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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
I really would like to try and read this again! The world is intriguing, the characters were easy to love and root for. The lore surrounding mermaids is original and powerful. And it’s sapphic! But, the allusion to and explicit references to rape and other abuse were too much for me at this time.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Rape, Torture, Xenophobia, Trafficking
I enjoyed the first half but around the midway point I started to get bored and felt like this was a 3.5-star book. Then towards the very end, things started to pick up for my tastes, enough that I bumped up my rating to 4 stars. I liked the ending for the most part. At first I wasn't a fan of Evelyn being turned into a mermaid and essentially brought back to life but the way the author described the whys really made me feel like it was actually a good way to go about ending the book.
adventurous
medium-paced
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
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:
Yes
yeah I really liked it! I think the world building was well done and engaging, however I do wish we spent more time with the pirate supreme! I was obsessed with them. i think the gender fluidity of Flora/Florian was done in a very interesting way, and i felt very connected to their story. colonization as a huge theme, and the cause behind so much upset and violence was great! we love to hate colonization! overall great read, I love queer middlegrade novels so so much (maybe this is YA, who is to say)
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was a very nice book with interesting worldbuilding revolving around colonialism, complete with Imperials who think highly of themselves, full of etiquette and gender rules, and poor people who should be happy that their island had been taken over and are forced to adopt a new culture, where for example witches are murdered and everyone should bow before (a statue of) the Emperor.
A small in-depth topic in the field of culture I found interesting, is that it was normal for Imperial girls who are maried off to a man in a far away city to move with all their luggage packed in a custom made coffin, where the family name is engraved on.
"Death and marriage, both so frankly inevitable, both so unavoidable. Mandatory."
This was so specific and gruesome that I wondered if that was really normal back in the day for for example the Chinese culture (which this book is based on). But unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I could not find information about that being real.
Back to the plot: The main power struggle is between the Emperor, who wants to expand his empire (and doesn't care if there are mermaids killed in the process), and the Sea, mighty and full of memories which are devided into all her daughters, the mermaids. The Sea only communicates with one group of people: the crew of the pirate ship The Leviathan, under command of the Pirate Supreme. They obey the Sea's orders and fight for freedom for the islands, are against killing mermaids, and have never lost a battle to the Emperor or other pirate ships alike.
The book has an underlying theme namely the importance of memories and how they shape your identity, and I think it offers a beautiful and varied take on this topic.
For example, the Nameless Captain, the heartless captain of the merchandise ship the Dove, which turns out to be a slaver. He drowns his sorrows in mermaid blood, which allows him to see memories of the Sea, but also takes memories of him in return, hence why he forgot his own name. He believes the past is in the past, and sees no need to dwell on it. He thinks memories are a weaknesses, because it makes you feel soft for certain people or places, and that gets in the way when you want to make profit.
Rake, the second man on the Dove (secretly a spie for the Pirate supreme), on the other hand, swore to never forget what the Imperials did when they took his home island Quark and saw with his own eyes how they killed his mother. That shaped him and gives him his purpose. And that is also why he harbors a deep hatret for a maid of one of the Imperial passengers of the ship, the Lady Ayer. That maid was originally from Quark, but took on another name: Geneviève, and abandoned her culture, to serve the Emperor.
And of course the main character, Flora/Florian. After she escaped the Dove, she learned to become a witch under Xenobia and needed to puzzle together what her identity was with her memories, in order to be able to do magic. Traumatic events from the past, family bonds, newfound love and the desire to stay alive, all made her who she/he is today.
Another theme that was really wel written was the gender norms.
For example one of the main characters, the Lady Hasegawa, or Evelyn, a beautiful Imperial girl who was married off to a man to take care of the families debts. Always expected to be a courtious, well-mannered lady, who drinks tea at four o'clock, even though all she wants is to explore the world. Or at best, lose herself in the many worlds of books.
"She knew that smile. It was the smile many young men gave her. When she walked by, or when they met her. It was that smile she was always expected to return. It was that smile that had nothing to do with her but was - somehow - her burden to bear.
