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Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters
110 pages, Paperback
Published February 23, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 177 reviews
August 18, 2022
This novella is a quiet, queer, and unexpected little thing that affected me deeply. Told in intensely lyrical prose, Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters is a brilliantly imaginative reworking of The Little Mermaid that reads like a half-remembered fairytale suddenly being played in full. Ogden breathes exhilarating new life into an age-old myth by crafting a world of spaceships, gene-modification technology, and alien species, and animating her storytelling with a melancholy beauty and a strain of something like hope.
The author moves through the story as smoothly as a ribbon being pulled through a bonnet, taking the reader on a deep journey into the mists of Atuale’s life, a woman who was “born in the sea and remade for the land.” The cage doors of Atuale’s captive terrors slide wide open when a deadly disease sweeps through the land-dwellers of Vo—her husband’s people. Now with her beloved standing at death’s front door, Atuale clings to the only crumb of hope she has in her pocket: she must go back to the sea and beg for help from the World-Witch Yanja, her former lover whom she left behind, and hope her leap of faith wouldn’t turn into a fall into darkness.
Longing runs through the quiet lines of this novella like a torrent, and it set everything inside me aflame with an unreasoning sorrow, edged with joy. Ogden writes dazzlingly and devastatingly about the howling cold of unbelonging, and hearts caught in two places, unable to put down roots and too weary to pull anymore. She writes about well-forgotten dreams, regrets rubbed soft as rose petals, and the harsh, defiant wistfulness of pushing open doors you have never dared try before. Along the way, she traces the soft, gossamer webs of first love, and what it means to love someone so feverishly and with a touch of tragedy, and leaves you with questions that will settle inside you like dregs in a cup, long after you turn the last page:
Will home always be a thing that crumbles into fragments the moment you reach for it? How much of yourself are you willing to offer as sacrifice for love, or for a glimpse of a grander world? Will you spend forever searching the faces of those you loved for traces of the dreams you had lost, you heart heavy with the weight of goodbyes and words left unsaid, or will you finally, gently close off the past to embrace the horizon and its unsung stories?
The author moves through the story as smoothly as a ribbon being pulled through a bonnet, taking the reader on a deep journey into the mists of Atuale’s life, a woman who was “born in the sea and remade for the land.” The cage doors of Atuale’s captive terrors slide wide open when a deadly disease sweeps through the land-dwellers of Vo—her husband’s people. Now with her beloved standing at death’s front door, Atuale clings to the only crumb of hope she has in her pocket: she must go back to the sea and beg for help from the World-Witch Yanja, her former lover whom she left behind, and hope her leap of faith wouldn’t turn into a fall into darkness.
Longing runs through the quiet lines of this novella like a torrent, and it set everything inside me aflame with an unreasoning sorrow, edged with joy. Ogden writes dazzlingly and devastatingly about the howling cold of unbelonging, and hearts caught in two places, unable to put down roots and too weary to pull anymore. She writes about well-forgotten dreams, regrets rubbed soft as rose petals, and the harsh, defiant wistfulness of pushing open doors you have never dared try before. Along the way, she traces the soft, gossamer webs of first love, and what it means to love someone so feverishly and with a touch of tragedy, and leaves you with questions that will settle inside you like dregs in a cup, long after you turn the last page:
Will home always be a thing that crumbles into fragments the moment you reach for it? How much of yourself are you willing to offer as sacrifice for love, or for a glimpse of a grander world? Will you spend forever searching the faces of those you loved for traces of the dreams you had lost, you heart heavy with the weight of goodbyes and words left unsaid, or will you finally, gently close off the past to embrace the horizon and its unsung stories?
“An anchor’s a burden for those who have a destination to make.”
“But it’s a blessing in a storm.”
January 9, 2021
Actual rating: 2.5 stars
I was so excited to read a sci-fi retelling of The Little Mermaid. Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me. Despite being a short read, the story was sometimes hard to follow and the plot felt like it was all over the place at times. The prose didn't really work for me either. I do think the world building was really interesting and I enjoyed that aspect of the novella the most. I also loved that it was so casually queer. Even though I didn't enjoy this one as much as I was hoping, I would still encourage you to pick it up if it sounds interesting to you.
** ARC provided by Netgalley and Tor/Forge in exchange for an honest review.
I was so excited to read a sci-fi retelling of The Little Mermaid. Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me. Despite being a short read, the story was sometimes hard to follow and the plot felt like it was all over the place at times. The prose didn't really work for me either. I do think the world building was really interesting and I enjoyed that aspect of the novella the most. I also loved that it was so casually queer. Even though I didn't enjoy this one as much as I was hoping, I would still encourage you to pick it up if it sounds interesting to you.
** ARC provided by Netgalley and Tor/Forge in exchange for an honest review.
May 18, 2021
3.5 stars. There is some stunning imagery in this novella, of light filtering through waves, of pearls, and other underwater things, in a story of a woman who forsook her home and the privileges of her underwater clan, for a bioengeered life on land with her husband and his family.
