Name: Elena's review of The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Item: The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea
Rating: 2
Author: Elena

Maggie Tokuda-Hall

In a world divided by colonialism and threaded with magic, a desperate orphan turned pirate and a rebellious imperial lady find a connection on the high seas. Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. For Flora, former starving urchin, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don't trust, don't stick out, and don't feel. But on this voyage, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is headed to an arranged marriage she dreads. Flora doesn't expect to be taken under Evelyn's wing, and Evelyn doesn't expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian. Neither expects to fall in love. Soon the unlikely pair set in motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, double agents, and the all-encompassing Sea herself. Deftly entwining swashbuckling action and quiet magic, Maggie Tokuda-Hall's inventive debut novel conjures a diverse cast of characters seeking mastery over their fates while searching for answers to big questions about identity, power, and love.

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea

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She did not need to say: You're home because you're with me She did not need to say: I will be your home.

He had never known his own father, did not know how that arrangement might look like. But seeing Florian there, with the weight of the world's every injustice on his shoulders, Rake felt the desire to do something, anything, to make him feel better. To be his father, to protect him. He was free now to do that. He knelt before Florian, took the boy's chin in his hand, and lifted it so that they could see eye to eye. "There is no comfort except for time," Rake said. "But I'll stand by you until you ask me to leave."

"You're going to do well", Flora said. She gripped Evelyn's hand and squeezed reassuringly. 

"I wish I shared your confidence." Evelyn tried to smile, but it didn't take. 

"You just escaped an Imperial commander to come find me. And you doubt yourself now?" 

"I'll just say you're somewhat more equipped for this than I am." 

"You're the smartest person I know, and I need you if we're going to pull this off." 

Only an Imperial man would go to such lengths for something he wasn't even sure he wanted. Only an Imperial man would be so confounded by not having gotten what he wanted with ease. How upset he must be, that this one time the world did not grant him his heart's desire on his first request. 

The witch sighed. "You must know, loneliness is power, too," she told him. "On your own you can accomplish great things, unencumbered by the many webs and nets love weaves."

She hefted a book into her hand. "I know a book doesn't seem like much, but I promise you, there are worlds in there." 

Perhaps the dearth of love between them explained their lack of love for their daughter. 

Perhaps Evelyn was just trying to make herself feel better. 

She'd always told herself that she wouldn't be like them. That she'd find love, like the love she read about in her novels. But then, she didn't love Keiko, not the way Keiko loved her. She loved her, but she wasn't in love with her. And Keiko was lovely and perfect, kind and patient. If she couldn't love Keiko, maybe there was something wrong with her, something inherited from her loveless parents. 

"You never know." He examined her, his face inscrutable. "You've the feel of destiny about you." 

luca marie

Cécile

Elena

I am so utterly disappointed. 

The plot looked so promising, but I could sympathize with none of the characters. They were overall just flat, each of them had at max one (1) characteristic. 

I was so ready for a good, light fantasy w/w romance (with MERMAIDS!!!) but I feel ripped off (and I did not even buy this book myself)

1.5 but since I finished the book 2 stars

grace richards

** spoiler alert **
           was a nice, easy paced book. thought it was going to follow the bury your gays trope for a while at the end but things turned out okay

renee badenoch

This book was stunningly written. It tells the story of Flora/Florian, a black, gender-fluid pirate who is assigned to guard Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is eventually doomed to be sold by the pirates. The story is told in alternating perspectives, mostly between Florian and Evelyn, though also including perspectives from Rake, a pirate aboard the ship who is an undercover agent for The Pirate Supreme, who is on a mission to take down the monstrously cruel captain of the ship for the crime of murdering and drinking the blood of mermaids. The book also included some lovely perspective from the sea herself, who births a mermaid every time she creates a new memory. 