The urge to roll her eyes was enormous, and the effort required to ignore it was gargantuan. She would need to play the proper lady, at least until she sorted out what was happening to her. After that, she wondered, how improper was it - really - to slap a man in the face for staring?"
And then we have Flora, the girl who needed to become a man in order to be respected and blend in in a pirate's world. It even made her use her male name, Florian, as a mask/persona when she is in need of braveness.
"'Trade me shifts? I don't think I can be around her anymore.'
Alfie nodded. 'Course, Florian.'
Florian. She would do well to remember who she was. What she had become. What it took to survive. She lay back in her hammock, and in her mind she said the name over and over again. An incantation against her own weakness."
Or
"There were so many mermaids, too many to count. An impossibility of them.
When had Flora ever seen so many female faces? Never, never. Her life had been full of men, had been made safer by her invisibility among them. And in that way, she was rather like these creatures, wasn't she?"
And even the Lady Ayer, one of the most skilled assasins of the Emperor. Even though the lower ranking men of the army bow to her, she never gets praise from the Emperor himself or even some acknowledgement of her work, unlike her male colleagues.
One thing in the story I didn't get was the part where Flora was learning to become a witch under Xenobia. Don't get me wrong, I loved the beautiful rhyming stories Xenobia told about the witches: all strong and smart women, and the bittersweet principle that there always needs to be given something up in order for a witch's spell to work. For example when Xenobia conjured up the most delicious stew for Flora, but had to give up her appetite.
"Today, I will tell this stone: Once you were a part of something great. Once you were part of a mountain, and you were happy, and you were important. When you fell, you thought that you would never be happy, not ever again, never be important, not ever again. But you were wrong, sweet stone, for now you are a part of a great pot of nourishing stew. Like the mountain, you will give life. Like the mountain, you will be great. Like the mountain, you will have purpose. You will give sustenance to those who had none, and that will make you great again."
But the whole witch thing felt out of nowhere in the rest of the story, since it had no connections to anything, other than giving Flora a bit more useful abilities. That was, untill it was stated that Xenobia had ties with the Pirate supreme (who had been her lover). So I looked forward to more of their backstory, and how these connections would influence future events, only for the story to never come back to that again! Xenobia and the Pirate Supreme didn't reunite, or even had contact with each other someway or another. That was really a missed chance, but who knows, maybe that will be touched upon in the next book.
Another thing I liked was the part where the Sea rescued Flora and Evelyn from drowning, and tries to do it as gently as possible, but Flora and Evelyn, not aware of those efforts or even know the Sea has a consciousness, just focus on the negative things.
From the Sea's POV:
"It was Evelyn, the mermaid says. She fed me and she freed me and I am home, Mother. I am home.
And the other? the Sea asks.
Freed us both.
Then they shall both be saved.
With care, the Sea lifts them both, cradles them to her breasts as she carries them, so that they might feel the beating of her many hearts.
A small pod of dolphins jumps in her wake, playing in the rolling waves created by her elation. They're wise enough to know that it will be long beyond their years before the Sea will show such joy again.
She is as gentle as the Sea can be, as gentle as she is enormous.
She leaves them where humans belong, on the soft sand of the shore.
And still, as they sleep, she sends lapping waves against their feet to remind them of her gratitude.
Thank you, she says. Thank you."
From Flora's POV:
"The salt of the Sea licked her wound, burned it, sent pain through her whole being. Flora felt her body convulse, and she was sick into the sand that was in her mouth, on her face, everywhere. Where am I?
She tried to move but found that she could not, not without being sick again. The pain was everything, it was everywhere, it was Flora's whole world. She was adrift in a body that did not want her anymore, a body that was no more. Another wave hit her, and the pain doubled. Flora cried out.
Let me die."
Or another beautifully written quote about the Sea:
"She reaches with her great arms and topples another ship, crushing its wooden bones beneath her.
More men fall, more bodies to be lost in her depths.
They will tell tales of this battle, of the Sea and her might. They will say sea monsters emerged from her depths and reached up their long tentacles. They will say this because they cannot comprehend her truth, that she can pick and choose, that vengeance burns deep within her."
