Sydney W., Annapolis High School
The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea follows mainly two characters – Evelyn, the daughter of a wealthy family, sent off on a ship to an arranged marriage, and Flora, known by the alias Florian, a pirate on said ship. It’s a tale of pirates, friendship, love and coming-to-terms with oneself.
The characters were what kept me reading. I loved the inner thoughts, the dialogue and interactions that each character had. The characters were also relatable and loveable, but not always in a soft way. I liked the way their perspectives were put into contrast, but there were still similarities between them. Something I didn’t like was that it took me a while to get invested in the story. It didn’t pull me in right away and it took me a while to warm up to it. It was mainly due to the characters that I was hooked later in the book.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy, pirates, mermaids, love stories and LGBTQ+ representation. It’s a book that does have darker topics such as murder and torture, so I wouldn’t recommend this for younger readers.
Click here to check out The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall.