The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Author), Kate Rudd (Narrator), Candlewick on Brilliance Audio (Publisher)

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In a world divided by colonialism and threaded with magic, a desperate orphan turned pirate and a rebellious imperial lady find a connection on the high seas.

Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. For Flora, former starving urchin, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don't trust, don't stick out, and don't feel. But on this voyage, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is headed to an arranged marriage she dreads. Flora doesn't expect to be taken under Evelyn's wing, and Evelyn doesn't expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian. Neither expects to fall in love.

Soon the unlikely pair set in motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, double agents, and the all-encompassing Sea herself.

Deftly entwining swashbuckling action and quiet magic, Maggie Tokuda-Hall's inventive debut novel conjures a diverse cast of characters seeking mastery over their fates while searching for answers to big questions about identity, power, and love.

Listening Length

9 hours and 34 minutes
Author

Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Narrator

Kate Rudd
Audible release date

May 5 2020
Language

English
Publisher

Candlewick on Brilliance Audio
ASIN

B0851PSHNK
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	9 hours and 34 minutes
Author	Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Narrator	Kate Rudd
Audible.ca Release Date	May 05 2020
Publisher	Candlewick on Brilliance Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B0851PSHNK
Best Sellers Rank	#55,439 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #446 in Action & Adventure Fiction for Teens #1,358 in Science Fiction & Fantasy for Teens #1,414 in Action & Adventure for Young Adults

Customer reviews

5 star		62%
4 star		25%
3 star		9%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from Canada

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Rebecca

This Books is straight out of a Ghibli Film

Reviewed in Canada on August 21, 2020

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This book was an utter delight. It was fun, beautiful, and rich. There were parts that I cried at and other parts that had me utterly transported with the richness of the language. The characters were complex and not only broke out of society's expectations of them but also out of the expectations they had for themselves. I loved every moment of this book and I'm eagerly awaiting more by this author.

Helpful

kris

a fun read!

Reviewed in Canada on June 10, 2022

Verified Purchase

Great adventure story with some poignant philosophical food for thought added to the mix. I couldn’t put it down til it was over.

Helpful

Magical and Romantic

Reviewed in Canada on March 17, 2021

A beautifully written, emotional story with complicated heroes, magic, and self identity. I really enjoyed it and think it will resonate with a lot of readers.

The story quickly sets its tone for being dark and complex and doesn’t relent at any point. Many of the characters are morally grey and complicated, especially Flora/Florian, who is torn between her identity, piracy, and her growing feelings for Evelyn. The two have an easy chemistry and I found the romance, while not without its challenges, fairly smooth. Evelyn adapted to her new life and gained her own strengths as the story progressed, her soft edges fitting the hard ones on Florian. Though of all the characters, Rake turned out to be my favourite. I enjoyed his complex history and his motives and would have loved more time with him.

The world building was pretty straight forward and there were some amazing side stories, especially regarding the Pirate Supreme. I think some of those stories could have been expanded on rather than left open-ended, but the book moved pretty quickly. Even the ending battle seemed to be more than a handful of scenes and quick confrontations.

I found the prose to be written beautifully and it suited the story very, very well. I think this author has a great voice and I would love to see more from her in the future.

A perfect book for anyone looking for a magical, tragic story about pirates, identity, gender-fluidity, and the sea.

Helpful

Mel Ladner

Absolutely Glorious Story

Reviewed in Canada on December 27, 2020

A wonderfully magical book set in a cruel empire, across a sea of mermaids (who play a minor role and are not the mermaids most think of), and where anything might hold a little magic. I adored our characters, yes even the cruel ones. Given I am terrified of water, especially the ocean, its surprising that the love affair this book has with the sea felt natural and right to me. Now that’s proof of good writing!

Stories Inside Stories
I always love books that have lore or stories inside of stories. Maggie Tokuda-Hall gives us this in the form of little fables or myths; as well as the stories the characters tell of their past. This writing technique is perfect for fantasy world's as it gives insight into the history or foundation of the world. Done well it's a delight every time; and I definitely was thrilled each time I encountered one here.

Gender Swap
A (perhaps) cliché piece of this story is that Florian, our lead girl, is hiding out on a pirate ship as a boy. This is not an uncommon trope if only because women have been legitimately doing this for thousands of years in our history. The reality is, for this fantasy world (and our own) that being a man is almost always safer and provides opportunity that being a woman does not. I like how Florian handles her identity of being a woman inside of being a man. Her own sexuality is at question throughout and it plays nicely with the gender question as well. I was unsure at many points what way Florian might lean and thus felt like I was discovering her as she discovered herself.

Romance
So there is some pretty heavy romance in this. It doesn't feel out of place, and it's handled beautifully; but it is there. So if you are hoping for an all out violent and brutal fantasy you will find that those pages are present as well; but that much of the over arcing story has a romantic tone to it. It felt genuine in The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea for me. I liked how the Sea itself had a few moments to speak to us and expressed itself in a very lyrical, romantic way.