I don't want to ruin the plot of the book, but I will try to vaguely write about some of the themes explored in the book that I loved. Namely, a lot of this book was about the violence of empire, and the way way that the violence of empire creates violent lives for those who are forced to live under it. Flora and her brother, Alfie, have to make violent, unbearable choices in order to survive under the empire of the book, and the book does a good job of exploring the ramifications of not just the violence perpetuated against them by the empire they are crushed under, but the turmoil of facing the violence they have been forced to participate in. The romance of Evelyn and Flora is a catalyst for the characters in the book to discover and create paths for themselves where they can be protected from harm, and from harming. While their relationship in the book is rushed and a bit underdeveloped, the focus on creating new ways to live in an oppressive reality was quite poignant. 

CW: Sexual Abuse 

I think the biggest thing that gave me pause in the book was the way that it dealt with Alfie's sexual assault at the hands of a crew mate. The book talked about it a lot, and showed the ways that it hurt Alfie. Still, there were times that the focus on the abuse felt like it was a plot-point as a way to explain characters motivations, and I felt like there was not a lot of nuance in the way that the book talked about Alfie's addiction, seeming to paint it as an unavoidable result of the abuse. Even when the book hastily tries to bring about some closure at the end (amidst wrapping up multiple other plot points), it felt unsatisfactory to me. I feel like something as weighty as childhood sexual abuse needs to be dealt with more cautiously and deliberately, and I wish it had either not been included in this book, or had had more time spent on it as a topic. 

END CW 

My biggest complaint about the book (Other than the CW above) was that there were SO MANY storylines. I think the book did a good job tying MOST of them up, but it was hard for me to care about a lot of the characters, including the titular witch, because so many other stories were happening at once some stories got swallowed up in the maelstrom. A few things that seemed like they should be huge to me, like the revelation that the Witch had been a lover of the Pirate Supreme, are mentioned in passing, while jumping immediately into another thread of the story. 

However, the book is gorgeously written and deals with issues I haven't seen dealt with in a lot of YA literature at all. I loved the fact that the Flora was gender fluid, and loved how the book portrayed that as an existence even without him having a vocabulary to explain who he was.

Isabela H 

This book was so beautiful in both the prose and the story. 
In the beginning, I found one of the characters to be a little to flat and annoying for my liking, but she blossomed beautifully throughout the book. The lore that Tokuda-Hall fills her world with gives me the best vibes and I really want this book on my bookshelf so that I can annotate it and remember all my favorite quotes. 
I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for the purest of love stories set in a world full of rich characters.

In a world divided by colonialism and threaded with magic, a desperate orphan turned pirate and a rebellious imperial lady find a connection on the high seas. Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. For Flora, former starving urchin, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don’t trust, don’t stick out, and don’t feel. But on this voyage, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is headed to an arranged marriage she dreads. Flora doesn’t expect to be taken under Evelyn’s wing, and Evelyn doesn’t expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian. Neither expects to fall in love. Soon the unlikely pair set in motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, double agents, and the all-encompassing Sea herself. Deftly entwining swashbuckling action and quiet magic, Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s inventive debut novel conjures a diverse cast of characters seeking mastery over their fates while searching for answers to big questions about identity, power, and love.

This book absolutely surpassed my expectations. I picked it up thinking it'd be the light, casual, sapphic pirate adventure I was longing to read, but it ended up being so much more than I ever expected. The story is beautifully told in 3 different parts and from various perspectives and my favourite parts, the interludes. 

The character of the Sea was so refreshing to me and really changed my view of our oceans and how we may perceive them. In accordance to this, the way witchcraft is dealt with in this book was another really refreshing take and left me absolutely in awe of Maggie Tokuda-Hall's amazing way of thinking and imagining. 

Not only is this a beautiful sapphic love story, it's also a story about gender identity, found family and the curse or blessing of forgetting. 

Absolutely loved this book and can only recommend to any fantasy lover!

Saroise Cleary

This book absolutely surpassed my expectations. I picked it up thinking it'd be the light, casual, sapphic pirate adventure I was longing to read, but it ended up being so much more than I ever expected. The story is beautifully told in 3 different parts and from various perspectives and my favourite parts, the interludes. 

