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redinteeth's review
4.0
Magda Knight’s Seal Girl is one of those stories that’s deliciously difficult to explain.
Resting on the spectrum somewhere between fantasy and reality, Seal Girl is not a fairy-tale nor a telling nor a slice of life. To say that Seal Girl deals with issues of self-acceptance, body image, and young-love prepackages this story as something it’s not. Apples are oranges in the sense that they’re a fruit and slightly round, but the flavors are pleasant and different in ways you’re not expecting. It’s both familiar and unique, and that’s what makes these 24 pages an absolute treat to read.
Our narrator, Ondine, shows us what it’s like to be a real-life selkie, a girl more alive in the water than on land, as she questions who she really is in relationship to herself and her peers. Magda Knight skillfully tackles issues to create a story that’s both believable and concise. An enjoyable read, this is a rare story that I can recommend to both my non-fantasy-loving-peers to be read as a stand-alone, and then passed on as part of a series to my fairy-tale-friends. (Which is good news, because I’ll be recommending this to a lot of people.)
Resting on the spectrum somewhere between fantasy and reality, Seal Girl is not a fairy-tale nor a telling nor a slice of life. To say that Seal Girl deals with issues of self-acceptance, body image, and young-love prepackages this story as something it’s not. Apples are oranges in the sense that they’re a fruit and slightly round, but the flavors are pleasant and different in ways you’re not expecting. It’s both familiar and unique, and that’s what makes these 24 pages an absolute treat to read.
Our narrator, Ondine, shows us what it’s like to be a real-life selkie, a girl more alive in the water than on land, as she questions who she really is in relationship to herself and her peers. Magda Knight skillfully tackles issues to create a story that’s both believable and concise. An enjoyable read, this is a rare story that I can recommend to both my non-fantasy-loving-peers to be read as a stand-alone, and then passed on as part of a series to my fairy-tale-friends. (Which is good news, because I’ll be recommending this to a lot of people.)
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