Review: Mermaid Moon by Susann Cokal

Mermaid Moon
by Susann Cokal

Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook, audiobook
Pages: 336
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication date: March 3, 2020
Suggested tags: young adult, fantasy, mermaids



From the publisher:

"An award-winning author tells of a mermaid who leaves the sea in search of her landish mother in a captivating tale spun with beautiful prose, lush descriptions, empathy, and keen wit.

Blood calls to blood; charm calls to charm.
It is the way of the world.
Come close and tell us your dreams.

Sanna is a mermaid — but she is only half seavish. The night of her birth, a sea-witch cast a spell that made Sanna’s people, including her landish mother, forget how and where she was born. Now Sanna is sixteen and an outsider in the seavish matriarchy, and she is determined to find her mother and learn who she is. She apprentices herself to the witch to learn the magic of making and unmaking, and with a new pair of legs and a quest to complete for her teacher, she follows a clue that leads her ashore on the Thirty-Seven Dark Islands. There, as her fellow mermaids wait in the sea, Sanna stumbles into a wall of white roses thirsty for blood, a hardscrabble people hungry for miracles, and a baroness who will do anything to live forever.

From the author of the Michael L. Printz Honor Book The Kingdom of Little Wounds comes a gorgeously told tale of belonging, sacrifice, fear, hope, and mortality."

Well, I've just discovered a new author whose words speak to my very soul. This story was so magical, a bit of a grown-up mermaid tale that edges just enough onto the dark side, and it was told in such an evocative way. I loved these seavish folk and their world, both on the shore and under the waves. And those mermaid songs... I wish I had a whole book of mermaid poetry to devour.

To be honest, I was expecting kind of a frilly mermaid story, but instead I got this intense, intricate, beautifully told masterpiece - and I'm so glad I did. If the synopsis sounds the least bit interesting to you, I would say definitely give this one a read - you might fall completely under its spell, like I did.


Final verdict: I'm obsessed with it! I thought this book was amazing! It's now officially one of my favorite books! I shall be shouting about it from the rooftops for days and I am currently recommending it to everyone I come in contact with!

{ Thank you to LibraryThing Early Reviewers and the publisher
for providing me with a review copy.
My reviews are honest and my opinions are my own; 

your reading experience may vary, so give it a read and see what you think. :) }