The character of the Sea was so refreshing to me and really changed my view of our oceans and how we may perceive them. In accordance to this, the way witchcraft is dealt with in this book was another really refreshing take and left me absolutely in awe of Maggie Tokuda-Hall's amazing way of thinking and imagining. 

Not only is this a beautiful sapphic love story, it's also a story about gender identity, found family and the curse or blessing of forgetting. 

Absolutely loved this book and can only recommend to any fantasy lover!

keith

maybe if i didn’t have OFMD brain rot i would’ve liked this more???? yeah that’s what i’m blaming it on..

Eloise

Okay, I thought this world was super magical. The mythology of it was magnificent and beautiful, and I thought that was the best part of the whole book. 

However, I wasn’t a huge fan of any of the characters (I’m sorry!). I thought they were okay, but I personally just couldn’t connect with any of them. The plot was interesting, but it also felt a little lacking for me. It was all interesting enough for me to keep reading and see where it ended (which I really liked by the end!). 

Overall, it was the world and the writing and the mythology itself that kept me so intrigued with this story. I loved the stories the witch told, I loved how much magic was used. The pirates were interesting and felt rather real. It was a good book. 

Also, I loved the representation in this! Bisexuality, gender fluid, transgender, all that could be reflected in this book, which I really appreciated. 

To me, though I found parts lacking personally, it was a good book overall!

I read this book in one night and I'm not even ashamed to say it! This studio-ghibli-esque book is not only a super easy read, but it's full of amazing LGBTQ+ representation from both of the main characters and the storytelling is phenomenal. It not only follows the perspective of our two main characters, but also from various vague characters who you find are rooting for our main characters in the end. It was so cute and heartbreaking all in the same moment! 

Gabby Perez

There are so many things I loved about this book I'm not even sure where to start. Maybe with the fact that the discussion of gender and identity was amazingly nuanced and beautiful, including two nonbinary characters who experienced their gender very differently? Or with the incisive discussion of colonialism and the detrimental effects of the practice on everyone involved as well as the multitude of ways that people can respond to the same violence? Or the amazing message that even when put in a shitty situation, you still have the power to make the best choice both for yourself and the people around you? Or with the absolutely wonderful magic system where magic is in stories, the ones you tell yourself and the ones you tell the rest of the world? Or even with some of the coolest mermaids I've ever read? There's so much to appreciate about this book and I know I'm going to be coming back to it again and again to dig out more. I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye out for everything Maggie Tokuda-Hall comes out with in the future.

stephanie archer 

Caitlyn Hagen

** spoiler alert **
           I think this book was a lot of fun and I enjoyed myself. 

First off the romance. Flora/Florian and Evelyn were cute together. I feel like the progression of their romance was pretty good, I do wish their had been more... Consequences for the whole, betrayal, selling you into slavery thing. However, Evelyn and Florian accepted eachother as they were ,which I love and the end where the both end up mermaids. Cute. 

I also like how the author managed to make literally all the male characters completely unlikable. All of them, Except Rake anyway. We like a father figure. 

I also found the lore and magic system a little hard to follow. It kinda makes sense but if this were a standalone it would annoy me more. 

There were also so plots that didn't tie up but again, their is supposedly another one coming so we can forgive. 

It also got darker then I expected. Their is plenty of murder, slavery, kidnapping, torture, desecration of a corpse and implied sexual assault. So.... Trigger warning. 

What it doesn't have is any sex scenes. Which isn't a bad thing just done except it. 

All in all it was a fun, pirate, Sapphic romance with some excellent rep and mermaids. 

Also the cover art is amazing

I would recommend this one and I am excited for the next one.

Katto

I bought this one because it was recommended on BookTok, didn't know anything about the story and also didn't read a synopsis or anything and dove straight in.

