Though I love a good Fantasy book this wasn't one for me and sometimes that happen. Though this wasn't a book for me I would suggest it to those that love Pirates and Mermaids this is a story for you! Thinking this was something a little different I picked it up and gave it my best shot! I think you should at least give this one a go! Since the story was worth it even if I didn't connect with it as I thought I would. Flora and Evelyn are amazing females that are very powerful and know what they want. They will show woman how to take names and not be afraid to do it. That is something I truly loved about this book and I wish I loved it more.

This book seemed like something I would love and read cover to cover in a day or two. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. But I also think a lot of it comes down to me not being the target audience after all.

The thing I definitely did not enjoy, though, was the genderfluid rep. Which didn't seem like genderfluid at all. The whole time, it feels like Flora only identifies as a man as a means to survive, not because it's something that's natural to her. I'm not genderfluid, but I am nonbinary, and this aspect of the story just never rang true to my ear. It was a big disappointment.

I also wasn't a fan of the instalove.

Have you ever gone back to read over old reviews and came across one that makes you stop in your tracks, and not in a good way? Well, recently I circled back to my review for The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea and was absolutely mortified with what I'd put down on the page. It was just... mean, and rude, and completely unacceptable on so many levels. 

Let me be clear. I ADORED this book. 

So for anyone who read my original review - I am so sorry. And to Maggie Tokuda-Hall and the team that made this amazing book a reality - I simply can't apologize enough. I was a dick. And it's time to set things right. 

Revised review below:

When it comes to YA fantasy I love a western-inspired courtly drama featuring a not-so-helpless heroine as much as the next girl, but the minute you mention pirates you can forget the courts and castles gimme some ships, a set of morally grey characters, and a little adventure and everything else takes a back seat. And let me tell you, this baby did not disappoint - it has it all!

pirates - check
badass characters - check
sapphic romance - check
a gender fluid MC - hella check!
diversity in character representation - yup, yup, yup!
noticeable non-western influences & perspective - I see you
the sea as a nascent being - um, yes please, more of this
timid characters that turn out to be secretly shabby - check
unconventional mermaids - check
oodles of betrayal and plot twists - don't get too comfy my friends
complicated family dynamics for some added drama - I mean, I know characters are supposed to have emotional wounds to make them grounded and all that, but why'd you gotta go and hurt me so good?
and, say it with me, WITCHES!

Yes, this baby has pirates and witches all bundled up into one delightfully action packed adventure. It is... *chef's kiss*. An as complicated as everything gets towards the climax, it all just makes sense. There is never an easy out to a difficult situation, societal roles and expectations are nearly inescapable, magic doesn't just miraculous happen - it's difficult to learn and comes at an extraordinarily high price, and you can't just run away and become a pirate for funsies - there are serious consequences. The consistency in adherence to this internal logic makes this book both emotionally fraught and easy to get attached to. You know what's going to, or could, happen and you still end up with all the feels when the event takes place. Again with the hurts so good!

There's a beautiful balance between world building, character development, action, and romance that will pull you through some of the most creative settings I've seen in a good long while. But it's not all fluff and fancy. This book dives deep into some tough topics like imperialism, misogyny, slavery, and cultural genocide. And all without every coming across as trying to 'teach' the reader anything. The critiques are there to spark though and likely make more than a few readers uncomfortable in the best possible way (hello introspection, my old friend). But, the option is always there to engage in this discourse as deeply as the reader desires. Just reading for the high seas, high stakes action? Suspend your disbelief and carry on. Want to unpack some serious societal critiques? Get your tissues and punching bags ready. 

The only place where I stumbled a little was the writing style for a few of the characters. On the whole, the writing is lyrical, imaginative, and highly evocative. But there were a few perspectives where I found the shift in style to be somewhat jarring. However, my discomfort lasted only a short while and I soon acclimatized to all the different voices, and was gobbling up every word regardless of which POV it came from. 

Altogether this is a phenomenal read that doesn't get near enough of the hype that it genuinely deserves. Bring on book two, baby, I am here for it.