When her husband and clan fall gravely ill with some unknown plague, Atuale goes to her first love, from her underwater life, for help in finding a cure. They leave the planet, travelling far from home through several jump gates, to a planet that might have the necessary biotech knowledge to help.
This is not the easiest book to understand at times, as the beautiful descriptions sometimes made it a little hard to understand what was happening. But other than that, I liked this story of love and of forgiveness, of a sort, between Atuale and her first love, and of Atuale and the love between her and her husband of twenty years.
When her husband and clan fall gravely ill with some unknown plague, Atuale goes to her first love, from her underwater life, for help in finding a cure. They leave the planet, travelling far from home through several jump gates, to a planet that might have the necessary biotech knowledge to help.
This is not the easiest book to understand at times, as the beautiful descriptions sometimes made it a little hard to understand what was happening. But other than that, I liked this story of love and of forgiveness, of a sort, between Atuale and her first love, and of Atuale and the love between her and her husband of twenty years.
September 22, 2021
It took me way too long to realize that this is a retelling of The Little Mermaid in a transhumanist, gene-spliced sci-fi future. Well, not a retelling exactly. More like a sequel. What happens 20 years later after the mermaid and the land-prince have been happily married for two decades.
Except now a plague has struck down all the land-people -- the former-mermaid appears to be immune -- so once again she turns to the Sea-Witch for help...
I didn't especially like this. For three reasons.
One, a big central part of the book is that she's coming from a pandemic area and the city that might have the cure won't let her in. They want her to quarantine for 14 days, afraid that she might be an asymptomatic carrier who will infect the entire city and kill thousands. Except her beloved probably doesn't have 14 days so she figures, the heck with this!, pandemic protocols are for suckers and whatever I want is more important. So she breaks into the city.
It is honestly pretty hard to believe this was written in 2021, well into the coronavirus pandemic, by a writer who -- given all the queer & trans stuff in the book -- is probably super-progressive. But then turns around and writes an extremely selfish protagonist who doesn't care if she infects an entire city as long as she gets what she wants.
But beyond that: once she breaks quarantine the whole city is like...eh, whatever. Just spray her with soap and then we'll have an in-person trial with all the most important people in the land. Whatever happened to worries about infection!?
Honestly, it makes it feel like the whole thing about quarantine is completely forced by the author to make some fake conflict. Because during the trial we immediately learn that it was totally against city protocol to make her quarantine. (Why did they, other than to create some fake conflict?)
And without all that...we have a story with no real conflict. She travels to a city. They give her the cure. She goes home. Everyone is saved. Not exactly a riveting tale.
So much ugh.
And then -- remember she's doing all of this to save the husband she's been married to for 20 years, the one she stopped being a mermaid for, the one who's on his deathbed -- she decides to hook-up with an old lover during the 48 hours she's away from home. And gets pregnant from it.
And all of that is conveyed in a pretty positive way by the book! It isn't like the husband said he was okay with an open relationship and this is some queer-progressive non-hetero-normative story moment or something. Plus, who doesn't use contraceptives when cheating?!
Except now a plague has struck down all the land-people -- the former-mermaid appears to be immune -- so once again she turns to the Sea-Witch for help...
I didn't especially like this. For three reasons.
One, a big central part of the book is that she's coming from a pandemic area and the city that might have the cure won't let her in. They want her to quarantine for 14 days, afraid that she might be an asymptomatic carrier who will infect the entire city and kill thousands. Except her beloved probably doesn't have 14 days so she figures, the heck with this!, pandemic protocols are for suckers and whatever I want is more important. So she breaks into the city.
It is honestly pretty hard to believe this was written in 2021, well into the coronavirus pandemic, by a writer who -- given all the queer & trans stuff in the book -- is probably super-progressive. But then turns around and writes an extremely selfish protagonist who doesn't care if she infects an entire city as long as she gets what she wants.
But beyond that: once she breaks quarantine the whole city is like...eh, whatever. Just spray her with soap and then we'll have an in-person trial with all the most important people in the land. Whatever happened to worries about infection!?
Honestly, it makes it feel like the whole thing about quarantine is completely forced by the author to make some fake conflict. Because during the trial we immediately learn that it was totally against city protocol to make her quarantine. (Why did they, other than to create some fake conflict?)
And without all that...we have a story with no real conflict. She travels to a city. They give her the cure. She goes home. Everyone is saved. Not exactly a riveting tale.
So much ugh.
And then -- remember she's doing all of this to save the husband she's been married to for 20 years, the one she stopped being a mermaid for, the one who's on his deathbed -- she decides to hook-up with an old lover during the 48 hours she's away from home. And gets pregnant from it.
It should feel like a betrayal. Instead, as Yanja’s mouth seals promises into the skin of her neck, Atuale has the sense of writing an ending to a book long left unfinished—or if not an ending, then, perhaps, the bridge between two verses of a well-loved song.
And all of that is conveyed in a pretty positive way by the book! It isn't like the husband said he was okay with an open relationship and this is some queer-progressive non-hetero-normative story moment or something. Plus, who doesn't use contraceptives when cheating?!
April 5, 2021
I liked the world building but I think this probably needed a longer format. There were details that would have enriched the understanding of the characters and their relationships. The trip to the space station seemed almost unconnected to the story-although it did sound intriguing.
Shelved as 'to-read-so-bad-it-hurts'
May 8, 2020'One woman will travel to the stars and beyond to save her beloved in this lyrical space opera that reimagines The Little Mermaid.'
Ooh
Ooh
November 28, 2020
Thank you to Netgalley and Tordotcom for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Trigger warnings: stillbirth/miscarriage
I was so intrigued by the premise of this novella - this is a sci-fi retelling of The Little Mermaid. Without giving too much away, we follow our main character, Atuale, who is from an underwater species of people, but in the past underwent genetic modification to be able to survive on land to be with her lover. In the present timeline, a plague is killing off the Vo people, and Atuale needs to travel off-planet to seek the help of Yanja, a witch who happens to be her former lover.
I enjoyed this story - I thought Ogden's take on the classic fairytale was unique and refreshing. The world was very interesting, and although we didn't get to see much of it, you could definitely tell how expansive it is. I also loved how queer this book and the world was, and I always think it's so important to have that representation in not only our main characters, but the world at large.
What I didn't love as much - I just don't think the writing worked for me personally. While there are glimpses of extremely poetic and beautiful sentences (I definitely highlighted a few myself that I loved), the writing style overall just didn't click with me. I found the pacing and the plot a bit all over the place, and for me, it fell a bit short in that sense. I also just think that this book suffered from novella syndrome, if you will. It felt too short to accomplish everything I feel like the author was trying to do, yet at times I felt like there were parts that couldn't end fast enough.
I was really invested in what happened with Atuale and Yanja, and I think their relationship was what ended up making me enjoy this novella in the end. Overall, I think this is a good novella, and if the premise sounds interesting to you, I think it's worth the ~1 hour it takes to read it.
Trigger warnings: stillbirth/miscarriage
I was so intrigued by the premise of this novella - this is a sci-fi retelling of The Little Mermaid. Without giving too much away, we follow our main character, Atuale, who is from an underwater species of people, but in the past underwent genetic modification to be able to survive on land to be with her lover. In the present timeline, a plague is killing off the Vo people, and Atuale needs to travel off-planet to seek the help of Yanja, a witch who happens to be her former lover.
I enjoyed this story - I thought Ogden's take on the classic fairytale was unique and refreshing. The world was very interesting, and although we didn't get to see much of it, you could definitely tell how expansive it is. I also loved how queer this book and the world was, and I always think it's so important to have that representation in not only our main characters, but the world at large.
What I didn't love as much - I just don't think the writing worked for me personally. While there are glimpses of extremely poetic and beautiful sentences (I definitely highlighted a few myself that I loved), the writing style overall just didn't click with me. I found the pacing and the plot a bit all over the place, and for me, it fell a bit short in that sense. I also just think that this book suffered from novella syndrome, if you will. It felt too short to accomplish everything I feel like the author was trying to do, yet at times I felt like there were parts that couldn't end fast enough.
I was really invested in what happened with Atuale and Yanja, and I think their relationship was what ended up making me enjoy this novella in the end. Overall, I think this is a good novella, and if the premise sounds interesting to you, I think it's worth the ~1 hour it takes to read it.
November 29, 2021
I knew about this novella, that it was a tordotcom publication, but never did add it to my tbr. But the end of the year is near and it’s pretty cold out there, so my mood is all over the place and I tend to pick up books randomly . That’s how I ended up reading this little gem.
I went into it knowing pretty much nothing and it sucked me into the world immediately. A world full of sea, land and star dwellers, alien species, gene eaters and so much more - this was captivating right from the get go, aided very aptly by the author’s stunningly beautiful prose. The author deftly handles the grief of possibly losing a loved one, the regrets of unfulfilled love and doors not taken, the wonders of exploration and discovering the vast world, and finally choosing between sacrificing love or sacrificing deeply held dreams. There is a steady melancholic tone throughout but the author also manages to infuse it with hope and goodness, which makes for a very impactful read despite its criminally short length. How I wish this was longer or atleast the author decides to write more stories in this world.
I went into it knowing pretty much nothing and it sucked me into the world immediately. A world full of sea, land and star dwellers, alien species, gene eaters and so much more - this was captivating right from the get go, aided very aptly by the author’s stunningly beautiful prose. The author deftly handles the grief of possibly losing a loved one, the regrets of unfulfilled love and doors not taken, the wonders of exploration and discovering the vast world, and finally choosing between sacrificing love or sacrificing deeply held dreams. There is a steady melancholic tone throughout but the author also manages to infuse it with hope and goodness, which makes for a very impactful read despite its criminally short length. How I wish this was longer or atleast the author decides to write more stories in this world.
March 2, 2024
"The seas give off rumor and gossip like they give off mist".
A Space, Land and Undersea Tragedy- you can just feel the intense desperate love Atuale has for her Saaravel and that desperate need to bring vigor back to him and her clan. And then the pull of the world out there for her to explore...two incompatible desires
Traces of The Little Mermaid - an undersea dweller desires to live with the Vo and a World-Witch conjures up the necessary gene-alterations to ensure that happens.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
The opening was like a memory of what pandemic loss was like for hundreds of thousands of families. In this case it's a fever that takes strong Vo and just breaks them down to limp bodies, scales falling off. This story seemed so bleak you searched for hope in the lead character.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Atuale returning to the sea is like when you go back to a place or meet with someone after years apart and it feels different. Some parts feel like old times, other parts feel stifling and not on par with your growth or your changes and eventually conversation lulls to a quiet hum. That's Atuale and her journey into the deep sea.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene: :
Learning the Intricate and delicate biochemistry of the Seaclan people.
“Making me Vo started a clan war.”
“Stopping you from changing started a clan war.” Yanja shrugs. “It’s not my fault that your darling father promised a prince to the Prequ clan" - The Splice effect.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “She would climb down a staircase as wide as the world is round, if it meant saving Saareval’s life. She would walk the whole way on the points of knives.” (Atuale on devotion)
🖤 “Atuale left the sea to kiss the mountains and the sky. Of course she wants to embrace the stars as well. Desire steals the air from her lungs, suffocating the only answer” (The Wanderlust and Fernweh is strong in this one)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts :
■ The Vo, Mzo Ma, Seaclan, Prequ, Naraqui, GreatClan Lord
■Yanga is like the Splice movie with Adrien Brody
■Keita-Vo and their Sisterhouses
■ Gene-Eater Tech
■World-Witch, GreatLeap Marcher or Star Hunter
■Sea People's Caste system
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Science Fiction Books by 2025
A Space, Land and Undersea Tragedy- you can just feel the intense desperate love Atuale has for her Saaravel and that desperate need to bring vigor back to him and her clan. And then the pull of the world out there for her to explore...two incompatible desires
Traces of The Little Mermaid - an undersea dweller desires to live with the Vo and a World-Witch conjures up the necessary gene-alterations to ensure that happens.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
The opening was like a memory of what pandemic loss was like for hundreds of thousands of families. In this case it's a fever that takes strong Vo and just breaks them down to limp bodies, scales falling off. This story seemed so bleak you searched for hope in the lead character.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Atuale returning to the sea is like when you go back to a place or meet with someone after years apart and it feels different. Some parts feel like old times, other parts feel stifling and not on par with your growth or your changes and eventually conversation lulls to a quiet hum. That's Atuale and her journey into the deep sea.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene: :
Learning the Intricate and delicate biochemistry of the Seaclan people.
“Making me Vo started a clan war.”
“Stopping you from changing started a clan war.” Yanja shrugs. “It’s not my fault that your darling father promised a prince to the Prequ clan" - The Splice effect.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “She would climb down a staircase as wide as the world is round, if it meant saving Saareval’s life. She would walk the whole way on the points of knives.” (Atuale on devotion)
🖤 “Atuale left the sea to kiss the mountains and the sky. Of course she wants to embrace the stars as well. Desire steals the air from her lungs, suffocating the only answer” (The Wanderlust and Fernweh is strong in this one)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts :
■ The Vo, Mzo Ma, Seaclan, Prequ, Naraqui, GreatClan Lord
■Yanga is like the Splice movie with Adrien Brody
■Keita-Vo and their Sisterhouses
■ Gene-Eater Tech
■World-Witch, GreatLeap Marcher or Star Hunter
■Sea People's Caste system
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Science Fiction Books by 2025
Want to read
November 2, 2020a sci-fi The Little Mermaid retelling?!? Be still my beating heart
February 23, 2021
The nitty-gritty: A beautifully written space opera/fairy tale mash-up with a touch of romance and an emotionally satisfying ending.
What a strange and lovely story this was! Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters is a LIttle Mermaid retelling set on a distant planet called Maraven, where sea dwellers and land dwellers are currently involved in a clan war. Atuale was born to the Sea-Clan, but she fell in love with a land dweller and went through a body modification process in order to be with him. But now the cliff village of Keita Vo has been struck with a deadly plague, and many of Atuale’s friends and relatives are sick and dying, including her husband Saareval. She herself seems immune to the disease, maybe because of her origins, and so she decides to visit the World-Witch in the sea far below to ask for help.
Ogden’s world was beautifully described and imagined, and despite the very short length of this novella, I had no trouble visualizing her unique world, set both in space, on land and under water. Atuale ventures back to her home under the sea when her village falls under a plague, which as you can imagine is uncomfortable for both sides. Once there, she hopes to find the World-Witch, an old lover of hers before she left, but imagine her surprise when the World-Witch, a female, has become a male named Yanja. Yanja agrees to help her, for a price, and they set out for a distant world to find a cure in Yanja’s spaceship, the Unfortunate Wanderer. I loved the odd adventure the two went on together, and Atuale’s reactions to seeing a different world for the first time were wonderful.
Atuale and Yanja reminded me of animals more than anything else, from their physical appearance—body coverings of scales or fur—to the way they procreate. Atuale’s babies (from when she was part of the Sea-Clan) are described as “spawn" and do not stay with their mother after birth. Now living on land, Atuale and her husband aren’t having much luck having children, due to the heavy, dense atmosphere of land compared to the buoyancy of the ocean, but I loved the idea that water births and land births are quite different, both physically and emotionally.
But the best part of this story is the complex relationship between Atuale and Yanja, complicated not only because Yanja’s sex has changed, but because they used to love each other and now Atuale loves someone else. I was not expecting this story to punch me in the gut, and yet it did. The emotional ending brought tears to my eyes, but also put a smile on my face.
Short but powerful, Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters is a sparkling gem of a story, and I very much look forward to reading more of Aimee Ogden’s fiction.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
What a strange and lovely story this was! Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters is a LIttle Mermaid retelling set on a distant planet called Maraven, where sea dwellers and land dwellers are currently involved in a clan war. Atuale was born to the Sea-Clan, but she fell in love with a land dweller and went through a body modification process in order to be with him. But now the cliff village of Keita Vo has been struck with a deadly plague, and many of Atuale’s friends and relatives are sick and dying, including her husband Saareval. She herself seems immune to the disease, maybe because of her origins, and so she decides to visit the World-Witch in the sea far below to ask for help.
Ogden’s world was beautifully described and imagined, and despite the very short length of this novella, I had no trouble visualizing her unique world, set both in space, on land and under water. Atuale ventures back to her home under the sea when her village falls under a plague, which as you can imagine is uncomfortable for both sides. Once there, she hopes to find the World-Witch, an old lover of hers before she left, but imagine her surprise when the World-Witch, a female, has become a male named Yanja. Yanja agrees to help her, for a price, and they set out for a distant world to find a cure in Yanja’s spaceship, the Unfortunate Wanderer. I loved the odd adventure the two went on together, and Atuale’s reactions to seeing a different world for the first time were wonderful.
Atuale and Yanja reminded me of animals more than anything else, from their physical appearance—body coverings of scales or fur—to the way they procreate. Atuale’s babies (from when she was part of the Sea-Clan) are described as “spawn" and do not stay with their mother after birth. Now living on land, Atuale and her husband aren’t having much luck having children, due to the heavy, dense atmosphere of land compared to the buoyancy of the ocean, but I loved the idea that water births and land births are quite different, both physically and emotionally.
But the best part of this story is the complex relationship between Atuale and Yanja, complicated not only because Yanja’s sex has changed, but because they used to love each other and now Atuale loves someone else. I was not expecting this story to punch me in the gut, and yet it did. The emotional ending brought tears to my eyes, but also put a smile on my face.
Short but powerful, Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters is a sparkling gem of a story, and I very much look forward to reading more of Aimee Ogden’s fiction.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
February 23, 2021
*Much thanks to NetGalley and Tordotcom for granting me an ARC of this book*
Why I Was Interested: I'm interested in trying to read a variety of retellings, and there were few Little Mermaid retellings, none of which I wanted to read. So when I heard that was science fiction retelling of the Little Mermaid, I was instantly intrigued.
What It's About: After leaving her sea clan to be with her land lover, Atuale must leave him to find a cure for a plague before he dies. The only person with the resources to help her is the World Witch, someone she once knew when she still lived under water.
Cons: There were two massive issues with this novella that essentially ruined every aspect of it. First is that, it's not actually a retelling. All the retelling aspects occur before the book even starts. As a result I don't care about the characters, because I don't know them, and as result I don't care about the stakes within the book. Which leads into the second massive issue I had. This novella was too short for it's own good. Nothing is developed, not characters, not the themes, not the even the world (which was the most developed aspect). Nothing. There were plenty of opportunities, like Atuale always having that yearning desire to explore no matter what it might cost her, or themes of exploration and identity, but they were given no more than passing nods.
Pros: The descriptions, particularly of the settings, were decent.
Finishing Thoughts: Since little effort was put into establishing and exploring, in favor of quickly telling a story, I've actually forgotten most the narrative. Despite a premise that sounded good, and a sliver of potential with in the story, I'm just massively disappointed.
Why I Was Interested: I'm interested in trying to read a variety of retellings, and there were few Little Mermaid retellings, none of which I wanted to read. So when I heard that was science fiction retelling of the Little Mermaid, I was instantly intrigued.
What It's About: After leaving her sea clan to be with her land lover, Atuale must leave him to find a cure for a plague before he dies. The only person with the resources to help her is the World Witch, someone she once knew when she still lived under water.