And damn, this story was not what I expected at all. I no doubt enjoyed reading it, the interludes by the sea were lovely and I love how the title of the book is integrated into the story.

It definitely was a solid read, there weren't really things that bothered me, but there also were not a lot of things that wowed me.
But if you like pirates, a sentinent sea and queer characters - by all means, go and read this book!

Tatiana Alvarez 

Queer pirates, magical mermaids, morally gray witches...I mean what else could you ask for? Not a whole lot, but there definitely was a few things I found to be rather bothersome or annoying.

The story's MC are Florian, Evelyn, and Rake, though you don't get much from Rake until closer to the end of the book. Florian or Flora, has been a crew member of The Dove since she/he/they were ten years old. I use all of the pronouns for a reason, which I will get into later. Her brother, Alfie, is also a crew member of the Dove, but is rather worthless for he spends his time drinking himself into a drunken stupor or is full of mermaid blood. I did not feel as if his character was relevant or added much to the story line. I would have enjoyed more substance from him.

Evelyn is a fun character as well. She is a highborn lady whose parents just sold her off to the highest bidder. What's really messed up about her voyage to meet her future husband is that she travels with her own coffin. They take the saying "until death do us part" way to seriously and once her role has been served, they will bury her in said coffin.

Rake is a double agent/pirate. He is a member of the Dove crew, but serves another pirate by the name of Pirate Superior, which is a slightly lame name, but that neither her or there. He is another morally gray character and I'm not sure how I felt about him by the end of it. Yes, he helped Florian/Flora and Evelyn escape, but he also sat by and watched Aflie get sexually abused (that's alluded to, but maybe it was something else. I highly doubt it though,) and beaten so badly that some of his bone could be seen from his back.

This book does a wonderful job showing the fluidity of gender. Flora took on the name Florian after joining the Dove crew. We see her struggle with her gender and answering the question, who are they? The witch, in fact, was the one who prompted Florian / Flora to really question who they were. Florian identified as both Florian and Flora and liked any pronoun. Evelyn, her love interest, was extremely accepting of Florian and Flora and proved to love them rather than an assigned gender.

So all of that was cool.

What I was not fond of was the build up to this impending brawl/war, or whatever you wish to call it, and having a very abrupt end to it. Lady Ayer, a highborn that accompanied Evelyn, along with Genevieve, both turned out to be plotting against the wealthy people on board. However, Lady Ayer's death seemed sudden and Genevieve's epilogue seemed...abrupt. Was this an attempt to set up a sequel? If that is the case, then I might understand it. However, I still felt the ending was much to be desired.

I will say I did enjoy the ending Evelyn and Flora got. It was cheesy, but cute.

Overall, this book is a cute, fun read. It's innocent in the romance side, but definitely goes into deeper and heavier things in terms of violence. Overall, it was a fun, fast paced novel.

Kiki

This booked was more than I thought it would be.
I liked both main characters and their love story. I loved the narrative about choosing what you want and that being the reason it happens. I also love the writing and how all charters are portrayed as both good and bad people at the same time, making them interesting and complex.

TRIGGER WARNING (mentions of sexual abuse)
My main complaint is the brothers storyline. While it was interesting and complex I would have needed a warning for the rape scenes. They weren’t descriptive but the few details you are given (aka his screams) are so haunting for him as a character and me as a reader that in all honesty I’m still trying to process it.

Jennifer

A potentially promising queer fantasy that tried a little too hard by cramming every good idea in. I think this had potentials but there weren't enough pages in each chapter to allow me to get connect to the characters. Had a few extraneous perspective got cut down I would certainly enjoy this more.

N.B. This novel contains following content warnings: vomiting, drowning, loss of loved ones, grief, and blood mention

(2.5 stars out of 5)

danielle bush

I received a copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.. 
I just kind of liked this book.. I thought the cover was beautiful, but I just wasn't sucked in like I wanted to be.. 
Lots of parts of this book were good, like the sea having its own point of view, and the mermaids were cool.. 
The characters were just kind of meh, to me.. I liked them just fine, but no one really stood out.. 
I do think that others would enjoy reading this, it just wasn't for me..

