loved the mermaid and poetry like descriptions.
The dad triggered me but still am loving it…magical and beautiful….the mother was just so gentle and sweet

Listening to this book was a really enjoyable experience.

Besides the slightly slower start to the story, the book really picks up and hides twists and turns within the story constantly. Despite some things being a little predictable it did not take away from the experience of reading.

The writing was done well, and the characters felt fleshed out and had their own personality.

The ending was amazing at tying everything together and really made all the pieces fall into place.

Overall I would recommend this read. Its not perfect, but it is definetly worth it.

I love me a villain origin story. Give me unapologetically strong and ruthless women any day of the week please and thank you. This one especially intrigued me, as it didn’t rely too heavily on the established story and instead really went back to the beginning of the villain’s life, to give a much fuller picture, with just a hint of where we end up in the final chapter.

Soraya was an interesting character, she begins so full of anger and pride so to see her begin to soften and then turn back into a being of pure rage and malice was a good arc. There were however times in the middle where she seemed a little naive. She begins as a seasoned warrior, and then is thrust into life on land where the food and buildings are entirely foreign to her. While it is a little entertaining to see her have no idea what a horse is, to go through so many berries and other foods began to age her down and make her seem more childish in a way that I think distracted from the story more than anything else.
I do think there could have been more of an exploration of her life as a mortal, and learning what it is to love someone mortal and know that they could (and often do) get hurt, compared to being an immortal who will live forever where all injuries are essentially inconsequential. Similarly, when everything goes wrong (I dont think that’s a spoiler… its marketed as a villain origin story you know it can’t end well) I think there could have been more time given over to Soraya’s devastation and anguish. Give me desperation that slips into despair and then anger, going straight to anger felt a little like glossing over the emotions she had begun to feel while experiencing life as a mortal.

The prose was very accessible and easy to read, but not particularly inspiring, while the characters had a little depth but I wish there had been more development and more emotions played out. The plot was okay, but particularly towards the middle of the book it started to idle a little too much. As an audiobook it was fine as it just kept playing at me anyways, but as a physical book that takes more conscious effort to read I would have gotten a little bored.
That being said, the final chunk of the book was excellent, and the plot really came to life. Looking back it feels like the author has had the idea in her head for years of ‘maybe this is why the little mermaid’s sea witch did that’ and then finally sat down to fill in the beginning of the book. The start was not bad, but the end was far better.

I would recommend this to someone else, it is an interesting story, but I wouldn’t be able to wax lyrical about how much I loved it. It is however a nice addition to my retellings and mythology shelf.

I really love Fairytales retellings and this one didn't disappoint even though it's really more of a prequel slash villain origin story! It was well pace the narrator was great and the love story while predictable was almost realistic (or as realistic as falling for a cursed mermaid can be.)

Well worth read!!

This book was a solid four for 75% of the book and then ramped up to a 5/5 stars near the end. It is a prequel of sorts to 'The Little Mermaid' without being an exact foretelling giving that Ariel is not a character in this book.

Things I loved:
- I am a big romantasy reader and absolutely loved having a book showcase mermaids and merpeople as main characters.
- I loved the conflict and sibling rivalry between Sereia (which means 'mermaid' in Portuguese!) and Triton. It wasn't forced and felt like a realistic "heir and a spare" imagination.
- The supporting characters were well-placed and I felt like they added to the book.
- Great world building of Atlantis.

Things I didn't love:
- The relationship between Sereia and her lover was unrealistic and felt like a, "I had to add love so here it is". I wanted to see more between Sereia and Callan to make their love story actually believable. I didn't really root for them although the demise of their relationship had me REELING.
- How can a mermaid know what books are but not know what bread is.
- The whole "I remember all the potions I read about months ago as I make my sea witch lair" also was not believable in the slightest .


Poooooor unfortunate souls.

So netgalley's description didn't mention any connection to the little mermaid at all. So i didn't know this was [ Ursula's origin story. I'm not a big disney fan so i probably wouldn't have picked it up had I seen that. or I might have enjoyed it more knowing that beforehand so that i didn't have other expectations. Once she got tentacles i realized it was an ursula villain origin story. but i still kinda hoped it wasn’t. made for a not very exciting ending plot twist. That being said, I do like the perspective showing she was a victim to just everything going completely wrong and to patriarchal bs. I don't really know how to feel about it all.]
It started out interesting and i enjoyed the first half or so. then everything just goes downhill and you're waiting for something good to happen but it never does. the ending was unsatisfying for me and I wish i'd known more of what this was going into it, but I do like the perspective.

