough presence. All the plots—including mains and subs—have this equal amount of importance which felt too widespread and thus, was distracting for me.

For example, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao has a main plot where Xifeng does all she can to become empress (as mentioned in the book’s summary). We know throughout the story that this has the most importance and thus, the impact of certain subplots are elevated and vice versa by this knowledge. In The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, the main plot which I believe is the aforementioned romance, is at times, placed aside and outshone by subplots which thus weakens the impact of it and also vice versa.

Everything considered, I think that this book is really well written and would definitely be a title I’d recommend. The interludes are brilliant, by the way. 10 out of 10, definitely my utmost favorite parts of this book!

What a book! Second-world fantasy at it's finest! The world building was intricate and immersive, but blended seamlessly with the plot, so none of the details ever bogged down the story. The characters are immediately engaging, and there's so much tension! I also really enjoyed how the book takes the "girl dressed as a boy to blend in" trope and turns it on its head, giving us instead a moving story of Flora exploring her genderfluidity. The magic system is also really cool! Stellar world-building, amazing characters, and a fast-paced plot. 10/10 would recommend if the phrase "genderfluid pirate" sounds like your jam.

This book is SO GOOD. I wasn't expecting it to be amazing as it is and I'm blown away.
The diversity, the representation, the plot, the characters, everything about this book is 10/10.
I did assume from the cover that this was middle grade, which it is definitely not. This book isn't slow at all and the action starts right away, which I loved. It's fast paced without being rushed and the plot is so engaging, I would being reading for hours and never get bored.
I loved the characters so much. I enjoyed the diversity and representation so much. I can't remember the last time I read a diverse fantasy YA book thatI enjoyed so much.
The writing was wonderful and the concept was fantastic. I honestly have nothing negative to say about this book, I enjoyed it so much. It's been such a long time since I've loved a YA book so much and The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is everything I needed from a YA book and more. I highly recommend picking up a copy.