The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea

This was a fun world-building book. I loved watching the relationship develop between Flora/Florian and Evelyn, while dealing with the background of an empire of colonizers vs the natives and the world itself. I thought learning of why the mermaids are so important to the sea was a clever way to give them more agency than them just existing.

I did take off half a star because I felt there was a plot thread that wasn’t well resolved and that was the story of Xenobia. It felt incomplete. There’s events and stories told that could have led to her regaining some of what she lost. It’s possible we will see more of her in a future book.

I am thrilled to get to see queer representation and love in here, even if the dominant society does not approve. I thought the handling of genderqueer characters was done well for the setting.

For a heads up, there are references to an incident of sexual assault. However, this is definitely worth reading if you’re into queer romance, magic, action, and seeing some later justice in the world.

So this book was ‘meh' for about the first three fifths, but the last two fifths were some of the best literature I've ever read. I really started to enjoy Rake's character, as well as what Flora and Evelyn's had developed into. The way Flora's gender duality was written is perfect, and Evelyn's transformation from a helpless Imperial girl to a determined and cool pirate was also fantastic! The twist ending was so tragic (although happened possibly too suddenly) but the second twist ending was gorgeous and wonderful!

I like how while Flora is able to find her love for Alfie again, she still finds him difficult and irritating as always, because just because you love someone doesn't mean all their flaws are fixed. I think it's sad but sweet how she leaves him at the end on the Pirate Supreme's boat which, by the way, sounds like an utterly fantastic place and while the story of Flora and Evelyn is clearly over, I would love to see more of their ship and life, especially now with Rake and Alfie.

This book is awesome and was well worth the not so fun first part to get to the amazing last part.

I like how we end the book with Genevieve and how open ended it is - will we see more of her? Will she be a protagonist in a next book? I guess we will have to wait and see.

I like this book a lot. The way gender diversity is portrayed with such nonchalance was amazing. The story did go very quick and skipped some bits or went through them really fast that I would have like to have seen explored further. I really loved the idea of the sea as this godly entity with immense power instead of just a natural force. The personification of such things is always super beautiful and interesting to me. 

Some of the descriptions of events were a bit bland for my taste but I still thoroughly enjoyed the story as well as the many diverse and complex characters. Definitely worth a read.

A goal for 2021 is to read more fantasy because I'm often like, “Oh I LOVE fantasy!!” but then when I look at what I've read it's a lot of . . . science fiction. And I do really like fantasy. I've just been on a space kick for the last few years. So more fantasy.

Anyway, this was great! If you're looking for a queer, magical pirate story this is for you! I also liked how there's a nonbinary Pirate Supreme and the Imperial/Japanese influence on the world-building was cool.