I remember first reading this on Webtoons and I was delighted to see that it is coming to print. This is an adorable and heartwrenching comic that explores the central theme of providing for others at the expense of yourself. This is shown both through Kappa (the Beacon) and Siren. Kappa is born into a life that consists nearly entirely of serving others without ever being given to oppurtunity to chose that path for himself. Siren is similarly caged into the expectation that he will save his people from the curse that plagues them, but is asked to compromise his own wants, wishes, and morals to do so. Only when their paths cross do they begin to consider there could be other paths they can pursue. This comic also includes adorable queer representation though the romantic plot is only one small aspect of a much larger story.

This book was excellent! I'm glad that this webtoon is getting turned into a physical copy. The characters are very likeable and the story is easy to read.
I loved the relationship between Kappa and Siren, it progressed well as the book continued.
This is definitely one of my favorite reads this year!

Cute art and a cute story that is sure to appeal to a lot of our tween and teen graphic novel fans. The only reason I'm not giving it more stars is that this definitely reads like a first volume and doesn't feel at all complete on its own, which makes it a little less usable for things like book clubs.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

one of my favorite webtoons! such a fun aquatic story with beautiful art style and unique plot

The story starts with this gold merfish named kappa is known as the beacon who is destined to help with many prophecies from many fish villages/ species. one species has a prophecy where the shark prince named siren has to kill kappa. however, this becomes a difficult task when the prince siren and the gold merfish kappa falls in love GASP

Will the prince choose to kill the love of his life to save his people from this deadly curse? Or will the prince save his love and betray his people including his parents

the prophecy by taylor swift

despite the forrbidden lovers tagline, this is such a precious mermaid webtoon!!! It’s also funny like silly goofy. I wasn’t expecting this cute comic to be a COMEDY

I really enjoyed this! After seeing a couple rave reviews on goodreads from friends, this went from a maybe to must read for me and I was thrilled to be approved for an ARC from NetGalley.

I really like the premise of two characters connected by opposing roles in a prophecy who both bond because of it and struggle with it. We got to see some personality and sweetness between them and their shared experiences of being othered and saddled with intense expectations due to this prophecy.
It feels like it’s going an interesting direction with free will and destiny and obligations to self and others, and I’m really looking forward to the next volume.

I wish more happened in this first volume, but we’ve been set up with a solid cliffhanger and I’ve got a feeling I might enjoy future volumes even more as the adventure really gets rolling.

Definitely recommend, a great graphic novel that is volume 1 in a longer series to be published in the future.

rating: 3.5★

though the premise is v intriguing, this was a bit of a slow start for me. i was surprised at how little action overall happens in this first volume. i would read the next volume or continue on webtoons though bc i hear it picks up.

the art style is very cute and i love the mermaid designs, but i did feel like the choice to have monochromatic color themes to panels made it feel a bit underwhelming sometimes.

the extra content however was very intriguing, i liked the extra details and thought put into little things about this world!

an honest arc review ♡

I am in love with this story. A gorgeously written illustrated tale about love, family, fate, and how to choose what is right over what you’ve been taught needs to be. This story is so touching and complicated, the relationship between Kappa and Siren is beautiful and handled so delicately. It m such an instant fan of Wendy Martin and can’t wait to read more!

While I was immediately captivated with the first pages; the prophecy, the style, the setting and the beacon, soon my excitement left its place to a bit of disappointment.
I am still curious about what will happen next, and perhaps the more exciting story lies in the next volumes, but I expected more depth, layers, world-building and character establishment in this volume.

4.5 stars rounded up to five on net galley

I enjoyed this graphic novel a lot, but I really enjoy anything with merpeople. I loved the different mer-types based on different sea creatures, though I would’ve loved to see more skin colours and body types. The art style and the different kingdoms reminded me a lot of She-ra and the princess of power (2018). It was interesting to see the difference in the art style between the bonus chapter and the rest of the book, at first I thought it was a different artist and it wasn’t till I got to the authors note that I saw and realised the improvement and changes in their work. Story wise the two main characters have been told a prophecy and there is a lot of outside pressure to conform which is a good analogy for queerness as a whole. However I’m not sure what solution siren and kappa will have, to avoid following the prophecy and the pull that kappa has. Their avoidance towards the end did start to slightly irritate me. I look forward to seeing where it goes in the rest of the series.
#ad I received this book as an arc but the opinions are my own.