This was a very fun and interesting perspective of Poseidon and his children. Mainly focusing on Triton and Sereia, we go through the intense story of betrayal and struggle. Sereia's story was truly captivating and the ending left me surprised. It wasn't until the last chapter and epilogue that the whole story really tied together to tell of something centuries in the future. Overall really enjoyed this young adult read and if you are looking for something to shed light on some of your favorite characters, I would take a gander into this one! Thank you NetGalley for the read.

Sereia is Poseidons daughter. She is the most powerful of his children and yet is still shunned by her father. One day her younger sister goes missing and Sereia's mother begs Poseidon to take Sereia with since she has the most potential for finding her. Her sister is trapped in a fishing net of a human ship. Sereia's brother, Triton, uses his powers to summon a storm but the humans try to pull the nets up faster. Sereia jumps in and easily creates a massive wave that destroys the ship and frees her sister. Poseidon is finally impressed and Triton, the heir, cannot stand being outdone by his sister and feels threatened.

This is such a creative origin story and even though I could tell where it was headed, it was a fabulous journey. I loved all the different elements that the author brought in from folklore and legends. The story was a little predictable, but still a great enjoyable experience. I actually wish it hadn't ended so soon and that there would be a sequel.

This was an interesting take on an origin story. As a whole, I thought the story was compelling and the plot was enjoyable, even if the end was a bit dissatisfying by nature.

What worked for me:
- The story was interesting with a lot of different plot elements to keep things entertaining.
- I liked most of the main characters.
- The narrator did an excellent job! I really enjoyed the way she read and the character voices!

What didn't work for me:
- The writing style was way too wordy for my preference. The author used so many verbs and adjectives and additional clauses to say everything, and it got tedious and repetitive, especially in the audiobook format. This book really could have benefitted from a bit more editing.
- Aspects of the ending were, while to be expected due to the nature of the story, frustrating and dissatisfying as a reader. Sereia's spiral to insanity at the end made it all feel pointless since she doesn't even get to enjoy her revenge.
- There were a lot of odd inconsistencies in this book that bothered me. Things like Sereia not knowing the word for "feet", but knowing things like "thighs", "linen", "spice", etc. I get what the author was going for, but there was a lack of logic to what she did and didn't know, and it got a bit annoying, and I feel like an editor catching this would have made for a stronger book.

This was a very well written and thoughtful book about a young woman discovering her power and worth. The lead character is extremely relatable and many students will identify with her situation and be invested in the outcome. The way the author ties the story into classic mythology and fairy tales is very clever as well.

After being cursed by and being forced out of the ocean by her brother, Sereia finds herself in Atlantis, surrounded by the humans she has been warned about her whole life. She quickly starts forming connections and even finds love as she searches Atlantean knowledge to find a way home so that she can get her revenge. But the longer she stays, the more she wishes that she can keep the parts of her human life she has come to love.

I struggled a bit with rating this one. Although I had a great time with this, I think it had a few issues that didn't quite make it a four star read, although I was leaning somewhat towards it for a good portion of the book. It is, however, definitely stronger than a three star and closer to a four star so I'm going to go with that here. It was definitely an interesting story! It did contain mermaids, which usually does draw me in because I always find underwater cultures interesting to learn about (especially when they are fiercer, which this one seems to be!) I loved seeing Sereia grow into herself when she was finally taken seriously. The way her father treated her and dismissed her talents was rather sad to read about. I'm glad she was finally given the opportunity to thrive. I wish we had gotten to see a bit more of Valeria, but exploring Atlantis through a newcomer's eyes was also a wonderful experience. I'd love to see that library! The writing kept my attention well and I found myself wanting to keep going (although the Netgalley shelf app didn't always cooperate - very frustrating since I wanted to know what was going to happen next!)

I usually enjoy it when books don't focus on the romance so it feels strange saying that this one should have given more attention to it. It just kind of exists occasionally, almost feeling like an afterthought, between Sereia doing all these other awesome things and forming what feel like stronger and more important bonds with other characters. And then becomes this big, important thing that plays a massive role in where the book goes towards the end. There is such a massive character pivot and I don't fully believe it. I don't quite see how we got there. Although I'm not sure if I would ever fully believed it, the lack of the proper foundation makes it so much more jarring. Also on the not so good side of things, although it's a pretty minor thing, is that there seem to be some inconsistency in how much knowledge she has on the human world. She knows nothing of things like chickens, bread and horse, and yet she knows the smell of mildew (okay, maybe this was explained to her at some point but I don't see how it naturally comes up?) and is familiar with very at least one clearly terrestrial idiom (having butterflies in ones stomach) although she usually defaults to oceanic things (like seals) to describe what she sees and experiences. This wasn't a big thing at all, but the second one in particular stood out to me. Some points are also maybe repeated a bit too often, but that could also just be because its more common in books for the age range it is being marketed towards?

