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A review by books_with_mana
A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow
Did not finish book.
A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow has a refreshing magic system, exploring creatures that are usually ignored in YA fantasy. This is a book I will be recommending for a 13-15-year-old audience. The characters dealt with systematic oppression, teenage girl drama, school crushes, family drama, ex-boyfriends, and secret magical identities. More urban fantasy needs to be explored because there are opportunities to talk about social structures like this book did.
There was a lot of info dumping, which made for a clunky read. Some fantasy elements were introduced naturally, while others had paragraphs of character or magical history, which distracted from the main plot. The external conflicts were far more engaging than internal conflicts. And the character voices were not distinct enough. I was 50% of the way through when I finally learned the difference between our two protagonists.
I, a 26-year-old woman worried about getting laid off and going to graduate school before my parents' require my assistance, am in a completely different place than our two teenaged protagonists. So my inability to connect to our protagonists could come from my age. However, I think a younger audience would eat this book up.
There was a lot of info dumping, which made for a clunky read. Some fantasy elements were introduced naturally, while others had paragraphs of character or magical history, which distracted from the main plot. The external conflicts were far more engaging than internal conflicts. And the character voices were not distinct enough. I was 50% of the way through when I finally learned the difference between our two protagonists.
I, a 26-year-old woman worried about getting laid off and going to graduate school before my parents' require my assistance, am in a completely different place than our two teenaged protagonists. So my inability to connect to our protagonists could come from my age. However, I think a younger audience would eat this book up.