Marsharks blushing is on my list of things I find super cute now. Kappa being a shiny merperson “blessed” to be the beacon and fulfill the prophecies of the other variations of merpeople seems like a pretty sweet gig, if you don’t think about it too much. Siren is the prince of the mersharks and he’s been been told his whole life he will fulfill his peoples prophecy and break their curse, he’s just waiting on one Mr. Beacon.
The art in this is phenomenal, there is so much detail and the colors are gorgeous, I loved every minute of it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Wendy Martin; Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press | Ten Speed Graphic for the opportunity to read an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) and provide my honest opinion/review.

I haven’t read the webtoon of Castle Swimmer, but the cover and discription had me sprinting to request this on #NetGalley! The illustrations are absolutely stunning! I cannot get over how beautiful they are! Kappa literally looks like he’s glowing! The details are amazing and the use of colours is perfection! I didn’t even realise until I reached the bonus content, but the jellyfish are drawn swimming upwards to represent daytime and swimming down to represent night, because that’s how jellyfish swim in the sea, like how cool is that?!? Honestly this is going to become my new obsession!

The storyline is great so far and I’m on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what happens next! (I’m swimming to Webtune to find out!) this was such a lovely coming of age story with mermaids and magic and both Kappa and Siren are so cute I can’t wait to explore their friendship and see where this story takes us! (I’m hoping the end up together!!)

For lovers of:
- Graphic Novels
- Mermaids
- Coming of age stories
- Queer characters
- Prophecies
- Magic

Give me a world underwater and queer mermens and I'm all for it. And what a read! It was SO beautiful. The drawings are mesmerizing, the story is overly cute and touching. During all my reading, all I wanted to do was to hug them sooo tight. Kappa is so soft, and I felt so much for Siren. I love them so much I couldn't wait for the rest so now I'm reading it on Webtoon and I juste can't stop !!!

Heat Factor: Nothing yet!
Character Chemistry: It’s pretty hard to say no to a connection forged after one character can’t handle murdering the other
Plot: As the Beacon, Kappa’s entire life’s purpose is to fulfill the prophecies of others. Siren’s people’s prophecy is for him to kill the Beacon in order to end their suffering.
Overall: It’s only the first chapter of a much bigger adventure, but it’s charming, and I’m invested

I decided to try to get in on the ground floor for this one, and I hope that’s a good choice for future Erin, because I think it’s going to be a drawn-out slow burn for these mer-boys.

So, Kappa is, like, popped into existence, and the god-equivalent tells him that his life will be for fulfilling prophecies. All good, right? (I mean, no. As an adult I can see that this is no way to live, but he doesn’t know this yet.) But the very first time Kappa fulfills a prophecy, it doesn’t turn out the way the people expected/wanted, and he realizes that this life is not all it’s chalked up to be. Worse, he can’t avoid the prophecies. If he happens to swim near one, he has to go to it.

Okay. So. The plot is not as simple as “Kappa swims into the Shark abode and Siren has to deal with him.” There are also other sea-peoples who are aware the Beacon exists and who are kind of collectively trying to figure out how to get him to come fulfill all their prophesies. This becomes a problem when Kappa is already in the Shark community, where the prophecy is that he needs to be killed by the prince, because obviously if Kappa is dead he can’t fulfill everybody else’s prophecies.

Siren, the extremely sheltered prince of the Sharks—whose entire life has been about staying safe to ensure that he can fulfill the Shark end of the prophecy—simply cannot murder Kappa. He has guilt about avoiding his responsibility, because as long as he doesn’t do his job his people are suffering, but he sees Kappa’s personhood and can’t take that away, either. So, he tells his mom every day that he’s going to go do his duty, but he just spends the day hanging out with Kappa instead. Together they start trying to figure out ways around their predicament, and they start to care about each other as individuals. It’s adorable.

So. We have the opening for both some external shenanigans and also a sweet YA love story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

the main characters are quite interesting! i love the simple art design and the thought-out worldbuilding rules that the author shared on the end. i like the struggles that the prince is facing and i'm interested in knowing how his story will go

Very beautiful book! The story was good, but not overly deep. I loved the connection between the two main characters, and how they bonded over their sense of obligation to their communities. The plot wasn't very complex, but the character work and the art were stunning. I will definitely be looking for a volume 2 for this series. Enjoyable read.

