Disclaimer: I bought this finished copy but I did originally have an e-arc of it and this is my first reread. Thanks! Support your authors! All opinions are my own. 

 

Book:  Skin of the Sea 

 

Author: Natasha Bowen 

 

Book Series: Skin of the Sea Book 1 

 

Rating: 4/5 

 

Diversity: Black MC and characters 

 

Recommended For...: young adult readers, mythology, mermaids, fantasy, slight Little Mermaid references 

 

Publication Date: November 9, 2021 

 

Genre: YA Fantasy 

 

Age Relevance: 15+ (violence, death, gore, slavery, suicide, animal death) 

 

Explanation of Above: There is violence mentioned and shown as well as death. There is some gore involving blood shown. Slavery is mentioned and shown in the book and there is a theme of the mermaids being created from people who were thrown overboard slavery ships and it plays an important plot point in the story. There is an attempted suicide shown in the book. There is animal death with a cow mentioned. 

 

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers 

 

Pages: 303 

 

Synopsis: Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata--a mermaid--collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home. 

 

But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi goes against an ancient decree and does the unthinkable--she saves his life. And punishment awaits those who dare to defy the gods. 

 

To protect the other Mami Wata, Simi must journey to the Supreme Creator to make amends. But all is not as it seems. There's the boy she rescued, who knows more than he should. And something is shadowing Simi, something that would rather see her fail . . . 

 

Danger lurks at every turn, and as Simi draws closer, she must brave vengeful gods, treacherous lands, and legendary creatures. Because if she fails, she risks not only the fate of all Mami Wata, but also the world as she knows it. 

 

Review: I loved this book so much! I love the magical-ness of this book and how action packed it is for being so short. The pacing doesn’t feel weird and I love how original of a mermaid tale it is but that it keeps some of the callbacks to Hans Christian Anderson’s Little Mermaid tale. The book includes CWs in the front of it which I very much appreciate. The character development and the world building was also well done and I loved the magic system in this one. 

 

The only issue I had with the book is that the flowery language of it kinda messed with my head. I wished it didn’t have as much fluff and was a bit more straight forward, but it was good regardless. 

 

Verdict: It’s so good! Highly recommend! 

 

**Previous Review:

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own. 

 

Book: Skin of the Sea 

 

Author: Natasha Brown 

 

Book Series: Skin of the Sea Book 1 

 

Rating: 4/5 

 

Diversity: Black MC and side characters 

 

Recommended For...: young adult readers, fantasy, mythology 

 

Publication Date: November 9, 2021 

 

Genre: YA Fantasy 

 

Recommended Age: 16+ (violence, gore, enslavement, death, suicide TW) 

 

Explanation of CWs: There is violence and gore in this book. The book talks a lot about Black people being enslaved and shows the act. There is lots of death and the main character’s role centers around death. There is a suicide attempt shown. 

 

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers 

 

Pages: 336 

 

Synopsis: A way to survive.
 A way to serve.
 A way to save.
 
 Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata--a mermaid--collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home.
 
 But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi does the unthinkable--she saves his life, going against an ancient decree. And punishment awaits those who dare to defy it.
 
To protect the other Mami Wata, Simi must journey to the Supreme Creator to make amends. But something is amiss. There's the boy she rescued, who knows more than he should. And something is shadowing Simi, something that would rather see her fail. . . .
 
Danger lurks at every turn, and as Simi draws closer, she must brave vengeful gods, treacherous lands, and legendary creatures. Because if she doesn't, then she risks not only the fate of all Mami Wata, but also the world as she knows it. 

 

Review: I really liked this book overall. The book is very lyrical and so well written. It’s the type of book you can get lost in, as it has amazing world building and character development. The book is also full of culture and mythology and history and they all blend together in this beautiful work. I also love that the author put a content warning at the beginning of the book. 

 

However, I did feel like the book was slow paced and that there was a lot of time spent going to places in the book rather than actions at the places. The book has a lot of travel and travel sequences and if you’re here for the journey of a story, then this is a great book for you. However, if you’re looking for the action, this one is a little lacking. I also sometimes had issues following along to what was going on because the words were too poetic that I felt drowned by them. 

 

Verdict: It’s a great book, just a little not for me.