Cons: There were two massive issues with this novella that essentially ruined every aspect of it. First is that, it's not actually a retelling. All the retelling aspects occur before the book even starts. As a result I don't care about the characters, because I don't know them, and as result I don't care about the stakes within the book. Which leads into the second massive issue I had. This novella was too short for it's own good. Nothing is developed, not characters, not the themes, not the even the world (which was the most developed aspect). Nothing. There were plenty of opportunities, like Atuale always having that yearning desire to explore no matter what it might cost her, or themes of exploration and identity, but they were given no more than passing nods.
Pros: The descriptions, particularly of the settings, were decent.
Finishing Thoughts: Since little effort was put into establishing and exploring, in favor of quickly telling a story, I've actually forgotten most the narrative. Despite a premise that sounded good, and a sliver of potential with in the story, I'm just massively disappointed.
March 3, 2021
just because it's written by a woman from the LGBT + community doesn't instantly make it a good thing. In parts it becomes presumptuous, in addition there is infidelity, a forced representation and things that are not appropriate, for example: a world where women take turns having sex when there are no men. It's not the worst I've read or anything like that, but I thought it would be much better.
June 5, 2022
3+ A solid sci-fi fairy tale, although grittier than this description makes it sound. It's a very quick read, so great for a shot of SF when you need one.
May 8, 2023
This was fine. Idk, it didn’t really connect emotionally for me. There was a glimmer of something there but it was way beneath the surface….. or I guess alternately way off in space lol.
January 11, 2021
3.5 stars
Curious SFF novella about a woman looking to cure a plague, inspired by The Little Mermaid.
Content warnings include: birth, miscarriage, illness and related body horror, vomiting, semi-explicit sex on-page, sex outside of established relationship (unclear if open or not), mentions of arranged relationships specifically to bear children.
Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters was intriguing from the very start.
The exposition of the vast world-building was sparse, but it worked for the story. The glimpses we got were enough for the plot, but I would have loved to see more! This take on gene-altering humanity that has spread to both sea and stars was fascinating and bears little resemblance to humanity as we know it today. I loved thinking about the different possibilities this concept opened up.
That said, I am someone who loves details, and while the story did work the way it was, there was just enough missing for me to not entirely fall in love with it. Especially more details about the physiology of the different human sub-species would have been appreciated, as well as day-to-day living.
What little was there was was excellent, however!
The inspiration of The Little Mermaid was clear. There were some quite overt references without them being cheesy. I liked that this wasn't exactly a retelling - it more focussed on what happens after the traditional events of the fairy tale have come to pass.
Of course there were also changes: the most intriguing change as well as one of the most interesting things about the book was the World-Witch. Yanja's character was hugely fascinating, not only in relation to the overall plot and role in it, but also in relationship to the protagonist, Atuale.
An aspect I also found myself the most curious about was that for the sea-clans it appears to be normal to change sex. Again, this wasn't exactly elaborated, like how sex and gender relates in their society, if only certain circumstances cause the change, if the change only goes one direction, or if it's irreversible. I would have loved to find out more about that.
Lastly, I want to mention the writing. It reminded me a bit of This Is How You Lose The Time War. Which is to say, it has a lyrical quality to it and feels very whimsical at times - but it also felt confusing. I had to read some paragraphs more than once to really understand what was going on, especially with the previously mentioned very dense world-building and lack of exposition.
Overall, I found this a super cool concept with a straightfoward plot. I loved the fairy tale inspiration but that it didn't let itself be restricted by it, I adored the SciFi elements that didn't shy away from the fantastical, and I especially liked the ending. It read fast, which was great because that meant I couldn't get too lost despite the occasional confusion, but I do wish it had been longer, simply to not create space for the confusion in the first place.
I received an ARC and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
Curious SFF novella about a woman looking to cure a plague, inspired by The Little Mermaid.
Content warnings include: birth, miscarriage, illness and related body horror, vomiting, semi-explicit sex on-page, sex outside of established relationship (unclear if open or not), mentions of arranged relationships specifically to bear children.
Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters was intriguing from the very start.
The exposition of the vast world-building was sparse, but it worked for the story. The glimpses we got were enough for the plot, but I would have loved to see more! This take on gene-altering humanity that has spread to both sea and stars was fascinating and bears little resemblance to humanity as we know it today. I loved thinking about the different possibilities this concept opened up.
That said, I am someone who loves details, and while the story did work the way it was, there was just enough missing for me to not entirely fall in love with it. Especially more details about the physiology of the different human sub-species would have been appreciated, as well as day-to-day living.
What little was there was was excellent, however!
The inspiration of The Little Mermaid was clear. There were some quite overt references without them being cheesy. I liked that this wasn't exactly a retelling - it more focussed on what happens after the traditional events of the fairy tale have come to pass.
