Sarah Henning

The problem with this one was that it was boring, and not much happened.
And because that doesn’t say much, let me elaborate.

The story begins with a beautiful premise, an amalgamation of myth, fairytale and history so carefully crafted that it sets the mood for you to be enchanted and pleasantly surprised by a YA novel. Magic, hunted witches forced to live in secrecy, kings and protocols, distrustful villagers. And then it quickly falls flat on its bum.

The first pages create a setting show more that’s based on reality closely enough to make the rest of the premise seem impossible. That’s a problem most modern, and semi-historically accurate retellings of fairytales suffer from. You can’t create a kingdom that’s realistic enough to be placed somewhere in our memories or history, but then have the crown prince risking multiple times his life for a peasant girl. It’s not believable. It would be fine if the setting was a more fairytale-like one, but it’s not. Having recently read [b: Spinning Silver|36896898|Spinning Silver|Naomi Novik|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1513872748s/36896898.jpg|58657620] that truthfully excels like no other in this, and many other, fields, it was really hard for me to like this book to suspend my disbelief enough to care.

That was problem number one for me, and many more followed. Most notable of which was the fact that the rest of the book is a peculiar love story, though not a love story really. We have the gullible and pretty much useless –I’m sorry it’s true- protagonist making out with a boy and trying to set up her new friend with the prince. And while there’s a plot creeping up ahead, in the form of chapters using a 3rd person narration, we get to spend our time watching royal balls, and how the girls find gowns, and social gatherings and excursions, and double dates and sleepovers. There’s not even the standard wooing of the love interest, or heart-throbbing moments of young romance. Because that is not the point. We get to see this in order to understand the relationships between the characters, so that the final moments of their stories make sense, and maybe possibly so that we get the pleasure of being surprised by the plot development. But this happens in a tedious, excruciatingly slow way that at the time of reading it, does not provide much to the reader. We don’t get to witness endearing banter, nor actual romance, nor a rekindling of friendship, not get to learn old time customs or legends or the witch-hunts or anything really. It’s stiff, boring, without the promise or turning into something a bit more interesting. The only thing that kept me going was those 3rd person chapters that actually carried the whole plot of the novel.

By the end, I was surprised to find so much plot stuffed in so few pages when I’d spent most of the book reading about silly gatherings that could have had the character building they wanted to have in just a few sentences. Example: “While at sea, a terrible storm broke out and while me and boy barely escaped my friend was saved by the prince. She glanced meaningfully in his eyes before smiling but it seemed to me that their joy was not mutual. She was both happy to be saved, and saved by him, while he was grateful that he hadn’t let another girl die.” Or something [I’m no writer], instead of a whole freaking chapter that just wanted to have this scene in it.

The first 3 fourths of this book are really a disservice to the last part, which needed room to breathe and expand, because everything happens very quickly, without giving us time to process. The true love was another. Was it hinted at? Not really, even when we were reading form the point of view of the person being in love. There was a meticulously planned betrayal. A change of heart and alliances and aggression. Things that were never truly hinted at. Things we would have been expecting in any other realistic setting, that the writer kinda went out of her way to paint as impossible to this story, so as to be able to have her reveal.

and now spoiler time.

Instead of those 3rd person chapters that childishly mentioned the characters as “the boy», «the prince”, “the blond haired girl” [LOL such literary, very book] I would have preferred Anna to be the narrator, slowly going over the events and plotting her revenge. I would have loved to see some subterfuge when trying to conceal her identity, trying to charm the prince and Evie. Her malicious vengeful chapters in-between the naïve wistfulness of her friend. Leaving us in hot coals after every chapter, waiting to see if she would uncover the deception before it would be too late. I’d have loved for Evie to be more well written too. Her concealed love for the prince knocking more frequently on her door, her ignoring it like a pro, us reminiscing over teenage romance. We could have had more.

I have to say, the ending did surprise me, in that I hadn’t realized that it would truly be about how Ursula came to be. Maybe that’s what most annoyed me. Ursula is one of my favorite characters in the Disney remake of this story, and this book seems to be partially based on the original tale and folklore of the little mermaid and the Disney version. So you know, where my fat shape-shifting gloriously fabulous jazzy singer drag queen witches at? I feel robbed. show less

Top notch adventure fantasy with great characters and lots of action. It hits the ground running when Princess Amarande's father, the warrior king dies suddenly. As a female, she cannot rule her kingdom without a husband, no matter how accomplished and strong she might be, and she's both. Eligible suitors from all the nearby kingdoms arrive like vultures, eager to feast on her kingdom's riches through marriage, but she'll have none of it. Her feelings for Luca, the royal stable boy, have show more been growing, along with their mutual sparring skills, for years. When an ultimatum is decreed as to who she will marry, it's reinforced by Luca's kidnapping. What follows is a mix of tracking, trekking and several hostage situations that end with a bang. That would be enough for most books to satisfy, but readers are hit with a double whammy at the end, setting up great anticipation for the sequel which I will pre-order as soon as it is announced. show less

This is a great retelling of Anderson's The Little Mermaid that had me totally engaged. Evie is the grandaughter of the village healer whose best friends - courtesy of Evie's grandmother having saved the King's life - are the prince and his cousin. Four years ago, the fourth member of their quartet, Anna, drowned. When a stranger arrives with stories of her previous life under the sea, Evie, lonely for her lost friend, takes her under wing.

Henning's world is cunningly built from Anderson's show more Little Mermaid, completely bypassing any Disney-style sanitising. Set in a loosely-Danish fishing community and drawing slightly on Viking history, this is a far darker world. The Sea-witch, as part of the local religion, pervades all aspects of life, from religious rituals and the long-ago banning of magic to sailing/fishing protocols and even everyday language. This connects the magic and realism for the reader in a powerful way, and helps create tension as we wait for the sea witch to make her inevitable appearance.

The narratorial voice was right on target for a fairytale retelling and the characterisation was unexpectedly complex, but what I loved most were the italicised flashbacks which allowed a more poetic voice to recreate past emotions, which reflected into the characters' present lives and kept me guessing about how the original story would play out. When the twist finally came it was none of the things I guessed but I could see that it had been clearly foregrounded - something many novels don't do especially effectively.

While I wouldn't necessarily recommend this as a classroom text, it totally belongs in any reading circle or wide reading set to complement a unit on fractured fairytales. Recommended for teenaged girls and anyone who is into mermaids. show less

Evie lives off a cold strait between Denmark and Sweden where the water is where you earn a living, and mermaids steal those you love. She has magical powers, but must keep them a secret so she isn’t burned alive. Friendships play a huge part in this delightful fairy tale, between Evie and her lost friend Anna, Nick, the crown prince, and Eiken, his cousin. When a storm sweeps Nick overboard, Evie is sure she’s seen a ghost bending over Nick’s body on the beach. But before she can get show more there, the mysterious girl disappears back into the waves. When a strange girl shows up in their seaside town, who is she, and can she be trusted?

This “Little Mermaid” retelling was the perfect mix of friendship, mysticism, romance, and fairy tale. The witch burning angle combined with mermaid lore was a great take on it (I’ve read several LM retellings this year, and each have had their own cool angle.) Evie made a delightful, independent main character, the backstories were AWESOME, and I eagerly devoured every page of this one.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader. show less