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xavia 's review for:
A Song Below Water
by Bethany C. Morrow
I struggled for a little with what to give this book, because it is so SO good, but I do think there are things it could have done better.
In the end, I decided on 5 stars, because the way Morrow wove mythos together with current events was beautiful and she did so without sounding overly preachy. Like Slay, this book deals very heavily on what it means to be black in a world were being so is often considered unforgivable.
Tavia has the additional burden of being siren. A being whose voice is seen as dangerous and who has spent her life silenced. She does everything she can to not stand out, to hide in plain sight, to stay out of the limelight. Effie too, spends much of her time in hiding, except for when she is at the renaissance faire, and she can be something beautiful and exotic and intoxicating, even if it is only pretend.
Seeing these two together was beautiful and amazing, and seeing how they supported each other through their struggles and helped each other survive was the true highlight of this book. Sure there is a lot of intrigue and some interesting world building going on, but their sisterhood is the heart.
I do think that there was some room for improvement in the writing. Sometimes I would get through a passage and not realize how we got there, or something would happen and never be explained (what was the deal with Isabella?), or there was no resolution with Mama Theo. In the end though, those feel minor. I still understood the story, I still got the message, and I still feel like overall, this book was more than just a siren story. So much more.
Recommended Listening: Symphony by Clean Bandit
In the end, I decided on 5 stars, because the way Morrow wove mythos together with current events was beautiful and she did so without sounding overly preachy. Like Slay, this book deals very heavily on what it means to be black in a world were being so is often considered unforgivable.
Tavia has the additional burden of being siren. A being whose voice is seen as dangerous and who has spent her life silenced. She does everything she can to not stand out, to hide in plain sight, to stay out of the limelight. Effie too, spends much of her time in hiding, except for when she is at the renaissance faire, and she can be something beautiful and exotic and intoxicating, even if it is only pretend.
Seeing these two together was beautiful and amazing, and seeing how they supported each other through their struggles and helped each other survive was the true highlight of this book. Sure there is a lot of intrigue and some interesting world building going on, but their sisterhood is the heart.
I do think that there was some room for improvement in the writing. Sometimes I would get through a passage and not realize how we got there, or something would happen and never be explained (what was the deal with Isabella?), or there was no resolution with Mama Theo. In the end though, those feel minor. I still understood the story, I still got the message, and I still feel like overall, this book was more than just a siren story. So much more.
Recommended Listening: Symphony by Clean Bandit