A wonderfully magical book set in a cruel empire, across a sea of mermaids (who play a minor role and are not the mermaids most think of), and where anything might hold a little magic. I adored our characters, yes even the cruel ones. Given I am terrified of water, especially the ocean, its surprising that the love affair this book has with the sea felt natural and right to me. Now that’s proof of good writing!

Stories Inside Stories
I always love books that have lore or stories inside of stories. Maggie Tokuda-Hall gives us this in the form of little fables or myths; as well as the stories the characters tell of their past. This writing technique is perfect for fantasy world's as it gives insight into the history or foundation of the world. Done well it's a delight every time; and I definitely was thrilled each time I encountered one here.

Gender Swap
A (perhaps) cliché piece of this story is that Florian, our lead girl, is hiding out on a pirate ship as a boy. This is not an uncommon trope if only because women have been legitimately doing this for thousands of years in our history. The reality is, for this fantasy world (and our own) that being a man is almost always safer and provides opportunity that being a woman does not. I like how Florian handles her identity of being a woman inside of being a man. Her own sexuality is at question throughout and it plays nicely with the gender question as well. I was unsure at many points what way Florian might lean and thus felt like I was discovering her as she discovered herself.

Romance
So there is some pretty heavy romance in this. It doesn't feel out of place, and it's handled beautifully; but it is there. So if you are hoping for an all out violent and brutal fantasy you will find that those pages are present as well; but that much of the over arcing story has a romantic tone to it. It felt genuine in The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea for me. I liked how the Sea itself had a few moments to speak to us and expressed itself in a very lyrical, romantic way.

Overall
This may be one of my favourite reads of 2020. It's been a tough year to get into books and things have really distracted me from reading this year. So to find a story like Tokuda-Hall has given us was a huge relief; and allowed me to really enjoy the experience. There are fights, torture, and injustices in this gorgeous novel; alongside rescues, love, and pity. The magic of this book is that it has a little bit of magic laced into it; while still feeling realistic, harsh, and unfair. Just like our own world so often is.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

I loved this book almost more than I can express. It was an early read for me this year, and after over 200 other books, imagery from it and my concern for its characters has stuck with me the whole year. A painful, beautiful, fantastical, romantic, swashbuckling book.

What a magical, stunning read! When I got the notification that I was approved, I got so excited to read it. And I was right! All the hype on bookstagram matched the ethereal, sublime story unfolding within the pages.

This book was full of action, adventure, magic, self discovery/identity, and romance. I enjoyed getting to know the characters, especially Flora/Floria. This book broke my heart several times, but I kept reading and I am glad I did. I also loved how the Sea was a character.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Net Galley for the free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

THE MERMAID, THE WITCH, AND THE SEA is a lush, beautiful, and romantic fantasy that follows Flora, now living as Florian, and Lady Evelyn Hasegawa as they fall in love and try to survive in a dangerous world. Florian is a pirate, desperate to live and hoping for an escape of his own, on a ship that pretends to be a grand transportation vessel but is truly a front for slave trafficking. Evelyn is on the ship, thinking she is on a voyage to meet her fiancé for the first time (and none too happy about it). There, she and Florian meet, and an unexpected but powerful bond forges between them. Their connection sets off an adventure with witches, mermaids, betrayal, love, and mystery.

Maggie Tokuda-Hall writes with lyrical, moving prose that immerses the reader right into the heart of the book. The chapters alternate following Flora and Evelyn with occasional chapters for secondary characters like Rake. Each character has a powerful story. Flora/Florian doesn't relish life as a pirate. She's lonely and doesn't like the knife's edge tension on the ship. But she's also conflicted because her brother is also on the crew, and though he drinks away their savings, she loves him. She's extremely reluctant to like Evelyn, someone who comes from a world of privilege. On Evelyn's end, she never thought she would be teaching a pirate to read and to then share stories with him, finding joy on a journey where each day brings her closer to a fate she never wanted. I love how they slowly open up to each other and continue to choose each other again and again, even when all hope seems lost.