Book provided by netgalley for a fair review.

I wanna start by saying the art is so beautiful! Even more than I can remember. The story is so sweet but also sad. A very good combo if you ask me. Volume 1 is a great one and the ending left me ready for more! This comic has a special place in my heart because it's the first queer fiction I have read. I will never stop recommending it to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

From the moment Kappa is born, he has a purpose. He is the Beacon, destined to fulfill prophecies for all of fish-kind. As he swims, he is pulled by a golden tether to anyone/ anything he gets too close to, bound to them until the prophecy is complete. Eventually the tug of prophecies leafs Kappa to the shark kingdom, where he is immediately imprisoned. The sharks prophecy states that the curse on their people will only be lifted if their Prince kills the Beacon. When Prince Siren strikes up an unlikely friendship with the Beacon, they both realize that there might be more to life than the roles they’ve been given, and maybe it’s time to break free from them.

Castle swimmers 1 was everything I wanted it to be. The art was beautiful and the setting and different species designs were amazing and so immersive. It was bright and fun and captured my attention from the first page.

The relationship between Kappa and Siren was so sweet and endearing. The two of them getting to know each other and flirting with each other while also coming to terms with their roles in the prophecy was so cute and I am obsessed with the queer merman plot.

As for the plot, it was a little bit of a slow burn, but it is clearly set up for a much larger overarching storyline. It also wasn’t too slow to where it lost my attention. I can’t wait to see where this story goes next!

Wendy Martin ha logrado un equilibrio excepcional entre la trama y el romance juvenil. Aunque la trama es compleja, siempre se mantiene clara y la narración fluye sin problemas.

Me sorprendió gratamente lo mucho que disfruté esta historia y cómo me sumergí en su mundo. Este volumen aborda temas importantes pero logra mantener un tono alegre que te engancha por completo. ¡Necesito saber cómo continúa todo!

🦈🦈🦈

Wendy Martin has achieved an exceptional balance between the plot and young romance. Although the plot is complex, it remains clear and the storytelling flows smoothly.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this story and immersed myself in its world. This volume tackles important themes yet manages to maintain a cheerful tone that completely captivates you. I need to find out how everything continues!

Summary:

Kappa is the Beacon, a fact known well before his birth. Every culture and city has its own legend about Kappa. Some believe he'll come and bring with him good fortune. Others think he'll be what they need to change their lives forever. It's hard living up to these expectations, to say the least.

Siren knows a little bit about drowning under the weight of expectations. His whole life, people have been waiting for the day he lived up to his prophecy—the day he saved his people from horrendous injuries on a daily basis. But can he do what it takes?

Review:

Oh goodness. I went into Castle Swimmer Vol. 1, not really having any expectations (I didn't read the Webtoon series), and holy cats! This series has so much heart it's impossible not to fall head over heels for it.

For starters, I love the whole concept – playing around with legends and prophecies. These things never work out as we expected, and Castle Swimmer does a great job of showing the how and why of it all.

Then there are the characters. I just want to bundle Kappa and Siren up and protect them from the world (in my defense, they could probably use the help). They make this series, so there is no question about that.

The worst part about Castle Swimmer Vol. 1 was coming to an end. I didn't want to put it down – I wanted to keep reading. This had little to do with the cliffhanger ending, but mostly, it's because I got so caught up in the world.

If you love mermaids and prophecies, make sure to check out Castle Swimmer Vol. 1.

Highlights:
Fantasy/Romance
LGBT
Coming of Age
Legends and Lore
Webtoon Series

Castle Swimmer is an absolutely ADORABLE graphic novel about the "Beacon" a young mermanish creature, who is destined to fulfill many prophecies and the young prince who is prophesied to kill him. While the story sounds pretty dark, the illustrations and vibe are cozy & cute. I really connected with both of the main characters, & my only complaint was that it ended on a cliffhanger. (It clearly says volume 1, I just wanted more lol)

Big thanks to NetGalley, Wendy Martin, and Ten Speed Press for the chance to read and review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.