Of course there were also changes: the most intriguing change as well as one of the most interesting things about the book was the World-Witch. Yanja's character was hugely fascinating, not only in relation to the overall plot and role in it, but also in relationship to the protagonist, Atuale.
An aspect I also found myself the most curious about was that for the sea-clans it appears to be normal to change sex. Again, this wasn't exactly elaborated, like how sex and gender relates in their society, if only certain circumstances cause the change, if the change only goes one direction, or if it's irreversible. I would have loved to find out more about that.
Lastly, I want to mention the writing. It reminded me a bit of This Is How You Lose The Time War. Which is to say, it has a lyrical quality to it and feels very whimsical at times - but it also felt confusing. I had to read some paragraphs more than once to really understand what was going on, especially with the previously mentioned very dense world-building and lack of exposition.
Overall, I found this a super cool concept with a straightfoward plot. I loved the fairy tale inspiration but that it didn't let itself be restricted by it, I adored the SciFi elements that didn't shy away from the fantastical, and I especially liked the ending. It read fast, which was great because that meant I couldn't get too lost despite the occasional confusion, but I do wish it had been longer, simply to not create space for the confusion in the first place.
I received an ARC and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
July 29, 2023
Really strong potential as a sff critique of colonialism, xenophobia, and an offering of possibilities for cross-cultural collaboration in the ongoing aftermath of violence. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite deliver, though the writing was strong enough that, it presented with this as a full length novel, I’d 100% try it again.
Want to read
July 21, 2020July 21, 2020: You can't expect me to not be excited when lyrical space opera and The Little Mermaid are mentioned together!
June 23, 2021
Beautifully written, but imo needed a little bit more substance.
February 8, 2021
I received a copy of Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Little Mermaid retold in Space Opera form? Count me in! Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters, written by Aimee Ogden is absolutely the most creative retelling I've read, and I've read a lot of them.
Atuale was born in the sea, and for the longest time, the sea was where she belonged. However, sometimes one has to forge their own path in life, in order to achieve true happiness. The opportunity for change was granted to Atuale, thanks to her connection to the World Witch.
The World Witch gave Atuale the mods needed for her to live on land. For her to make a place for herself with the people that lived near the sky, and for her to fall in love with one of them. However, the peace she found has been put at risk, and she'll do whatever it takes to save it. To save them.
“Guilt flushes her chest, only to be scrubbed quickly away by determination and relief.”
If you going into Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters expecting a simple retelling of the Little Mermaid, you're going to be in for a world of surprise. Pun intended. This is a rich and complex tale, one that isn't afraid to take risks and create something powerful and beautiful as a result.
Though I may be biased here, being a massive fan of both space opera, and the original tale of the Little Mermaid. Yet it's also more than both of those two elements combined, and should be considered a novella that stands on its own.
Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters touches upon many evocative points, from societal expectations to love and adventure, and everything else that lies between. Atuale's entire being is so focused on love and staying true to herself. Even when she doesn't know what that means, or what it will involve.
I feel like that is a feeling many of us can connect to, on at least some level. Granted, Atuale's story takes it much farther than that. She used mods (in place of magic) to grant her the ability to leave the water. Then, she took to the stars, all in hopes of saving those she cared about.
Then there's the World Witch, a character who in truth could justify a story all on their own. I won't say too much about this character, because I don't want to spoil any revelations. But I will say that I love the merging of witch/technology here, it's clever and fascinating, all in one.
I really was blown away by Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters. It was a delight to read, and brought many interesting concerns to the surface. In a way, it touched upon a little bit of everything, and I really adored that about this novella.
Check out more reviewers over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
Little Mermaid retold in Space Opera form? Count me in! Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters, written by Aimee Ogden is absolutely the most creative retelling I've read, and I've read a lot of them.
Atuale was born in the sea, and for the longest time, the sea was where she belonged. However, sometimes one has to forge their own path in life, in order to achieve true happiness. The opportunity for change was granted to Atuale, thanks to her connection to the World Witch.
The World Witch gave Atuale the mods needed for her to live on land. For her to make a place for herself with the people that lived near the sky, and for her to fall in love with one of them. However, the peace she found has been put at risk, and she'll do whatever it takes to save it. To save them.
“Guilt flushes her chest, only to be scrubbed quickly away by determination and relief.”
If you going into Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters expecting a simple retelling of the Little Mermaid, you're going to be in for a world of surprise. Pun intended. This is a rich and complex tale, one that isn't afraid to take risks and create something powerful and beautiful as a result.
Though I may be biased here, being a massive fan of both space opera, and the original tale of the Little Mermaid. Yet it's also more than both of those two elements combined, and should be considered a novella that stands on its own.
Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters touches upon many evocative points, from societal expectations to love and adventure, and everything else that lies between. Atuale's entire being is so focused on love and staying true to herself. Even when she doesn't know what that means, or what it will involve.
I feel like that is a feeling many of us can connect to, on at least some level. Granted, Atuale's story takes it much farther than that. She used mods (in place of magic) to grant her the ability to leave the water. Then, she took to the stars, all in hopes of saving those she cared about.
