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beccas_books 's review for:
The Sea Witch
by Rebecca F. Kenney
DID NOT FINISH: 30%
I know that a lot of Little Mermaid stories rely on the mermaid character being a fish out of water (har har), but something about this one felt wrong and maybe a bit gross? Averil is supposedly around 25, but she’s been completely smothered at sea and restricted by a puritanical religion, so she doesn’t really act like an adult in any way or form. The sea witch has to explain pretty much everything about sex and teaches her about it with demonstrations.
It comes off as very predatory, but in a gross way, not a fun way. We get occasional throw away lines from Averil about how she’s trained as a warrior and knows a little bit about the lives of adult mermaids in relationships, but in the 30-ish percent I read it doesn’t contribute to any sense of agency or maturity at all.
I have read other spicy romance retellings of The Little Mermaid where the character in the spot of the mermaid managed to be a sheltered adult stumbling around in spicy/adult situations without giving me the same vibes, so I know this isn’t just me having a bad reaction to taking this particular fairy tale to the adult space.
I did flip to the last chapter or two to see if that icky edge to the relationship goes away, but I was not impressed and I had to stop. Which I was actually really upset about because I thought Zoltan (the titular sea witch) was very well written.
Make your own decisions about this book, but just go into it aware of what’s going on.