Although we ultimately know where the story goes through the epilogue (and of course her role as a villain in another story) I would definitely want to read more about her. She's an interesting character and I feel like there is so much to explore with the shift to her new identity.

Little Mermaid retelling of sorts. More like the origin story of Ursula. I really loved the descent into being a villain. Villains are not born… they are made and this is 💯 the case in this novel. I like the addition of mythology too. I don't want to add spoilers, but I would become a villain too if my brother betrayed me like that and then I lost the only person I cared about. I am hoping for a revenge arch in the sequel!

Mermaids are one mythical creature that can draw me straight to a story, almost 100% success rate. So picking up Our Vengeful Souls was an easy choice. Glad to say that I enjoyed this villain origin story of The Sea Witch, tragic and heartbreaking as it may be.

Sereia is a mermaid princess that despite her superior magical abilities, is seen as lower than her brother, Triton, pitted against each other by her father, King Poseidon. Out of jealousy and fear, he curses Sereia, forcing her above land without magic.

Sereia just needs a giant hug. After a lifetime of being told she's lesser than the men in her life, she finds an identity beyond the one given to her from the sea, connecting with others, etc, and discovering how strong she can be, as well as the power of love. The other characters were fleshed out and there were clear good guys and bad guys in the narrative, so there wasn't too much of a morally gray here.

In addition from borrowing from the original Hans Christian Andersen tale, it also takes cues from Greek mythology, with the city of Atlantis being a central setting to the story. It's got an ancient Greece feel to the world as well, and feels very advanced technology wise. I do feel I was mostly in the setting, but sorta wished a few things were fleshed out better in terms of the islands, but that might have been solved with a map, not in the audiobook version.

The story gripped me from the start with an intriguing start. The only real issue was it's pace in the middle to the end; it felt like it should have been a bit longer than it should have been with everything that's covered, especially the climax. Though the ending was very tragic indeed and broke my heart of how everything went down and how the Sea Witch came to be and the devastating power of revenge. Even though I came in not realizing what it was until near the story's tragic end.

The prose flowed well, with Elise Freeman narration being just right.

If you love mermaids, villain origin stories, and a touch of Greek mythology, check this out.

“Our Vengeful Souls,” by Kristi McManus

Sereia, a mermaid princess, has been cursed by her brother to be a human and get out of his way so he can be the future leader under the sea. When he washes up on land, she is the realm of Atlantis and is determined to get revenge on her brother.

I loved this book. I love fairytale retellings and mermaids and the story of Atlantis is so cool. I loved the world building and lore of the mermaids so much. Little mermaid vibes but with an FMC that is strong because she was the punching bag of her family her entire life. The love interest was super sweet, and I was hoping they would see their feelings and it would heal both of the traumas throughout the book, so I was happy when they finally admitted it. I listened to the audiobook version and the narration was really good and paced well. 4 out of 5 stars, I adored it.

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.

I enjoyed the narration. The story is delightful in the twist that it has on 'The Little Mermaid' and the ending was intense and interesting. Wasn't a fan of it as a romance, though, and almost felt like that sub-plot could have been developed a lot better.
I also felt like there was a conflict in the audience/reader that it was intended for. Some parts it felt like young adult, others felt like it would have suited a less mature audience.
Overall, a cosy, nice, easy read.

The plot was intriguing. This is a fun twist on the little mermaid. I love that the main character is not a damsel in distress. A mermaid who was raised to loath the humans who take from her home, is cursed and betrayed by family. She must rely on the very humans she hates to take her in and help her return home. Problem is the people of Atlantis are superstitious and if they find out who and what she is it will cost her, her life. The narrator was engaging. I was never bored.

The only issues I had with the book is I didn't believe the love story. Also the main character seemed very slow to action. so it really is the same problem the main character lacks passion.

A wonderful audio book listening experience for 8/9 year olds and all the way up. Kirsty McManus gives us a story of jealousy, love, unthought consequences, superstition and ultimate retribution. The gods have untold power that can wreck everything in a single moment. When that power is lost Sereia looks at the world in a new and un-imagined light. Yet!!! I loved the story, but especially the ending of this book. Maybe unique in this type of story. No spoilers, listen and decide for yourself. Thank you to CamCat Books and NetGalley for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

I listened to this one via audiobook from NetGalley. The cover caught my eye and when I saw it was about mermaids I had to pick it up.