All in all, it was a nice book, with good worldbuilding and underlying themes, but the plot was a bit inconsistent pretty early on, since after 1/3 of the book when Flora and Evelyn escaped (because seriously, why would Flora go away from her brother who was her only family left, to escape with a girl she had a crush on but only knew for two weeks at most? And how is it possible that Evelyn forgave Flora so soon after being betrayed by her and locked up as a slave? The angst could have been written a lot more elaborately) nothing made a lot of sense plotwise. But I do look forward to the sequel, with support characters from this story (Geneviève and Alfie, the brother of Flora) as main characters!
A small in-depth topic in the field of culture I found interesting, is that it was normal for Imperial girls who are maried off to a man in a far away city to move with all their luggage packed in a custom made coffin, where the family name is engraved on.
"Death and marriage, both so frankly inevitable, both so unavoidable. Mandatory."
This was so specific and gruesome that I wondered if that was really normal back in the day for for example the Chinese culture (which this book is based on). But unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I could not find information about that being real.
Back to the plot: The main power struggle is between the Emperor, who wants to expand his empire (and doesn't care if there are mermaids killed in the process), and the Sea, mighty and full of memories which are devided into all her daughters, the mermaids. The Sea only communicates with one group of people: the crew of the pirate ship The Leviathan, under command of the Pirate Supreme. They obey the Sea's orders and fight for freedom for the islands, are against killing mermaids, and have never lost a battle to the Emperor or other pirate ships alike.
The book has an underlying theme namely the importance of memories and how they shape your identity, and I think it offers a beautiful and varied take on this topic.
For example, the Nameless Captain, the heartless captain of the merchandise ship the Dove, which turns out to be a slaver. He drowns his sorrows in mermaid blood, which allows him to see memories of the Sea, but also takes memories of him in return, hence why he forgot his own name. He believes the past is in the past, and sees no need to dwell on it. He thinks memories are a weaknesses, because it makes you feel soft for certain people or places, and that gets in the way when you want to make profit.
Rake, the second man on the Dove (secretly a spie for the Pirate supreme), on the other hand, swore to never forget what the Imperials did when they took his home island Quark and saw with his own eyes how they killed his mother. That shaped him and gives him his purpose. And that is also why he harbors a deep hatret for a maid of one of the Imperial passengers of the ship, the Lady Ayer. That maid was originally from Quark, but took on another name: Geneviève, and abandoned her culture, to serve the Emperor.
And of course the main character, Flora/Florian. After she escaped the Dove, she learned to become a witch under Xenobia and needed to puzzle together what her identity was with her memories, in order to be able to do magic. Traumatic events from the past, family bonds, newfound love and the desire to stay alive, all made her who she/he is today.
Another theme that was really wel written was the gender norms.
For example one of the main characters, the Lady Hasegawa, or Evelyn, a beautiful Imperial girl who was married off to a man to take care of the families debts. Always expected to be a courtious, well-mannered lady, who drinks tea at four o'clock, even though all she wants is to explore the world. Or at best, lose herself in the many worlds of books.
"She knew that smile. It was the smile many young men gave her. When she walked by, or when they met her. It was that smile she was always expected to return. It was that smile that had nothing to do with her but was - somehow - her burden to bear.
The urge to roll her eyes was enormous, and the effort required to ignore it was gargantuan. She would need to play the proper lady, at least until she sorted out what was happening to her. After that, she wondered, how improper was it - really - to slap a man in the face for staring?"
And then we have Flora, the girl who needed to become a man in order to be respected and blend in in a pirate's world. It even made her use her male name, Florian, as a mask/persona when she is in need of braveness.
"'Trade me shifts? I don't think I can be around her anymore.'
Alfie nodded. 'Course, Florian.'
Florian. She would do well to remember who she was. What she had become. What it took to survive. She lay back in her hammock, and in her mind she said the name over and over again. An incantation against her own weakness."
Or
"There were so many mermaids, too many to count. An impossibility of them.
When had Flora ever seen so many female faces? Never, never. Her life had been full of men, had been made safer by her invisibility among them. And in that way, she was rather like these creatures, wasn't she?"