As hard as it is to pick one favorite element of THE MERMAID, THE WITCH, AND THE SEA, I think it's the lore. The sea is a living deity on her own, and the mermaids are her daughters who hold memories for her. Each time pirates capture mermaids (to use for their mermaid's blood, an intoxicating drink), she loses memories. The Pirate Supreme is her human charge whose mission in life is to stop such pirates and protect the mermaids. Meanwhile, on land, you have witches who are largely thought to be extinct due to the Emperor's colonizing. I could read books upon books set in this world, and I would never get tired of learning more about this intricate place.

If you're looking for a beautifully written, queer, romantic, powerful story to lose yourself in, THE MERMAID, THE WITCH, AND THE SEA is the perfect recommendation.

Gay mermaids! Gay pirates! What more can you want? I wish I picked this one up earlier. Definitely a great summer read and I'm glad it got the buzz it did.

Rating; 4.25 stars

ONE OF MY MOST FAVOURITE BOOKS OF 2020
Absolutely loved every second of this. The writing was like a warm hug. I have seen some people express that they felt like the romance was love at first sight - a trope I hate; but it absolutely did not feel that way at all. To me, the romance was meticulously developed over months of voyage at sea. I loved Florian for how he was kind and yet did things no morally good person should. There was so much depth of his character and the same goes for Evelyn. She was a bashful daughter, but did things to please her parents; but was also a woman who knew what she wanted and would fight for it. The way Flora and Florian intersected, just such good genderfluid representation (note: I am not an OwnVoices reviewer for this rep). I loved how Evelyn never once doubted her attraction to Florian or Flora, and never doubted her being a lesbian even before Flora confirmed she was genderfluid. We love to see it! No internalised queerphobia or transphobia. Just beautiful.

I loved how this book effortlessly shows us how vile, capitalistic and imperialistic the empire is; and how the people who serve the empire are complicit in its atrocities. It very realistically portrayed how state sanctioned patriarchy and misogyny puts every one who is not a cis man at grave disadvantage. The magic of the sea and the witch were such beautiful, tender things and yet the same magic was capable of mass destruction. I loved reading the POV of The Sea, it was so poetically written and had such strong emotion behind it.

The only reason that I do not give this beautiful masterpiece 5 stars is because the vibe of the story takes a hard right at 40%. Everything suddenly changes and it almost feels like we are in a new story. It felt like a story with very small fantasy elements until then, and its metamorphosis at that point is what established it as a fantasy for me.

Needless to say, I very highly recommend this book. I love it with all my heart and would like to thank it for the yearning, the tears and the happiness.

Meh. It was alright. Pirates, mermaids, high seas adventure, and villians should have made this a solid hit for me. It was just not there. I hear there is a book 2 coming so I will definitely grad as there was some solid elements I am hoping get built upon.

I knew going into this book that it was going to be a wild ride, and I was not wrong.

The book opens with Flora becoming “Florian” a man and a pirate, disguising her gender to be a man to survive aboard the Dove. Florian is who Flora must be in front of all of the other crew members and Florian has proven himself to be worthy when he kills someone for the Nameless Captain.

There’s also Evelyn, who has, for all intents and purposes, been sold by her parents to a wealthy man, and she must sail to him on the Dove. But when she gets aboard the ship, there are many other things that happen that easily shift her focus – including Florian, whom Evelyn has taking a liking to.

*

This book was quite fast, and had so many lovely twists and turns. I loved that each part of the book was separated into parts to go with the title, and I loved how it all came together in the end – and in ways that I wasn’t expecting (and didn’t really realise until writing this review).

I loved getting to know Flora (and therefore Florian) as a person, and absolutely adored the way that they didn’t fit the typical “pirate” lifestyle, considering that Flora was a child when they started serving aboard the Dove.

Evelyn and Flora’s relationship was so wonderfully written, too, and I found myself on the edge of my seat, dying to know what happened next between them, and for their story.

This was a fun, quick, and somewhat brutal read (in places) but it is one that I definitely recommend for anyone who likes magic, pirates, and mermaids (one or all three!).

