Author: Sarah Henning
Genre: Fantasy, Historical
Source: Katherine Tegen
Goodreads
Everyone knows what happens in the end.Review by Nara
A mermaid, a prince, a true love’s kiss.
But before that young siren’s tale, there were three friends.
One feared, one royal, and one already dead.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch.
A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn’t so powerless after all. And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.
But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad, or on two legs, unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain.
The rise of Hans Christian Andersen’s iconic villainess is a heart-wrenching story of friendship, betrayal, and a girl pushed beyond her limits—to become a monster.
Sea Witch is the origin story of Ursula from Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid. The roots of the story are certainly more tied to the dark original tale than to the perky Disney version, and as you're reading you realise you're watching the journey of a girl transforming into the sea witch from the original tale.
I must say though, I'm not sure that Evie ever reaches the level of evil that I would have expected from the "Sea Witch". All of her actions have a basis of trying to help others, whereas from the original story, she definitely has her own motivations at heart. I think this is probably one of the main reasons why I didn't rate the book higher- bit weird to say, but it didn't feel like the tale of villainy and monsters that was promised.
The book is a little bit slow to start, and I felt that a good chunk of the beginning section could have been cut out. I actually thought most of the pacing felt a bit off, especially towards the end where we get some time skips.
Overall I felt that the book had a great concept, but couldn't quite reach the dark tale that I was expecting. I did like it overall, but there were many aspects that stopped me from rating it higher.
Liked it
RatingsOverall: 6/10
Plot: 2.5/5
Romance: 2.5/5
Writing: 4/5
World Building: 3.5/5
Characters: 3/5
Cover: 2/5
