Incredible follow up to Skin of the Sea, Natasha Bowen's mermaids remain an amazing countertext to the disneyfied ones that permeate society

I absolutely love books that are retellings or inspired by The Little Mermaid! This sequel was fantastic!!!

I loved this book as much as the first one. I love the email character and the representation that is showed throughout. It is hard to follow and understand when reading the physical copy. I would highly recommend doing the audio for people who are having a hard time following it but overall I thought the writing and descriptions were good. The main characters were easy to relate to.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions contained within are my own.

Back in 2021, I was lucky enough to be included on the TBR & Beyond Tours blog tour for the first book in this series, Skin of the Sea. What first drew me to the book, admittedly, was the breathtaking cover. Then I discovered it was about Black mermaids and I was all the way sold. I ended up enjoying the first book quite a bit so I was eager to pick up Soul of the Deep and finish out the duology. Did I enjoy it as much as the first? No. But did I still have a good time? Absolutely!

We begin this sequel at the bottom of the ocean as Simi deals with the consequences of the deal she makes at the end of book one. But her bargain has had unforeseen consequences on not only Simi, but the world. With demons and gods running amok, Simi has to return from the deepest depths to help set things right.

I have to say, there is a lot going on in this book. So much so that the plot felt a bit rushed and muddled. I constantly found myself rereading parts because I kept getting lost in the weeds of everything that was going on! Honestly, it made me wish that this had been a trilogy because I was loving the story, but I wish there had been more time to develop and flesh it out. That feeling goes for the characters, as well! Though Simi had an incredible arc that ended in a satisfying way, I felt like the rest of the characters that were so alive in the first book felt a little flat this time around.

All that said, the writing in this was just as beautiful and evocative as the writing in the first book. The author does an incredible job of building a world that comes to life in your minds’ eye. You feel the chill of the deep, the warmth of the jungles, and everything in between as Simi goes on her journey. The gorgeous writing was hands down my favorite part of Soul of the Deep! It definitely makes me excited to read from this author again.

So this was a “liked it, didn’t love it” kind of read and, though it didn’t hit as much as the first in the series, I still had a good time reading it.

I requested this book not realizing it was the second in a series. Unfortunately, I found book 1 to be too YA for my liking and did not finish it. Therefore, I will not be reviewing this title after all. I am sorry for the inconvenience. Please disregard my star rating as it doesn't reflect my thoughts on this series.

Soul of the Deep was a satisfying conclusion to Skin of the Sea. The bargain Simi made to save those she loved is far more dangerous than she had anticipated so she rushes back to the surface to make the trek to warn those who will be affected by a war between gods. The trickster god, Eshu asks for help from Simi to prevent catastrophe, but can he be trusted? While compared to Little Mermaid, most of the action happens on land, so although Simi is one of the Mami Wata (a protector of the souls lost at sea), I recommend this more to those who enjoyed The Gilded Ones or A Song of Wraiths and Ruin.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review. I thought this was such a great follow up and finish to the Skin of Sea duology and to the world. I love mermaid books and getting to read about Black mermaids is such a privilege!

Soul of the Deep was interesting and full of plot twists. The story is entertaining and paced well. It's an amazing sequel and conclusion. Natasha Bowen's writing style is incredibly descriptive which is the best part of both books Skin of the Deep and Soul of the Deep. It picks up right after the ending of book one and it adds to the story, allowing you to connect more with the characters and world. Well done Natasha Bowen

This sequel is beautiful! Thank you for the opportunity to read the latest Natasha Bowen story. It shows a strong, powerful, character of color who does not have easy choices to make, but pushes through regardless. I'll be purchasing this second book for my school's library. :)

This was a video review on Tiktok @rosegoldbooktok
https://www.tiktok.com/@rosegoldbooktok/video/7148914163371248938?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7262790721802487342

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

This was such a fantastic book. I loved every minute of it! Plus, I just LOVED the conclusion. I'll definitely be recommending this to my teen readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me an ARC!
.
Unfortunately I DNFed this, it just didn’t catch my attention and maybe I’ll get into it again when I’m in the perfect headspace to give this another try! But I would buy and recommend this to others definitely!

