Reviews

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow

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literaryleftie's review

4.0

This book most definitely exceeded my expectations. It was a little slow to start, but I quickly fell head over heels for this book.

Fantasy is not something I dabble in a lot, but A Song Below Water taught me so much about different types of mythical beings I didn't know much about.

I really liked the commentary on social movements and how young people can use their voice. Sometimes I was fired up and hyped to see how involved and knowledgeable young people can be. I love when books can talk about what matters.

Sometimes, though, the themes seemed disjointed. At times, the metaphor of being an outsider and someone seen as less human worked really well with the social justice theme, but at times the book seemed like it was talking about mythical beings as a complete separate story and they didn’t meld well together. The relationships also were weird to me, and seemed thrown together sometimes.

The ending was pretty cool. It was a good release of the built up tension throughout the story.

izzys_internet_bookshelf's review

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4.0

4.5/5

This book surprised me! I had the urge to read it after I saw it on someones bookshelf on TikTok. Mermaids? Magic realism? Heck yeah. I loved how the world was modern but accepted the races like it was normal (kind of). The challenges that the two sisters faces were interesting. My only problem with the book was the pacing.

lovelife1008's review

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adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

yourlocal_nychotdog's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Although this book is quite beautiful, I feel as though it was slow at times (ahem, the beginning) and many times I was confused over the magical creatures(?) nor their rules and all. It was a great book don't get me wrong but many times I felt confused and lost of the world rules.

marieintheraw's review

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3.0

While I enjoyed some aspects of the siren element of this story, I felt that I didn't know enough at the end of it.

annamickreads's review

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4.0

4.5!!!! I have been looking forward to reading this book for a while. As a girl who religiously watched "Aquamarine", I think we all need more mermaid content in our lives and this book is no exception.

THE GOOD: Wowza. The narrative voice is super clear cut, and despite switching POVs every other chapter, I had a good idea of the two different characters and didn't get confused at all--something that's hard for me with multiple POVs. I really liked the urban fantasy elements once I got a hold on them, I think urban fantasy is such a fun genre to play around with because it allows the integration of all the wonderful fantasy elements (mermaids, sprites, gargoyles, and more!) with things like modern suburbia. The ideas are really original (LOVE the Renaissance Faire and I wish I could go to the one in this book!!!) and I thought that the social narrative couldn't get any more pointed. I hope especially that white YA readers pick up this book and read between the lines here.

THE BAD: The nature of the relationship between Effie and Tavia was a little difficult for me to understand initially. At first I thought they were 'sisters' in relation to the Ren Faire (being referred to as "play sisters"), or sisters in terms of being extremely close friends, then I realized they were step siblings. Chalk it up to reading too quickly!