ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
OLDER FICTION
Bowen, Natasha

Skin of the Sea

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.
Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

RELATED 

OLDER FICTION

What Beauty There Is
by Anderson, Cory
OLDER FICTION

Between Perfect and Real
by Stoeve, Ray
OLDER FICTION

Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good
by Werlin, Nancy
OLDER FICTION

Home Is Not a Country
by Elhillo, Safia
OLDER FICTION

All Our Hidden Gifts
by O'Donoghue, Caroline
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?