I’ll be honest, this felt like a little mermaid retelling for a while and I absolutely loved it. This was dark, emotional and even at times felt a little bit cozy. I wanted to jump right into the book and just spend my days living in Atlantis.

A massive thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this one!

First off I did like this book, but I found a few things that prevented me from wanting to give it a solid 4 stars.

An Ursula origin story! Sereia is a mermaid, daughter of Poseidon, sister to Triton. Right of the bat there is a situation that Sereia must navigate. Her sister is lost and she along with her father and brother go to search for her. Immediately who see that the dynamic between Sereia and her family has a lot of tension. There does not seem to be much love between the male and females. On top of an obvious bitter rivalry between Sereia and her brother Triton. They go one way she goes another and finds her sister trapped in a net, she rushes to save her but is not strong enough and has to go seek help from her father and brother. Once they return Poseidon is angry for not helping her, which she did try, this becomes a theme of no one knowing her strength. Behind closed doors its revealed that Sereia has more power and her mother wants her to take on the power of the sea and be the heir, her brother triton overhears and curses Sereia to land, and if she is to return she will become a monster (think Ursula, monster tentacles).

On land she falls in love, learns to like humans, joins the Atlantean forces (oh yes its a mashup of the little mermaid and Atlantis), SPOILERS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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She then must save a girl from drowning and return to the sea....and yes gets tentacles because of this. Then the Atlanteans(a very small group) found to have set her up to show that she really is a monster, her MMC love saves the day only to be lost by those that set her up, so in a fit of rage she kills everyone in Atlantis and sinks it to the ocean floor. So now she really does become a monster.



What I liked:
The writing was good, the flow of the story was fast paced enough that it kept me listening to this book in one sitting. I liked the idea of an Ursula origin story. There were many twists during the story that deviated from the original little mermaid story. How Sereia and her brother triton had this aggressive dynamic and how her curse caused her to have legs and if returning to the sea she would become a monster. Obviously once it was established it was an origin story I knew how it would end, but I liked the reason why she became how she became. The epilogue at the end was perfect.

What I didn't like:
None of the characters were fully fleshed out. I didn't believe the love between the MC and the MMC. I didn't believe the anger at the end of the story where Sereia just kills an entire community because Shes mad at a couple people. She literally saved a little girl and then now Shes mad so ill just kill her and everyone else. This is giving me Dany from GOT anger and I didn't like it. Also the one scene where Sereia says she was both from the land and the sea and the whole triton storyline plot just screamed Aquaman! So Idk, it had to many similarities to Aquaman down to the lines. When she comes onto land and has difficulty walking then decided to train to join the Atlantean forces (aquaman, see the theme) she just does one training session and Shes amazing? She had a fin in the water and now has legs, her balance was not discussed enough. The dynamic between her father and brother was never fleshed out either, like why is their dad terrible, what made them all this way. why did she go from hating humans to all of a sudden meeting them and acting like it wasn't a big deal. Would have loved to see more disgust turn into oh ok humans are not so bad. I kept thinking she would address her rage on the people but when she thought about it there was no remorse, which I get Ursula sucks but there wasn't enough believability to go from sweet, I love everyone to lets just kill them all.

All in all I disliked more than I liked but the potential was so strong.

I got the audible from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

I thought this Little Mermaid reimagining was a good read. This is not a Little Mermaid retelling as Ariel isn't a character in this book. This was not a fluffy, airy fairytale with a sweet ending. The FMC is out through the wringer. A lot happens throughout this story. It's fairly fast paced. Due to how quickly the story moves, character and relationship development often happens off page. I did miss some of those details. World building details weren't skipped on - the vivid world, though the FMC's eyes, was beautiful.

I thought the narration of this story was okay. I found a robotic quality to the narrators voice at times - not off putting really but weird. I'm not sure if the listening speed I listen at impacted this (x2). I always listen around x2 speed and don't find this issue often.


Slight spoiler:



I had no idea it was an origin story! I'm actually really glad I didn't. I was very flustered/annoyed by the ending of the story. The epilogue saved it for me because that is when it clicked (obviously - it clearly took me a long time to see all of the clues come together). Once it all came together, I appreciated the story as a whole more and thought the reveal was clever. This is a story of how a villain was created.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kristi McManus, and CamCat books for this audiobook ARC.