Heather Heaton

Overall this book was enjoyable but doesn't stand out from the rest. I feel as though the author was trying to do so much in this book and it just was too much for a standalone like this. I appreciate the way she planned the settings within this book. The pirate ship being a more isolated sestting was great for allowing for some character development and building on the world a bit more whereas when arriving on the islands we got a bit more plot as there was a bit more room to move. There were quite a few elements that I enjoyed within this book especially the witch that is encountered. I also liked how the Sea was portraited as a being in a way and the mermaids were different and unique compared to how I have seen them used. I think where the rating remains at a more average place is due to not feeling much danger or high stakes throughout even though I should've been. I am not upset that I read it and I think it is a good summer type book being set at sea.

sara louise

"there's power in that, you know. in understanding. it's like magic."

sometimes you read a story, and although it is flawed in some ways, something in it resonates with a piece deep in your soul and so you can't help but fall in love with it. i grew up on pirates of the caribbean and treasure planet, and i saw pieces of those stories in this one. rake and florian are so similar to silver and jim ("you've the feel of destiny about you"), and the pirate supreme is basically davy jones as he were supposed to be; righteous and serving no one but the sea.

sure, there are things that could be improved on (the pacing was a bit off and i honestly could've done without the epilogue), but very early on flora/florian grabbed me by the neck and begged of me to love them and look past it all, and so i did.

Alexis 

This was very average for me. I really wanted to love it but it just fell flat for me. I just wanted more and I didn't get it. I think it may have been a "it's not you it's me" thing. The writing just didn't mesh well with me. I will say there is potential here and I could see how someone would actually really enjoy reading this. I would recommend at least picking it up and giving it a chance.

Lena

This had so many of those distant interests I have. Things I love the idea of but never seem to get around to actually reading about. Pirates, mermaids, witches. But on top of that was full of rep and featured a sweet f/f love. 

I have been in a bit of a slump, which didn't affect my rating, but did perhaps impact my connection to the characters. They were fleshed out and due to the multiple povs I should have been able to connect to them well but for some reason I just couldn't get into them as much as I'd like. For this reason the end didn't seem to hit me as much as it could have.

That being said this was still such an enjoyable ride. I would love more of an exploration of the world, I found myself with many questions about the world that just couldn't be covered within the scope of this story.

Karolina

Synopsis:

A story about two girls that were growing up in two different worlds. Evelyn, a rebellious imperial daughter who’s forced to marry a man she doesn’t know. She’s sent by her parents to travel by sea on the ship “Dove” to reach him. This is where she meets Flora. Flora and her brother Elfie were fighting their whole lives to survive in this barbaric world. They joined the crew of Dove as children. They learned everything they know there. As life on the sea is dangerous for a woman, she decides to become Florian.

When Flora became Evelyn’s guard, she didn’t know that this is going to change her desires and dreams for the future. Evelyn teaches her how to read and shares her beloved books with her. They spend a lot of time together, and they get closer each day. Everything is going perfectly until the voyage turns out to be a trap for imperials.

Book Review: 

I have no words to explain how much I’m impressed by this book. First of all the genial representation of LGBT in the book. I love that it was portrayed as love, without any other name behind it. Evelyn fell in love with Florian but her feelings didn’t change when she found out that Florian is a woman. It doesn’t matter for her, because she loves what’s inside her not outside. Their love story is beautiful. They were both ready to sacrifice themselves for each other.

As much I love the love plot in this book, I love even more the sea and magic image in this story. Both very powerful and connected in a way that no one was expecting. Moreover, the kindness of the sea for people that were helping her children was beautiful! She helped Florian and Flora three times just because they saved one of the captured mermaids. I think I read only one book before where the sea was visualized as a living creature and both times I’m in love with the idea.