*

Representation: Flora (MC) is Black, queer, gender fluid, Evelyn (MC) is Asian (Japanese inspired) and queer.

Content warnings: Sexism, murder, violence, light torture, parental abuse (neglect).

Finding a potential out from her life as a starving peddler, Flora pretends to be Florian, a man, so as to earn a spot on the ship, Dove. She's stays under the radar, working hard, but quickly discovers her new life as a pirate may not be the escape she hoped for.
A passenger who's on the ship, Evelyn, befriends Flora and the two connect as they navigate multiple adventures from recusing a mermaid, confronting a witch, discovering friends who are enemies, and attempting to navigate the unapologetic brutality of the ocean.
Finding the path to friendship, adventure, and something more, the characters pulled me in and kept me routing for them.
Fun read.

Although it took me a while to finish this was a fabulous book and I am excited to read more from the author!

I blame my not enjoying this book on the Netgalley synopsis. Harsh maybe, but it gave me the complete wrong impression of this book and unfortunately it wasn't a good experience.

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is unlike any book I've read before. Florian/Flora and Evelyn's story of love escaping oppressive environments warmed my heart and they're now one of my favorite uhaul relationships. They literally jump ship to attempt to create a life they can both live as themselves in and over the course of the story each becomes someone entirely new. I think some aspects of the world-building I found lacking as I never quite understood what was happening, but it's unclear to me if that's intentional or not. All the faults in it were made up by the way Florian or Flora considers their gender and pronouns trying to decide what feels true to them, this results in the use of she/they/he pronouns and a line about how they "all feel true" and the use of both Flora and Florian as a name. I really appreciated that arc and how it was handled and I personally will be holding Florian/Flora close to my heart for years to come.

The mermaid , the witch and the sea was a mesmerising read . This is not an ownvoice review.

Maggie navigates the relationship between Florian and Evelyn in a charming way. How they get to know each other , how Evelyn teaches Florian , Florian discovering their sexuality was all magical in the first part of the story.

The second part , the survival was brutal and harsh like the coldest deserts of a country. Evelyn is stuck in a palace that wants her dead , discovering her parents plan while desperately missing Florian was jaw dropping. Florian on the other side , being forced to concentrate and learn magic was stunning.

Maggie perfects the balance between the romance and the brutal parts of the book in a magical way. I would definitely continue to support Maggie in their future endeavours.

I thank Candlewick press and NetGalley for granting me with the arc. All opinions are my own.

I liked this one, the characters were strong. I liked that the Sea got it's own POV.

It was different, which is refreshing for a fantasy containing mermaids. I liked the variety of characters and that the main character did not identify as a specific gender - which is DEFINITELY nice to see in a YA fantasy.

I'd definitely recommend this book to younger readers - while the plot wasn't mindblowing, it did flow brilliantly. It wasn't particularly fast, but I liked that the three elements tied in together well. Plus it was relatively short so it was nice that it wasn't dragged over too long considering there wasn't a huge amount going on.

Very morally grey in places which was interesting! A very good read.

There is a dearth of good books with mermaids, pirates, and sea-related content. This book is a great way to fill it up. I read it and then listened to it on audiobook and absolutely loved it. The commentary on trans acceptance, love, and the different way it perpetuates, how nature is not something we can command because it is a much higher power, corruption and family is not limited by blood, are fabulous. The different points of view gave a very well rounded outlook. I did not predict the ending and became pretty emotional. The stories of the first witch perplexed me and honestly, I was frequently forgetting what she was talking about. I liked the map and world-building. The way The Sea was a totally different entity and the supreme power governing, the justice system where no life unnecessarily taken for fun does not go unpunished. I kept on wondering about the pirate supreme and when the story tied up, it answered pretty much all my questions. The vocabulary was very good and the narration kept me engaged. I completed it in three to four sittings. Finally, the cover is just stunning, the day it becomes available where I live, I will buy a finished copy.

Maybe I went into this with too high of hopes. It didn’t pan out very well for me because I couldn’t connect with the characters