The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall came on my radar because it is a fantasy book that fulfills the prompt for a book about pirates in the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. The things I knew about the book before I got started: pirates, the cover.
I assumed, based on the cartoon-y cover, that this would be a fun romp. And since it looks like the people on the ship (the pirates?) did not have white skin (although the mermaid does look white), I thought maybe it was a book about a diverse band of pirates saving mermaids. Ahem. This is a lot to gather from a book cover, particularly when you're wrong.
So this book has a few overlapping plots. We start by meeting Flora who ends up a pirate ship captained by the Nameless Captain who has forgotten his own name because of his addiction to mermaid blood, which he obtains in what you can imagine is a cruel way. Flora the orphaned girl becomes Florian the Ruthless Man and stays on the pirate ship the Dove for the protection it offers her and her feckless brother Alfie. Meanwhile, Lady Evelyn is being shipped off to be married and finds berth on the Dove, not realizing that the crew intends to put all the nobility on the ship into slavery. Evelyn teaches Florian how to read and they fall in love, but then everything falls apart.
There is some tough stuff here. Colonialism. The status of women and children. Discovering sexual identity. A genderfluid character. Slavery. I mean, forget the fun romp promised by the cover. This was sorta dark.
I liked it okay. I liked Flora/Florian a lot. I liked the relationship that they had with their brother. I didn't care much for Evelyn whose character was not as well served in the story. I don't know. It was a fine book and I like a book set on the sea, of course. But I don't think I'm going to be checking out the sequel.
4/5 stars
Line of note:
“Well.” The Lady Ayer sighed. “Let us hope he’s kind, and gentle, and handsome, and that you bear him a hundred sons.” She gave what was surely meant to be a reassuring look that provided no salve for Evelyn’s pain. The notion of one hundred sons seemed too cruel a punishment for any sin she may have committed in her short life. (page 38)
I mean, one hundred sons seems like a punishments for any woman's body!
Hat mentions:
None
The author's name sounds familiar, but I don't think I've read anything by her. This does sound intriguing. Mermaid blood, oof. A hundred sons, a hundred oofs.
ReplyDeleteIt was an intriguing book. I found Flora/Florian super fascinating. The mermaid blood thing was also something I'd never come across in any other book, so that was interesting. But I'm not sure why it just didn't connect with me in a seirous way.
DeleteNice use of the word 'feckless'. I feel like that's not used nearly often enough in society today, but it's so evocative of a certain type of character!
ReplyDeleteFeckless is exactly the right word in this situation! Thank you for noticing my SAT vocab.
DeleteLOL, I was going to make the exact same comment! Thanks, Kate. :)
DeleteThis book does sound pretty interesting, but I'm already drowning in books TBR, so I doubt I'll be rushing out to get this one!
ReplyDeleteIt's a fine book if it ever crosses your path, but I think this is a fair one to skip.
DeleteThe cover does suggest a bit of different story. It sounds interesting but I am with Jenny. So many books on my TBR already. I can't put everything on there that sounds slighty interesting.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this isn't a strong recommendation for me. Just sort of mediocre.
Delete