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

adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I don't know who this book is for...

So. I'll say good stuff up front because the less good stuff isn't bad but it's kinda baffling to me.

The style is really engaging- a smooth, easy read. The sapphic romance is sweet, if a bit quick and with the heightened emotions of YA. There's precious few descriptions of physical affection, which is striking considering some later stuff.
If you're willing to describe torture but not two ladies making out after a difficult speration, idk what to tell you. It's a Choice.


The way the book handles witches as predominantly story tellers and truth seers is excellent. There's a good level of power, mystery and malice in it, I like it a lot. 

The book knows Imperialism is bad, and even though it's kinda not touched on a lot as a main theme, I think it's handled well.
You see that especially in the way the story handles Rake (who survived the brutal colonization efforts and hates imperials with a passion) and Genevieve (younger, who only knows the forced order imposed by Imperials, alongside their propaganda for Imperial Superiority), representing different generations under imperial rule, I think that's well done. And Flora's childhood experiences starving in the capital, it ties the themes in well.


I think the book gets the tones of pirates right - romantic imagery, gross ships, savage violence all blended together - but not necessarily the content of piracy right.

The other thread running through this book is the action heavy plot, and while I think it's interesting and engaging, it clashes HEAVILY with the tone the book sets up. It's aggressively violent, and while it's not the most detailed descriptions, it's still very jarring content. I'm not necessarily opposed to violent content but it's very very out of place here. 

The opening scene is a ritual initiation murder, and later there is a detailed description of being waterboarded. It's heavily implied multiple times that a crew member raped the main character's brother. The main pirate crew never commits piracy, but are slavers kidnapping civilians.

I would say it goes beyond normal YA's shorthand of gross men "leering" at the protagonist or the slap across the face as a punctuation of violence.

Those things together, I'm not sure who this is for. Its too brutal to be true YA (imo) and too immature to be for adults.










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