It wasn’t a surprise for me when I found out that Flora is a person of magic. Most of the time witches are women who went through a lot in their lives and Flora is one of them. However, I was a little bit upset that she didn’t use her magic that much, I was waiting for her powerful comeback to the ship.

As Flora’s growth was mostly in understanding her past and accepting herself, Evelyn did a great job in fighting to finally be who she wants to be. She was very unhappy as an imperial daughter, and she knew she will be even more unhappy as a wife. On her way to find herself she also allowed herself to admit that she loves Florian. She was ready to do anything to win her way back to him. Nothing could stop her.

The ending of the book was the most beautiful scenery in this book. It was so powerful and emotional. I wish I could share my every single thought about it but I would need to spoil what happens there. Well, I hope it will motivate you even more now to read this book. It is worth it!
I would like to thank NetGalley, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, and Walker Books for providing me with the ARC copy of this book. It’s currently my favorite sea-based story I read in the last few years! I can’t wait to buy a copy of this book soon!

Leelynn Brady

Death, Violence, Alluded Sexual Assault



Japanese-Coded, Queer, Androgynous, POC-Coded



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

I’m really glad that I had the opportunity to read this book early, and I feel like I had a lot of ups and downs with this book. I don’t even know how my thoughts are able to be coherent in this review, but I’m definitely going to try. From the time that I’m writing this now to the time that this ends up posting, who knows how long it’s actually going to take me, but I have been really trying to digest my thoughts for this novel to give my review the best representation as it could be. So let’s try it out, and let me know if any of these thoughts end up making sense to you.



Totally seeing the Japanese influence in this novel and I dig it so much
The Flora/Florian thing… I get it.
Evelyn’s parents suck so hard. I literally hate them.
I don’t know how I’m feeling about this book right now.



Your sex doesn’t define you
Flora had to take on the persona of Florian while she was employed on the Dove, which was a pirate ship that would sometimes disguise itself as a regular passenger ship. Throughout the book Flora and Florian would be interchanged based on I guess however they were feeling at the time, although there were some times were it would be changed in back to back sentences. That confused me a little bit, but then I realized that I guess it didn’t really matter because if that’s how Flora/Florian wanted to identify at the time, then that’s how we would refer to them. When Flora was Flora, there would be she pronouns. When Florian was Florian, there would be he pronouns. Never they since Flora was technically born a girl I guess? But there was a line where Evelyn sees that Florian is actually Flora – since all of their interactions were as Florian, and I just… really liked it.

“There are those who are neither a man nor woman. Those who were born and called the wrong gender and must reshape their story for those around them. But you. You’re something else. You’re whatever is safe. Both, maybe, but not neither. Or interchangeable. Names are funny things, because they can feel like lies but tell our truths.

You have the power to change your circumstances, and your fate, if you truly desire to
Yes, that was so dramatic but so true okay? Evelyn was pretty much sold off to some Commander on the other side of the empire to be his wife or whatever – which first of all really sucks to begin with but then the real reason why is even worse but that’s a spoiler okay – and at first she thinks that maybe this will give her an opportunity to start over with someone that will treat her better than her own parents but then… ugh is that going into spoiler territory?

BASICALLY, both Evelyn and Flora find out that they are able to get out of these situations that they feel have defined their life and their being as a whole, and they find out just how strong they are individually, and together as a team. I was just so proud of them when they figured it out, and seeing how they were able to keep each other safe and loved throughout the entire thing.

I think the more I sit on this review and think about it, the more I’m able to cry about how it ended up going, the ending, and just my overall love for Evelyn and Flora.

What price would she have paid, in those days of stolen moldy bread, to know she could be free of that fear? To be free of that constant, terrible worry? Anything. She would have paid anything.



