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320 pp.
| Random
| November, 2021
|
Trade
ISBN 978-0-593-12094-1
$18.99
|
Library
ISBN 978-0-593-12095-8
$21.99
|
Ebook
ISBN 978-0-593-12096-5
$10.99
(
2)
YA
Simidele is a Mami Wata, a mermaid who gathers the souls of the dead to be blessed by the Yoruba deity Yemoja. When Kola, a young man not yet dead, is thrown from a passing slave ship, she refuses to let him drown and carries him to a nearby island. But by interfering, Simi risks bringing punishment down on all the Mami Wata and on Yemoja herself. Simi sets out, with Kola's help, to find two rings that can summon the Creator so she can beg for mercy. Bowen combines a classic quest plot with a rich and still-underrepresented mythology (see also Adeyemi's [cf2Children of Blood and Bone, rev. 5/18), complicating the stakes with every plot twist. Creatures who assist or oppose Simi and Kola, as well as the ever-present grief of the slave trade (specifically the start of Portuguese slave trading in the mid-1400s, per an author's note), also serve to build out the unearthly tale's West African basis. As Simi and Kola travel together, the attraction between them grows, but Simi's knowledge that acting on her feelings will turn her into sea foam makes for a slow-burn (if occasionally repetitious) romantic arc that enhances this inventive supernatural fantasy.