Reviews

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

hyleung's review

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

sarahp85's review against another edition

4.0

Loved this. It grabbed me from the get go and I didn't want to put it down.
I don't think I've ever read anything like it and I can not wait to read the sequel

darumachan's review against another edition

adventurous fast-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

5.0

salted07's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring slow-paced

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

5.0

If I could rate this higher than five, I would. This book was a beautiful experience and I really recommend it. It explores themes such as gender and class differences. Tokuda wove a stunning story that everyone should read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Murder, Misogyny, Dysphoria, Drug use, Trafficking, Torture, Colonisation, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Addiction, Racism, Physical abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Torture

drtx_bwt's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Death

Moderate: Torture, Homophobia, Trafficking, Violence, and Sexism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Racism

alt_air's review

adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

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

4.0

katezzz's review

adventurous emotional hopeful sad fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Murder and Sexual assault

Minor: Homophobia

clemslibrary's review against another edition

3.75

this was a fun time but i don’t feel like the characters got enough development and that the romance developed super quickly, it all felt quite surface level

but i did love the genderfluid mc and the queer normative world, i just wish they were explored more as most things were just told to us with little backstory 

erikaq's review against another edition

3.0

Mixed feelings on this one. As a concept I loved what this book could be and I think some parts of it are done well, but most parts are just subpar.

The characters are interesting to an extent but the romance is insta-love with very little development to the full devotion that they feel for each other and every single obstacle is resolved quickly and the characters get what they want without much struggle. Similarly the worldbuilding starts off well but then doesn't go anywhere to expand on the things we know from the very beginning.

Mostly, it feels disjointed to me and it's a book that had potential especially because of the representation it offers with a mix-race couple (but the book never even touches on that really), with the lgbtq rep that is mostly flimsy because at the end of the day the couple could have been het and I doubt it would have changed anything at all.

hazmur's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

felt like five different stories smashed together. all enjoyable, liked the characters and the journey they went on. excited 
the sequel