Our two main characters Evelyn and Flora have the biggest character development in the entire book. Maybe that would have been a big obvious but not always. Evelyn had to learn how to fend for herself without having servants or anybody else to care for her, and she learned how to save herself from a situation that was not going to be good for her at all. She didn’t wait to be rescued from the Commander situation, and even did something that she never would have done in a million years! It was something that she felt could have been really superficial for her, and it was the one thing that she actually loved about herself physically, but she did it to give herself a better chance at being able to escape her circumstances and I was so proud of her for that.

Flora also learned that it was okay to identify either as Flora or Florian, whichever one she was feeling like she needed to be at the time. And even though Florian was a killer because he needed to be, and maybe he didn’t want to have to kill innocent people just because he was a pirate, he was able to use those skills to save him and Evelyn from another situation that could have ended really badly. Flora also learned something from the Witch Xenobia as well, and while I don’t remember exactly how long they were together during the novel – it seemed like time was either going really fast or really slow when we heard from Flora so I really couldn’t tell at that point – it felt like she learned a lot of how to really believe in herself and find the strength within her to change a lot of things in such a short amount of time.





A lot of the time I was feeling really confused. Maybe it was because I wasn’t very much into all of the other POVs besides Flora and Evelyn, or maybe it was weird for me how some characters would be mentioned a couple times and then not again? I don’t know, but I did end up ugly crying towards the end and I thought Tokuda-Hall was going to let me down after all that I went through in this journey, but she didn’t. I have to say that she didn’t and now I can safely say that I am okay with how this book turned out for me.

I was sooooooo pissed off at Evelyn’s parents and I’m so glad I didn’t have to deal with them for longer than necessary. So freaking irritated with Alfie – Flora’s brother – because he was such an alcoholic. Like, I understand why and I do not blame him for finding a way to cope with the violence that he faced at the hands of Fawkes but then he didn’t just keep it to regular liquor, you know? He had to drink stuff that would legit get him killed by the Pirate Supreme and that just made me so angry because he knew better! Like, come on Alfie!! Come on, now!





I feel like there was two different plots going on at the same time, and maybe that was okay but I think I was more okay with just the Flora and Evelyn plot. I get that there needed to be some sort of something happening while Flora and Evelyn were off the Dove and all that, but I don’t know. Maybe for me it was a little bit too much. Maybe the whole side plot about the Pirate Supreme wanting to end the Nameless Captain and then the whole Empire operatives on the side and then the witch stories….

Maybe it was just a lot for me, but in the end, I liked the story so I guess that works out.







I think the relationship between Flora and Evelyn is what really made this for me. Which I was so glad that I had the opportunity to read their romance and see them growth from learning about one another to themselves. I don’t know how I feel about that ending though… it does leave room for a spin-off basically but I don’t know if I even like that character enough to care about wanting to know if that person deals with their circumstances. But… maybe if there was more about Evelyn and Flora, or even more pirates and mermaids in something else, or even just another book from Tokuda-Hall. I’m okay with that. Give me more of this vibe and I’m good.

[The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

CN: mentions of rape, slavery, violence, death

What I liked:
• I’m in love with this cover! It’s so beautiful!
• Mermaid! Pirates! Witches! Queerness! This is everything I ever wanted in a book!
• Seriously, the queer representation was amazing. Sapphic couples, nonbinary pirates, Flora’s gender exploration – there was so much casual queerness, and I loved it. 
• The writing was really, really beautiful – especially the stories that one of the side characters tells Flora.
• The worldbuilding was great! And so diverse!
• I really liked that this book was told in multiple POV, because the characters were so interesting! I hope there will be another book about some of the other characters in the future.

What I didn’t like:
• The love story was a bit underdeveloped. In my opinion Evelyn and Flora went from „Maybe you’re not that bad…“ to „You’re the love of my life!“ a little to fast.
• I wish there were more scenes about the witchy part of the story! I would have loved to learn more about how the magic works.

Alicia Haws

DNF @32%. I just could not get into this one. The plot was clunky and boring even at 30% and the characters were meh 😒 May try again later but idk 🤷🏻‍♀️

Cécile &
The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

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Cécile &The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

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Cécile &
The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall