The Unkindest Tide / Seanan McGuire

4 out of 5 stars 

Hundreds of years ago, the Selkies made a deal with the sea witch: they would have the sea for as long as she allowed it, and when the time came, she would call in all their debts at once. Many people assumed that day would never come. Those people were wrong.

When the Luidaeg—October "Toby" Daye's oldest and most dangerous ally—tells her the time has come for the Selkies to fulfill their side of the bargain, and that Toby must be a part of the process, Toby can't refuse. Literally. The Selkies aren't the only ones in debt to the Luidaeg, and Toby has to pay what she owes like anyone else. They will travel to the fabled Duchy of Ships and call a convocation of the Selkies, telling them to come and meet the Luidaeg's price...or face the consequences.

Of course, nothing is that simple. When Dianda Lorden's brother appears to arrest Dianda for treason against the Undersea, when a Selkie woman is stripped of her skin and then murdered, when everything is falling apart, that's when Toby will have to answer the real question of the hour.

Is she going to sink? Or is she going to swim?

I can’t tell you how much I enjoy spending time in October Daye’s world--the land of Faerie right adjacent to our own world. Where Hobs, Pixies, and Brownies (among many others) inhabit the land and Mermaids, Selkies, and octopus-headed Cephali live undersea in the Kingdom of Saltmist. I keep meaning to find some books on fairy folklore to brush up on my fae identification skills.

This book features the Luidaeg (the Sea Witch) prominently. As one of the First Born of Faerie, she has awesome powers and anyone with any sense is scared witless of her. Except for our dear Toby, who has seen through the Luidaeg’s thorny disguise to the caring person on the inside. Controlled by a geas laid on her by one of her sisters, the Luidaeg is compelled to only tell the truth and to help those who request assistance, although she is allowed to charge high prices for that help.

This is the point where shit gets real if you are a Selkie--the Sea Witch is calling in their chips and calling on Toby to seal the deal. Toby has a soft spot for the Selkies--her first fiance was Connor, a Selkie. Selkies also straddle the line between humanity and the Fae, just as Changelings do, so Toby can relate to that too. The trick is to find a way to both let the Luidaeg keep her word and to let her be merciful.

Seanan McGuire’s inventiveness never fails to please me. I am so glad that the next book is set up in the plot of this one. Forget Finding Nemo, we’re going to be Finding Simon.

If I have any frustration with this series, its the constant irritation of October’s estranged daughter, Gillian. October has been rejected by her, her father & step-mother (who, curiously is also October’s grandmother) for reasons that seem spurious to me. Toby has saved her repeatedly and gets zero credit for it. I’m not sure where McGuire is headed with this particular plot line, but I’m sure it’s not random. OMG, I’m like a soap-opera fan, I must tune in to the next installment to see what happens.

Please keep writing, Ms. McGuire! I will keep reading.

Monstrous Beauty / Elizabeth Fama

4 out of 5 stars

Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences.

Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra’s help, Hester investigates her family’s strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean—but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.

Once again, a good grounding in Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid is an excellent idea for getting the most out of this tale. But I’m sure you can enjoy it even if you’ve never encountered the fairy tale.

In this one, the mermaid gets both her legs and her man, but her life becomes entwined with the Plymouth Colony population in ways that she would never have dreamed. It falls to Hester Goodwin, a young woman working as a Plymouth reenactor at a historic site, to figure out the various aspects of the story and set things straight. Hopefully, she will straighten out her own life during the process.

I love a story that involves genealogical research, so that predisposed me to like this one. I also enjoyed the switching between time periods, with Ezra and Sarah/Syrenka alternating with Hester. Sometimes that kind of alternation is confusing, but I felt this was well done. May I also say that I hope it is not nearly as easy to steal a Special Collections book as it is depicted in this tale.

Once again, I will say that if you are looking for a traditional HEA ending, this may not be the book for you. Quite in keeping with Andersen, really. The ending is definitely hopeful, so you can add your own imaginary HEA should you choose to--it is strongly hinted at.

Part of my 2019 MerMay project.

Sea Witch / Sarah Henning

4 out of 5 stars

Everyone knows what happens in the end. A mermaid, a prince, a true love’s kiss. But before that young siren’s tale, there were three friends. One feared, one royal, and one already dead.

Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch. 

A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn’t so powerless after all. And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.

But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad, or on two legs, unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain.

Make sure you have familiarized yourself with Hans Christian Andersen’s version of The Little Mermaid before you read Sea Witch. This is a prequel, telling the story of how the Sea Witch came to exist.

She’s Evie, not Ursula, in this version and she’s far more complex than a Disney villain. We meet her as a young woman, learning her place in the world and trying to cover up her magical leanings in a society where it isn’t welcome. Evie’s neighbours have noticed her close friendship with their Crown Prince Nicholas--there is both jealousy and a desire to put her in her (much lower) place. Like any good fairy story, there are complex issues at play.

It is also a story about personal relationships--how much do we actually know about the people around us, those whom we consider to be friends? If they aren’t true friends, how much damage can they do to us? How much do we manipulate and allow others to manipulate us?

A very well written embroidery on the original Andersen tale. Read as part of my 2019 MerMay project.

Into the Drowning Deep / Mira Grant

4 out of 5 stars

Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a “mockumentary” bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy.

Now, a new crew has been assembled. But this time they’re not out to entertain. Some seek to validate their life’s work. Some seek the greatest hunt of all. Some seek the truth. But for the ambitious young scientist Victoria Stewart this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost.

Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves. But the secrets of the deep come with a price. 

I’ve rated this book highly for a horror novel--they’re not usually my jam. But I know that Mira Grant is a pseudonym for one of my favourite authors, Seanan McGuire, and I also knew going in that it featured mermaids. I hadn’t realized quite how loomingly horrific it would be, nor how much blood & gore would be splashed about. However, the messiness of the action was justified by the nature of the mermaids and, although I had to read during daylight hours only, I enjoyed the mysterious creatures and their almost-victims.

I enjoyed the scientific nature of this sea excursion--plenty of scientists who didn’t believe in the existence of mermaids, but were willing to go along to pursue their own research. Everyone with their own scientific or political axe to grind, trying to use the expedition to their advantage. Somehow, everyone manages to overlook the fact that the first ship sent was discovered, empty of humans, but with horrific video footage. Of course, the video is deemed to be fiction or a hoax, and even those who believe what they saw are somehow talked into coming along on this venture.

I thought that the name of the deep sea rover, The Minnow, was fabulous--evoking Gilligan’s Island, with the lost ship, being stranded, and having to improvise. The notion that a 3 hour tour would turn into a life-changing event.

These mermaids are very different from those in McGuire’s October Daye series, where they are a branch of the Fae. Here they are terrifying predators, spreading fear and death throughout the ship.

Read as part of my 2019 MerMay project.

The Little Mermaid / Metaphrog

4 out of 5 stars

The Little Mermaid lives deep under the ocean and longs to see the world above. When at last she is allowed to rise to the surface at age fifteen, she falls in love with a young prince. In order to become a human and to be with him, she makes a dangerous pact with the Sea Witch.

This is the ultimate Mermaid tale—the one that got the ball rolling, so to speak. Having just re-read a bunch of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales, this story was very fresh in my mind. I headed into this graphic novel unsure of which version I was getting, HCA’s or Disney’s. I am happy to report that it was very true to the Andersen version.

The artwork was beautiful and I would be happy to recommend it to all ages of reader. I remember reading a comic book version of this tale as a child and being very scared by the Sea Witch. In this version, she is not nearly so scary in my opinion, but I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. Bad people don’t necessarily look bad and that’s a valuable lesson to learn.

I was struck by the fact that the Little Mermaid is only 15 years old, and that’s in a species that lives to be 300. She is so young to be making these life changing decisions! I mean, who among us is married to the person we were in love with at 15? Not very many!

Read for my 2019 MerMay Project, which is getting an early start because I’ll be on vacation for half of the month of May.

The Pisces / Melissa Broder

3 out of 5 stars

Lucy has been writing her dissertation about Sappho for thirteen years when she and Jamie break up. After she hits rock bottom in Phoenix, her Los Angeles-based sister insists Lucy housesit for the summer—her only tasks caring for a beloved diabetic dog and trying to learn to care for herself. Annika’s home is a gorgeous glass cube atop Venice Beach, but Lucy can find no peace from her misery and anxiety—not in her love addiction group therapy meetings, not in frequent Tinder meetups, not in Dominic the foxhound’s easy affection, not in ruminating on the ancient Greeks. Yet everything changes when Lucy becomes entranced by an eerily attractive swimmer one night while sitting alone on the beach rocks.

Whip-smart, neurotically funny, sexy, and above all, fearless, The Pisces is built on a premise both sirenic and incredibly real—what happens when you think love will save you but are afraid it might also kill you. 

So, I will be away for half of May, and I’m getting an early start on my MerMay project. This book qualified, as the main character is romanced by a merman.

I went into this book expecting a romance--don’t. It has to do with the importance our society gives to romance for women. How we are found to be odd, crazy, or strange if we aren’t focused on a relationship with a man. How we are to be considered defective without a partner.

Lucy has broken up with her boyfriend almost by accident and is plunged into depression and bizarre behaviour. Her sister offers her a house-sitting gig to get away and figure things out. She can stay in the sister’s house and take care of the sister’s dog as long as she goes to therapy. For a while, she finds she can love the dog and forget about men.

Lucy finds it difficult to take the group therapy seriously--all the women seem so damaged that she really doesn’t want to identify with them. However, she gradually begins to see the similarities and to see the women as more than their oddities. Meanwhile, she pursues liasons with men on Tinder, believing the superstition that her boyfriend will come back to her if she finds someone else. And she takes to sitting by the ocean at night, where she makes friends with a swimmer. Only of course he’s a merman.

It seems like Broder made all the characters pretty unlikeable, at least to me. But I did appreciate her frank assessment of the craziness that women are sometimes driven to in their pursuit of an unreasonable cultural dictum. And I also appreciated that she didn’t make Theo, the merman, into some kind of real romantic leading man. This isn’t the Little Mermaid in reverse. At least not the Disney version--it may bear more resemblance to the original Hans Christian Anderson tale, in the lack of a happy, romantic ending.