Overall
This may be one of my favourite reads of 2020. It's been a tough year to get into books and things have really distracted me from reading this year. So to find a story like Tokuda-Hall has given us was a huge relief; and allowed me to really enjoy the experience. There are fights, torture, and injustices in this gorgeous novel; alongside rescues, love, and pity. The magic of this book is that it has a little bit of magic laced into it; while still feeling realistic, harsh, and unfair. Just like our own world so often is.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

Helpful

Jill Jemmett

Fun pirate story

Reviewed in Canada on August 22, 2020

Orphaned Flora changes her name to Florian to get off the streets and join a pirate ship with her brother. They take unsuspecting nobles on journeys to other lands, but then kidnap the passengers. Florian is given the task of guarding Lady Evelyn Hasegawa on her trip to meet her new husband. Florian ends up falling for Evelyn, and can’t stand the thought of having her kidnapped by the pirates onboard. Florian plans an escape for her and Evelyn that takes them on a long adventure.

There was a lot of diversity of the gender identities of the characters in this story. Florian was born a girl but presented as a boy to work on the ship. Evelyn had same-sex relationships. There were also some non-binary characters. I liked how natural it was for the characters to recognize non-binary gender identities. At one point, a character made a casual comment about their pronouns. It was nice to see the characters acknowledge these diverse gender identities.

There were great twists throughout the story. I love the unpredictability of pirate stories. There were battles and magical creatures which added to the suspense. I was surprised at the ending. I would love to see a sequel.

This was a fun pirate story!

Thank you Candlewick Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

El H

A twisty story that doesn't slow for a second

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2020

Verified Purchase

Trigger Warnings: homophobia, off-screen rape, slavery, violence, loss of limb, death.

Reading this book was a genuinely stressful experience. Every single chapter I read, something new and terrifying happened to Evelyn and Flora. I would have thought I’d get sick of constant plot twists, but they’re executed so artfully that I just couldn’t look away from it. Stopping at our buddy read chapters each day was torture. The balance between emotional moments and exciting plot moments was perfect, honestly, and the POV characters were really well split. Each jump had me eager to find out happened to them next, and I adored the interludes from the sea herself. A lot happens in this book, which makes me think that this will be even better on the reread, and I’ll definitely come back to it in a few months to give it another read and it’ll probably emotionally wreck me even more than it did the first time.

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is gloriously queer. I read a lot of queer books but I was still giddy at this one just because so many characters were non-cis. I was curious how a genderfluid main character would be portrayed without seeming gimmicky, but it felt very authentic to me and the moment where Flora realised that they could be Flora and Florian both was incredibly satisfying. However, I will point out that as a cis-woman, this isn’t my expertise and I hope that genderfluid and non-binary reviewers were also given the opportunity to read this book as I’d love to read their opinions on the rep. The sapphic romance was just perfection and I loved the way that Evelyn felt towards Flora/Florian. Their relationship felt so authentic and I’m so glad that we didn’t have to have any kind of gender/sexuality crisis from Evelyn as a response to Flora’s coming out.

The aesthetic of this book is just incredible and I’m obsessed with it. I would literally die for the Pirate Supreme without any hesitation. Xenobia is cool as all hell. The Sea herself might be my favourite character in the book. The characters in The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea are all heavily flawed and I cannot stress enough how that’s my favourite thing in books. Perfection is boring and overrated. Maggie Tokuda-Hall created a full cast of complex characters and I went through the emotional wringer falling in and out of love with them from page to page as their actions and motivations were exposed. I honestly cannot wait to see what she writes next because her character work is everything I’ve been looking for.

6 people found this helpful

Polly Morgan

Brilliant and inclusive

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is such a brilliant, inclusive read! Flora/Florian’s gender fluidity is beautifully done and felt effortlessly written. The Sea as its own character is clever and draws you in, desperate to read on. I loved the survival dilemma raised and whose life would be ‘worth more’. It demonstrates how what is moral or right are two different things and it is not black and white. Evelyn is filled with such empathy, despite the betrayals she has faced and her journey was fascinating to read about. Overall, a touching and fun YA fantasy.

One person found this helpful

M. Y. JULIAN-JONES

Fun YA fantasy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 7, 2021

Verified Purchase

Would definitely recommend to my teen goddaughter but for me it was just fun - I’m not the intended audience so I’m not going to give it 3 stars (my instinctive rating) because I think that unfairly reflects my perspective over the potential for others to really get into it.

Farah Mendlesohn

outstanding.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2022

Verified Purchase

A rather slow and clumsy start, but quite quickly I was drawn in and eventually riveted. One of the most original fantasies I’ve read in years.

Alicia Penworth

A mean story within the book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

There's a story in it which is really horrible about someone loosing hair (about how ugly they are). I was quite shocked.

One person found this helpful

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The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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Top reviews from Canada

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