Sequels can be hit or miss, they can either be a great follow up to its predecessor or they can be so bad that you wish you hadn’t wasted your time with it. Thankfully, Soul of the Deep is a wonderful follow up to Skin of the Deep. Where the previous book got off to a slow start and took me a bit to get into as the world building was developed and characters introduced, this book drew me right in from the beginning and held my attention to the end.

Getting to return to this world was a true joy as it delved even more into the mythology from the previous book and the characters were even more fleshed out and it was apparent they were hitting their stride. I loved getting to learn more about Simidele’s past before becoming a Mami Wata and getting introduced to more characters who were important to Simi in her previous life.

I fell even more in love with these characters and can only hope that the author will give us another book filled with Simi and her friends.

I thought this was an excellent follow up to the first book and a great way to end the duology. The first one was more of an adventure and this one was like an all out war to protect the ones they loved.

There were some new characters added and the return of some from the first book that I enjoyed. I really liked exploring all the different folklore and mythology of the Mami Wata and the different Gods they had to deal with in the book.

The forbidden romance aspect of the book had me intrigued too. I am always down for some yearning for each other. It builds up and makes it rewarding when certain things happen.

The only thing I didn’t really like about this book was the plot twist near the end. I thought it was super predictable and I was kind of expecting it the whole time so I wasn’t really surprised when it happened just like I thought it would.

I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys mermaid mythology and adventure stories.

Unlike the first one, this one was 10x easier to get into the groove of reading! I really enjoyed the character development and the ending left me wanting more! This is a must-read!

I was so excited to read more of Simi's journey in Soul of the Deep by Natasha Bowen. After the cliffhanger in her first book, I literally squealed when I saw my request for the advanced copy of this book was approved. Falling back into this world of orisas was simply lovely and I love the complexities and layers that Bowen weaves in this story. We see so much growth in Simi as she has to make tough decisions and face responsibilities. Soul of the Deep is a beautiful story that captivates the reader completely. Thank you Random House Children's for the advanced copy of this story!

3/5 stars
After the major cliffhanger Skin of the Sea ended with, I was anxious to get my hands on Soul of the Deep, which picks up months later.
If you're not familiar with the premise, the series is a retelling of The Little Mermaid, albeit with African mythology, which I find fascinating. We get more of the same with the sequel but while Skin of the Sea has been my favorite book of 2022, I was left underwhelmed with its sequel. On one hand, the story dragged at times but on the other, there were storylines I would have preferred to have fleshed out more. The pace of the story didn't pick up until the last quarter of the novel but the main plot's resolution did not match the build-up's intensity. The ending was also abrupt and left me wanting more, which I'm hoping means we are getting another sequel

This was an easy, captivating read for me. I have always like the concept of Black mermaids and I was sucked in this world with The Skin of the Sea. I love how the story was continued and the new elements added to the story in this book. Is there going to be another book because I feel like we are not done with this story.

Well, surprise surprise, I loved the sequel way more than the original. I know I’m in the minority of folks who always seem to love a sequel more than the original but especially with fantasy, the more I know the world, the magic, the characters - the more deeply I can immerse myself. Now that I’ve read more African mythology based fantasy, it was much easier to settle in with orisas, iyalawo, ajogun, babalawo, oyinbo etc as concepts.

I was so bought in with Simi this time and as much as I loved that this was a mermaid story, I liked the adventures on land even more. Don’t get me wrong, you get plenty of underwater action but 3/4 of the action takes place on land. And boy is there action in this one! There are some stunning betrayals and heartbreaking losses as the story progresses. I loved the focus on storytelling and song as well as community and forgiveness.

The ending is pitch perfect.

Read this one if you like Children of Blood and Bone, Raybearer or A Song of Wraiths and Ruin.

Thanks to Random House Children's for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.