And even the Lady Ayer, one of the most skilled assasins of the Emperor. Even though the lower ranking men of the army bow to her, she never gets praise from the Emperor himself or even some acknowledgement of her work, unlike her male colleagues.
One thing in the story I didn't get was the part where Flora was learning to become a witch under Xenobia. Don't get me wrong, I loved the beautiful rhyming stories Xenobia told about the witches: all strong and smart women, and the bittersweet principle that there always needs to be given something up in order for a witch's spell to work. For example when Xenobia conjured up the most delicious stew for Flora, but had to give up her appetite.
"Today, I will tell this stone: Once you were a part of something great. Once you were part of a mountain, and you were happy, and you were important. When you fell, you thought that you would never be happy, not ever again, never be important, not ever again. But you were wrong, sweet stone, for now you are a part of a great pot of nourishing stew. Like the mountain, you will give life. Like the mountain, you will be great. Like the mountain, you will have purpose. You will give sustenance to those who had none, and that will make you great again."
But the whole witch thing felt out of nowhere in the rest of the story, since it had no connections to anything, other than giving Flora a bit more useful abilities. That was, untill it was stated that Xenobia had ties with the Pirate supreme (who had been her lover). So I looked forward to more of their backstory, and how these connections would influence future events, only for the story to never come back to that again! Xenobia and the Pirate Supreme didn't reunite, or even had contact with each other someway or another. That was really a missed chance, but who knows, maybe that will be touched upon in the next book.
Another thing I liked was the part where the Sea rescued Flora and Evelyn from drowning, and tries to do it as gently as possible, but Flora and Evelyn, not aware of those efforts or even know the Sea has a consciousness, just focus on the negative things.
From the Sea's POV:
"It was Evelyn, the mermaid says. She fed me and she freed me and I am home, Mother. I am home.
And the other? the Sea asks.
Freed us both.
Then they shall both be saved.
With care, the Sea lifts them both, cradles them to her breasts as she carries them, so that they might feel the beating of her many hearts.
A small pod of dolphins jumps in her wake, playing in the rolling waves created by her elation. They're wise enough to know that it will be long beyond their years before the Sea will show such joy again.
She is as gentle as the Sea can be, as gentle as she is enormous.
She leaves them where humans belong, on the soft sand of the shore.
And still, as they sleep, she sends lapping waves against their feet to remind them of her gratitude.
Thank you, she says. Thank you."
From Flora's POV:
"The salt of the Sea licked her wound, burned it, sent pain through her whole being. Flora felt her body convulse, and she was sick into the sand that was in her mouth, on her face, everywhere. Where am I?
She tried to move but found that she could not, not without being sick again. The pain was everything, it was everywhere, it was Flora's whole world. She was adrift in a body that did not want her anymore, a body that was no more. Another wave hit her, and the pain doubled. Flora cried out.
Let me die."
Or another beautifully written quote about the Sea:
"She reaches with her great arms and topples another ship, crushing its wooden bones beneath her.
More men fall, more bodies to be lost in her depths.
They will tell tales of this battle, of the Sea and her might. They will say sea monsters emerged from her depths and reached up their long tentacles. They will say this because they cannot comprehend her truth, that she can pick and choose, that vengeance burns deep within her."
All in all, it was a nice book, with good worldbuilding and underlying themes, but the plot was a bit inconsistent pretty early on, since after 1/3 of the book when Flora and Evelyn escaped (because seriously, why would Flora go away from her brother who was her only family left, to escape with a girl she had a crush on but only knew for two weeks at most? And how is it possible that Evelyn forgave Flora so soon after being betrayed by her and locked up as a slave? The angst could have been written a lot more elaborately) nothing made a lot of sense plotwise. But I do look forward to the sequel, with support characters from this story (Geneviève and Alfie, the brother of Flora) as main characters!
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Holy jumping crawfish was this the most fun I’ve ever had reading - side eyeing the “young adult” label bc there are some SEVERELY mature/dark themes for a YA fantasy novel but other than that - SUCH a fun read.
Finished it in 3.5 hours!
Finished it in 3.5 hours!
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated