Bethany C. Morrow

Bethany C. Morrow's A Song Below Water is the story for today’s readers — a captivating modern fantasy about black mermaids, friendship, and self-discovery set against the challenges of today's racism and sexism. In a society determined to keep her under lock and key, Tavia must hide her siren powers. Meanwhile, Effie is fighting her own family struggles, pitted against literal demons from her past. Together, these best friends must navigate through the perils of high school’s junior year. But everything changes in the aftermath of a siren murder trial that rocks the nation, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical voice at the worst possible moment. Soon, nothing in Portland, Oregon, seems safe. To save themselves from drowning, it’s only Tavia and Effie’s unbreakable sisterhood that proves to be the strongest magic of all. “An enthralling tale of black girl magic and searing social commentary ready to rattle the bones.” — Dhonielle Clayton, New York Times bestselling author of The Belles

A Novel

A Song Below Water

Sarah Sammis

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow is built on the premise that all sirens are Black girls. Tavia lives in Portland and has to struggle to keep her siren identity a secret, and her voice under control. Sirens are being killed and their murderers are being allowed to go free.

The blend of the modern world and mythological world was just perfect! And Tavia's and Effie's relationship was just as, if not more, perfect! The vibe of their friendship reminded me a lot of  mine with my sister <3 The mystery of Effie's "condition" (I'll call it for lack of spoiler) and Tavia's journey of acceptance was so very well balanced and intriguing. 

The only complaint I have is a couple things. For one, there was a bit of awkwardness to the flow. Not so much that I couldn't follow or enjoy the book, but just enough to make some parts feel a bit awkwardly paced. Secondly, Tavia's eloko(?) "ex" and any mentions of him just seemed so random, unless I missed something. Those mentions, though thankfully few, seemed like one too many for a book with so much to pack to it.

Ari Rose

The blend of the modern world and mythological world was just perfect! And Tavia's and Effie's relationship was just as, if not more, perfect! The vibe of their friendship reminded me a lot of  mine with my sister <3 The mystery of Effie's "condition" (I'll call it for lack of spoiler) and Tavia's journey of acceptance was so very well balanced and intriguing. 

The only complaint I have is a couple things. For one, there was a bit of awkwardness to the flow. Not so much that I couldn't follow or enjoy the book, but just enough to make some parts feel a bit awkwardly paced. Secondly, Tavia's eloko(?) "ex" and any mentions of him just seemed so random, unless I missed something. Those mentions, though thankfully few, seemed like one too many for a book with so much to pack to it.

Gillian Rose

4.5 stars

What a wonderful book that merged mythological creatures with the real world in a truly spectacular way. But what was best was the relationship between Tavia and Effie. Their friendship was superb.

Bethany C. Morrow's A Song Below Water is the story for today’s readers — a captivating modern fantasy about Black sirens, friendship, and self-discovery set against the challenges of today's racism and sexism. In a society determined to keep her under lock and key, Tavia must hide her siren powers. Meanwhile, Effie is fighting her own family struggles, pitted against literal demons from her past. Together, these best friends must navigate through the perils of high school’s junior year. But everything changes in the aftermath of a siren murder trial that rocks the nation, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical voice at the worst possible moment. Soon, nothing in Portland, Oregon, seems safe. To save themselves from drowning, it’s only Tavia and Effie’s unbreakable sisterhood that proves to be the strongest magic of all. "It's beautiful and it's brilliant.”--Jason Reynolds, #1 New York Times bestselling author and National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature “An enthralling tale of Black girl magic and searing social commentary ready to rattle the bones.” — Dhonielle Clayton, New York Times bestselling author of The Belles

dija

Lauren Tabor

Even though this book hits some extremely relevant and hard-hitting topics it was still really fun. I think it did a good job of balancing racism and prejudice and protesting and other hard subjects but also giving you the whimsy of sirens and mermaids and other mythical beings. It is kind of eerie how similar this book is to what is happening right now in our nation and I think this is the perfect time to read it to gain a different perspective from my own. 
I want to say that this cover is so stunning. I'm obsessed. 
I think this book could've been even more amazing but I had some trouble following the world we were in and the different kinds of characters. There was little to no world building which had me confused for a lot of the book and mythological beings were hardly explained. Some were things we have heard of before so I had an idea of what they did. But even in the story it talked about how people just believe the "mythos" (which I came to assume meant that people believe in the mythological stories passed down through time) and that it's not usually accurate, but we never were give the accurate facts so I was left with what I know about sirens and mermaids and gargoyles (etc.) even though that was kind of contradicting what the characters were saying. And then there were characters I've never heard of before so I assume they are made up by the author, which is so great, but they were never explained or fleshed out, so I was confused by some characters and their actions because I didn't fully understand the background to their mythological-ness. 
This book was pretty slow for most of the book and I think that left a lot of time to help explain more things..I think that would've helped me while reading a lot more. 
I loved the gargoyle character and wish we would've gotten a lot more out of that whole situation and more background on gargoyles themselves. 
A lot of the things that happened with Effie I think could've been resolved if her grandparents trusted her with her own "gifts" and explained things to her when she was young instead of trying to suppress her. It's frustrating that they wouldn't tell her ANYTHING. It literally could've saved so much trouble. 
I really wish there would've been more explanation about Tavia and her siren abilities. I felt like I missed the entire beginning of this book where the world-building and character explanations take place. It felt like I was reading the second book in a series almost, so I had a hard time getting in to this. Once I got to the end I wanted more. So many big things happened at the end and by then it was all over when I was just wanting more from the characters and story. 
I've never read a book with these kinds of beings (mermaids and sirens and such) and I really didn't think I would be into it. But I actually liked that part of the book and will not be afraid to pick up more on the topic and also from this author. I think she get better and better as time goes on!


Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Teen for letting me read an Arc of this book!

Elizabeth Hagenlocher

Clara Moore

I really wanted to like this one way more than I did but it just wasn't quite there for me. I understood the societal issues the author was trying to portray through mysticism but there wasn't really an explanation about why any of the characters were these other creatures. I enjoyed the strong female friendships but I ended the book wondering how the magical realism and the story were really supposed to tie together.

Alexa Jade

I’m not great with words and eloquently expressing myself so I usually don’t write reviews but I feel I owe one for this low rating. 

things I did like about this book:
-the sister bond. the girls were there for each other as much as they could be and I loved it. 
-GARGOYLES!!!! Omg I need more gargoyle stories immediately. 
-the social commentary. I always strive to read stories about characters that are different from me so I was excited as hell to read about black sirens! Some parts of this were so relevant to the world right now and it made me so sad but I appreciated reading about it as well. 

things I didn’t like about this book:
-this was SO CHOPPY. The dialogue, thoughts & events were all choppy at times. To the point where I genuinely thought I had accidentally skipped forward in the story with my Apple Watch. (I was listening to the audio) 
-it felt like there was too much stuffed into this one book. Too many mysteries/reveals, too many mythical creatures to keep track of. It was an overload of things that ended up taking away from the main story. 

I don’t say this often but I wish this book was 2 books so that the author could’ve had the pages to fully cover all the things she jammed into this one book.

Alice

I don't know how to express my feelings for this book coherently, so bear with me.

A Song Below Water is a complex read with realistic teenage voices that tell an eye-opening story on social injustice by mixing the real with the mythological and supernatural.

I think a huge part of why I loved it is because it made me feel a kind of pain I never fully understood before and that I will probably never face to such extent. I'm glad I read it at this precise moment.

Full review here

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Jennifer

I feel like this is one of those books which promises a lot of potentials: diversity, explorations of important social issues (particularly about race and privilege), and magic - but is a let down because of the way the writing is executed. I really wanted to connect with both Effie and Tavia - both their journey of self-discovery and how they look at the social issues from their personal narratives. While these are great, I feel like the writing style falters as I didn't find myself emotionally engaging with the story as a whole.

N.B. The major content warnings in the novel are: racism, micro-aggression, racial violence, and loss of loved ones

(2.5 stars out of 5)

Sam Pulliam

4.5

I got A Song Below Water from Libby after waiting for ages and I’m so glad I got a chance to read it. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I heard it was fantasy but that it wasn’t really or that it was confusing. I am so glad I didn’t let that deter me. This book follows Tavia and Effie, one is a siren and one pretends to be one at the Ren faire. When a suspected siren is murdered, things become dangerous and tensions run high as Tavia tries to keep her identity a secret and Effie is trying to figure out who she really is. This book takes place in our world but there are magical and fantastical elements revealed as if it’s completely normal. It reminded me of my recent read-through of Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go; I was given pieces of world-building and had to put things together for myself. I loved that aspect of the experience. Ultimately, this is a story about black girls finding and using their voices to stand up for themselves and bring awareness and justice to their community and I highly recommend it.

Emily Perkovich

I need more. I loved this so much more than Mem. The style was completely different. My only complaint is that occasionally her writing leaves bits to be assumed, that in my opinion are not incredibly obvious assumptions to make.

laura

I really did like this book. It was a very powerful read that tackled harder issues like racism in America. I also did like the mythology elements and supernatural elements that were at the heart of the book. I liked both elements but felt that they did not mix thought as well as they should. I also felt that the two different lead characters voices were not strong enough to tell apart. I really did enjoy the book but the pacing did not grab my attention in the audibook.

Jelke Lenaerts

I received a galley of this book through Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.  
This book has a content warning for racism.

I really wanted to like this book and it started off so promising but ths was so effing rough to read. It was so confusing. The author introduces a lot of mythical creatures but it's so hard to find out the lore behind them all. I would love to look some of these up but the author repeats throughout the book a lot that the most popular lore surrounding these creatures are all fake. So doing extra research seems useless. The time the author spends explaining what isn't true should have been spend explaining what is because I was so confused throughout this whole book and I just couldn't figure it out. There also isn't much character work done besides the two main characters. I got none of the side character's motivations. It made things so confusing as well. I also just don't think the social commentary was balanced well with the mythical stuff. Whenever it would switch over the more social justice things it felt a bit jarring. The last problem I had with this book is that a lot of side storylines were introduced but never really resolved. It was kind of frustrating. Yeah, I was really excited for this book but the excecution was just not there for me at all.

Renee Delcourt

I actually really enjoyed this book. I heard so many people say they didn't like it and that there was no fantasy elements but I really thought it was clever how it was a contemporary book with it an urban fantasy feel. I adored Tav and Effie's bond and how they loved each other so selflessly. I'm not sure if I will read the sequel at least not right now, but I definitely will read from Bethany C. Morrow again.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher and netgalley. Thanks! All opinions are my own.




Book: A Song Below Water




Author: Bethany C. Morrow




Book Series: Standalone




Rating: 4/5




Diversity: Black main character and side characters!




Recommended For...: mermaid lovers, people who want commentary on racism and discrimination




Publication Date: June 2, 2020




Genre: YA Fantasy




Recommended Age: 15+ (violence, death, slight gore, slight romance, fighting for justice, racism, police brutality)




Publisher: TorTeen




Pages: 288




Synopsis: Tavia is already at odds with the world, forced to keep her siren identity under wraps in a society that wants to keep her kind under lock and key. Never mind she's also stuck in Portland, Oregon, a city with only a handful of black folk and even fewer of those with magical powers. At least she has her bestie Effie by her side as they tackle high school drama, family secrets, and unrequited crushes.

But everything changes in the aftermath of a siren murder trial that rocks the nation; the girls’ favorite Internet fashion icon reveals she's also a siren, and the news rips through their community. Tensions escalate when Effie starts being haunted by demons from her past, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical voice during a police stop. No secret seems safe anymore—soon Portland won’t be either.




Review: I tried this book again and it was much better this time. I don't know if I'm just a mood reader now or not but it definitely effected my reading of this book on the first pass. The book was amazingly well detailed and I loved the world the author wove. The characters were also well done and developed. I also loved the incorporation of racism, police brutality, and the overall fight for justice!




However, I did think that there were some confusing moments and pacing issues. The pacing is a bit slow in places and it slows down randomly.




Verdict: I think it’s a good book, but it's hard to read in some spots.

Deborah Kerr

3.75/5.0 stars.

I really liked the characters and the themes presented and I love that the author chose to tell such a prevalent story using sirens!

The characters are fantastic and the plot itself is decent. 

Unfortunately, the pacing is SLOW. Glacial, in fact. And considering the themes and topics discussed in this book, it is a short book. Pair the slow pacing with some shoddy world-building and it makes for an uneven read for the first 150 pages. I appreciate slow builds and I love when a writer just throws you in and lets you figure out the world as you go but we are never told what anything is, we're just expected to have the mythology background going into the story. 

It was a good book, with the potential for greatness, I'm just not sure it achieved that story-telling wise. Thematically and character-development wise, absolutely.

Leelynn Brady

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Jean Book Nerd, Netgalley, and Tor Teen for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.



Do you know how eerie this book is? It starts off with a murder trial for the killing of a woman named Rhoda Taylor, who was killed by her boyfriend. Before, nobody was saying her name. She was a Black woman. Nobody was saying her name. Nobody was giving credence to her murder until a photo came out of her that made it seem like she was a Siren, and that’s what made people start to care. And the only reason why people started to care was because people around the world do NOT like Sirens. In fact, Sirens are the only supernatural creatures that have a device – called a silencing collar – to negate the effects of their Siren call. No other supernatural creatures have a government created device, no other supernatural creatures are feared across the board. No other supernatural creatures are deemed justified to be killed solely because of what they are.

Now, doesn’t this sound familiar?

Immediately starting this book, I was getting chills, and I was tearing up because not only were Sirens always Black women, but they were always persecuted by the public and Tavia (understandably) has to hide the fact that she is a Siren because she would ostracized by her classmates and more. Her own father hates Sirens, and it shows in how he treats his own daughter, and it breaks my heart. He knew that there was an opportunity that he would have a Siren if he had a daughter, since his mother was a Siren, and rather than allow his mother and his daughter to have a relationship and give them an opportunity to bond and Tavia to learn what it means to be a Siren, he kept them apart out of spite.

It got to the point that 11 year old Tavia tried to take her Siren voice out herself – which almost had disastrous consequences and long lasting scars in her life. Thank goodness for Effie, Tavia’s “play” sister, who has her own reasons for why she is living with Tavia and the Philips in Oregon. Even though they are not blood sisters, I feel like Tavia and Effie have the kind of sisterhood that is absolutely great and they have learned how to understand one another and really love one another in a world that is already set against them as Black women.

In addition, Effie doesn’t yet know what she is supernaturally, but she is able to escape from the anxieties of real life during the Renaissance Faire every year when she turned into Euphemia the Mer. It’s clear that when she dons her mermaid tail and she’s in the water, she is really in her element. And her story with Elric the Smith’s son, it’s magical and wonderful. With the sudden changes that Tavia sees on Effie one day when Effie blacked out after visiting her mother’s grave, the answer to what she is may come out this year, and hopefully it is something that she has known all along.

I feel like this was a really emotional read for me. There were a lot of quotes in this book that I had to take note of because I had to just stop and digest it. As a Black woman myself, I felt them in my heart and soul, and even though I’m not a Siren (if only I was, honestly), I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of those micro-aggressions on the daily. It’s tiring and exhausting and I’m still trying to be proud to be Black. I wish I could be like Tavia and Effie and just be proud to be in my own skin, and even sometimes Tavia and Effie aren’t. They are still learning how to use their voices and be strong, and I feel like this book shows their journey on how they learned how to do this, both together and apart.

Makenzie Bell

4.5 stars! This is such such a great book!

Trigger warnings: (view spoiler)[black trauma, bullying, colorism, persecution for witchcraft, faked suicide (mentioned), fantasy racism, forced hospitalization (mentioned), forced outing, misogynoir, murder, police brutality, racial profiling, physical injuries and body horror (specifically skin removal and throat injury) (hide spoiler)]

Edit 11/06/2020: Just a quick update after re-reading A Song Below Water as an audiobook. I absolutely adore this story and the narration. I found the writing style (see below) flowed much easier for me with the author's narration.

While this book was not a 5-star for me I found it so incredibly powerful. A Song Below Water portrayed a stark message about racism, police brutality and social justice in a way not often seen with fantastical elements. 

I want to quickly outline what didn't work for me. The writing style, particularly in the beginning of the book, felt a bit jaunty and awkward to me. I felt as though I was reading a debut novel.* Sadly, the writing was just not fluid and intuitive for me as a reader. I felt this pulled away from the story. 

In the same sense, I felt some of the fantastical elements were inserted in a way that just seemed odd. Overall, it just did not feel like a seamless blend between realistic fiction and fantasy.

But to the good stuff. Morrow did a fantastic job instilling a sense of frustration, anger, and family bond in the reader through the characters experiences in this story. While I felt there wasn't a great blend between the realistic fiction and fantasy elements, they each absolutely fantastic on their own. 

I adored a lot of the fantasy components in this story. The different fantasy races - sirens, gargoyles, mermaids, sprites and elokos - were all depicted in way that felt both magical and tangible. 

And then there was the themes of race and discrimination that are weaved into the story. These were fantastic. Raw and hard-hitting, Morrow presented these concepts in a way that was both removed in a fictional sense - applying them to fantasy races. But the story doesn't ignore the realistic notions of discrimination, prejudice and brutality against POC either. I think this was done in such a fantastic and respectful way.*


  *Note: Please know that I AM NOT an #ownvoices reviewer on this matter. Please seek out other POC reviews to understand this matter and how the book has dealt with it. Also understand that this is an #ownvoice authored book.


I think this was a fantastic book that was unique in how it tackled the stories issues.


  Note: Review copies received via NetGalley and Libro.FM. This does not impact opinions within this review.


blog •  trigger warning database • more links

Happy reading! ❤

Becca Futrell

Natali Topliff

Whilst I think this YA was aimed at the lower end of that bracket, and therefore I was not the target audience, I did enjoy this story. In this multiple-perspective story, you follow Tavia and Effie who show that family doesn't need shared blood. Rich with mythology, A song below water introduces sirens, mermaids and more to our world. The ending was a little rushed for me, not giving me the satisfaction I wanted, but the rest of the book more than made up for it. Bonus - I learnt so much about caring for black hair which was a pleasant surprise!

Megan

liked this less and less as it went on :(((( thought the themes were the strongest aspect! I read it in these vlogs:

https://youtu.be/2tAYBFT8L7Q
https://youtu.be/bzJEkGeYZTU
https://youtu.be/bzJEkGeYZTU
https://youtu.be/UOVEupvI4pk

Heather Killeen

Rating: 4.5/5 mysterious transformations

Format: Audiobook. I’d like to thank Bethany Morrow and TorTeen for a copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review! I ended up listening to this on audio though because I read much faster that way.

To sum up: 
This is the story of two sisters and best friends as they discover their own voice and identity. Tavia is a siren, a Black young woman with the magical ability to influence people with the sound of her voice. She doesn’t use her ability however and must keep her identity a secret because people are scared of sirens and their potential power over others. But keeping her identity a secret is more difficult than ever when a siren is accused of murder on the news and it's all anyone can talk about. Effie, her best friend, is having a crisis of her own. She sees things other people can’t and is still getting over a traumatizing event from her childhood. As Tavia and Effie work through their issues, their loyalty and kindness towards each other never change, and no matter what happens, and what ghosts from their pasts come to haunt them, they have each other's backs.

What I enjoyed: 
I absolutely loved this story! Morrow seamlessly weaves together a story about friendship and sisterhood, racism and social change, and a fascinating world imbued with magic and myth. Sirens as a metaphor for Black women was such a fascinating and beautiful choice and Morrow wields it expertly. I am still thinking about this book days later, and definitely want to read it again! I loved the magical elements of the story and how they are incorporated into a fairly contemporary world (Keep Portland weird! lol). I loved the sisterhood and friendship between Effie and Tavia, it was so realistic, heartwarming, and inspiring. I loved how Tavia struggled with her identity, her power, and her responsibility of being a Black woman, a good friend, AND a siren. Effie's own journey of self-discovery was so cool as well. I can't believe I didn't see it coming, but I was so wrapped up in the plot and the mystery that the final reveal made me gasp! So many beautiful and powerful ideas are woven into this story and I applaud Morrow for balancing them all so well!

 The only minor issue I had was that sometimes transitions between scenes/POV made me a little lost. I don’t know if it was an issue of me not listening carefully enough to the audio, of an issue of some info getting edited out, but a few times I couldn’t quite follow the thread of the more intricate details of the plot. I could definitely follow the larger plot, however, so this is very minor!

Overall, I thought this was a beautiful and powerful story. Bethany Morrow is an author to watch and I can’t wait to read A Chorus Rises (a companion novel with a different MC in the same world, out in June)!

A Song Below Water A Novel

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