Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

13 reviews

zombiezami's review against another edition

Loved the premise, but the execution didn't hold my attention

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Confinement, Slavery, Alcohol, and Animal death

Minor: Colonisation

bbygirl21's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This is a good book. It just wasn't my favorite. I'm mostly a romance reader, so even in a mythology packed fantasy book, I need at least some romance in it, and they're just wasn't in this book. The main character and the boy she saved are supposed to like each other, but I just didn't feel any romantic chemistry between them. Maybe that develops more in the second book, but I don't plan on reading that yet. 

I did get quite emotional at some parts. Especially when it came to a particular death scene. I thought the writing was great, even if it wasn't for me. The ending was really good as well. 

The ending is done well enough that you wouldn't necessarily need to read the second book. Yes it ends kind of open ended, with some questions left unanswered. But I don't necessarily consider it a cliffhanger. You could stop with this book and be fine in my opinion. 

Overall this is a good book. I loved the mythology and the plotline. I wanted more romance, but if that's not your thing this is definitely for you. I'd probably still recommend this even if it wasn't entirely for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Body horror, Grief, Blood, Death, Genocide, Confinement, Murder, Colonisation, Child death, Racism, Slavery, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, and Trafficking

Minor: Pregnancy

squinnittowinit's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

Personally I would have enjoyed it more without the romance. I didn't really feel like there was much of a reason for it to be there outside of the little mermaid parallel. I also didn't love any of the characters. I thought they were fine, but I didn't feel like I knew them very well or that they had much depth overall. An okay book that's rather forgettable for me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Kidnapping, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death, and Blood

avisreadsandreads's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Racism, Slavery, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide

lmwanak's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I did like the folklore (I learned a lot about Yoruba folklore that was neat) and the slight callbacks on the Little Mermaid story, but overall found this one to be tropey and hard to read through because the main characters weren't all that engaging. The side characters were much more interesting, but I was turned off because

my favorite character, the young fairy, had so many death flags on him and true to form, he was killed off.

.  Other than that, it was an okay read. Might pick up the next book because it ended with the protagonist making a decision that had me actually interested in what she would do. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Slavery, Trafficking, Colonisation, Confinement, and Kidnapping

caroliiineb's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, and Blood

Minor: Confinement and Death

vaniavela's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Simidele is one of the Mami Wata, tasked with collecting the souls of those who die at sea, blessing them for their journey to Olodumare.

This is a West African retelling of The Little Mermaid, set in the 1400s when the Portuguese first began taking African slaves. 

Aspects that I liked:

1. World building. I loved how this rich, magical world was explored with a poetic writing style. 
2. The pace of the book. It kept us entertained, and wanting more. 
3. Cultural aspects. I loved that elements such as Nigerian cuisine and hair braiding techniques were added.

Aspects I didn't like:

1. The characters. They seemed one-dimensional to me and I didn't feel a connection to them.
2. The romance. I think it was built too fast to be believable, as there was no build up or signs of love. This execution was not successful.

rep: West African-inspired fantasy, west african mc, west african sc.

tw: blood, confinement, death, injury/injury detail, kidnapping, physical abuse, slavery, torture, violence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, and Physical abuse

haylzno's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Mami Wata ♥️♥️♥️

Mermaids are my shit. I loved the adventure and all the different magical creatures and gods/goddesses we meet along the way. 

I can't wait to see Simi again in the next book! 
I loved this book so much I bought the  special owl crate edition and it's sooooo BEAUTIFUL 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: War, Colonisation, Confinement, and Slavery

thewildmageslibrary's review

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

4.0

For some reason, at-sea/mermaid/siren/pirate books don't usually do it for me. This one did!! I love the worldbuilding and African mythology and the characters and the prose and it was just beautiful. Will definitely read the sequel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, and Trafficking

Moderate: Suicide, Death, and Kidnapping

Minor: Confinement and Blood

flyfarther79's review

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Slavery, Kidnapping, Blood, and Child death