Then there's the World Witch, a character who in truth could justify a story all on their own. I won't say too much about this character, because I don't want to spoil any revelations. But I will say that I love the merging of witch/technology here, it's clever and fascinating, all in one.
I really was blown away by Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters. It was a delight to read, and brought many interesting concerns to the surface. In a way, it touched upon a little bit of everything, and I really adored that about this novella.
Check out more reviewers over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
May 17, 2022
Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters tells the story of a woman who left her people twice: first, when she leaves the depths of the oceans to join the land-dwelling culture on her planet; second, when she travels to a space station to ask for medical help for her husband and his family. It's a poetic setting, with beautiful depictions of sun, sea, and space.
My one regret in reading the novel is its length--it's a short novella, and it doesn't go into the depth that I hoped for. As a reader, you never really get to understand why the main character left her birth culture, nor what about her makes her so unusually resilient to peer pressure and fear. Why did she walk away from her family, culture, and original body? How did she feel about it? Is she happy with her choices?
My one regret in reading the novel is its length--it's a short novella, and it doesn't go into the depth that I hoped for. As a reader, you never really get to understand why the main character left her birth culture, nor what about her makes her so unusually resilient to peer pressure and fear. Why did she walk away from her family, culture, and original body? How did she feel about it? Is she happy with her choices?
May 23, 2021
creative and unique. i like it enough, but i would've liked it more if i weren't in this slump.
January 31, 2023
In for the space mermaids, out on the fish sex.
April 24, 2021
Well, this is definitely not my brand of scifi!
I don't know if it's just my brain, that it needs more context, but this didn't work for me. Since it's barely 105 pages, it's impossible to explore this strange new world and its specific rules and culture. The casual queer rep was good and the writing was beautiful here and there, but I struggle to find anything else that I liked.
Rep: queer main character, trans main character
I don't know if it's just my brain, that it needs more context, but this didn't work for me. Since it's barely 105 pages, it's impossible to explore this strange new world and its specific rules and culture. The casual queer rep was good and the writing was beautiful here and there, but I struggle to find anything else that I liked.
Rep: queer main character, trans main character
June 26, 2022
A dreamy science fiction retelling of The Little Mermaid, or more accurately, a telling of what happens after the little mermaid; this novella has some beautiful writing, subtle character dynamics, and hints of an intriguing world, but does sometimes prove a little confusing in terms of writing style.
Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters is set in a universe of a wide variety of gene edited humans, who have adapted to a wide variety of climates. Atuale is the daughter of one of the leaders of one of the sea clans, humans who have been genetically altered and then adapted to live under the sea. 20 years ago, she made a deal with a witch to alter her genes so that she could live on land in order to be with the man she loves. Now, her husband's clan is dying of a mysterious illness, so she returns to the witch-- who was also her former lover-- to see if there is a way to find a cure for the illness. This search for a remedy takes them into an offworld adventure, and forces them to confront their own fraught past together.
I think this novella was more successful in some aspects than other. I sort of expect novellas to only give me glimpses of the world, leaving the rest for me to piece together in the space between; I don't mind doing so, but not much is explained up front which may not be to every reader's taste. I enjoyed the tense dynamic between Atuale and Yanja; their history of love and intimacy is clear, as is the sense of betrayal. I think both of them are well characterized, particularly through their flaws.
I think there is also an internal narrative in here that works beautifully with some of the original themes of The Little Mermaid, primarily regarding bodily autonomy and a sense of choice. We see this in not only Atuale's original transformation from sea-to-land-dweller, but also in revelations about the sea clan's attitude toward pregnancy (with mentions of forced pregnancy), and in Yanja's choice to maintain his biological transition from female to male. In a larger sense, Atuale is also often divided between her own desires--each of which requires sacrifice or limitations put on her, which made each step of her journey a little bittersweet.
I think that the story does feel muddled sometime, with the pacing coming out a bit confusing. I also feel like some of the relationship dynamics could have been brought to the forefront a little more. The writing was beautiful, but sometimes the dreamy passages also made things a little confusing. Still, it generally felt appropriate to Atuale's voice and understanding of her world, so I didn't mind too much.
Overall, I would put this at about 3.75 out of 5; I enjoyed it, and it provoked a bittersweet sense of feeling for me, but think it could have had a little more clarity in its execution. It reminded me a bit of a different science fiction retelling of a Hans Christian Anderson story - The Snow Queen, by Joan D Vinge, in the combination of science fiction elements and dreamy fairytale vibes.
Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters is set in a universe of a wide variety of gene edited humans, who have adapted to a wide variety of climates. Atuale is the daughter of one of the leaders of one of the sea clans, humans who have been genetically altered and then adapted to live under the sea. 20 years ago, she made a deal with a witch to alter her genes so that she could live on land in order to be with the man she loves. Now, her husband's clan is dying of a mysterious illness, so she returns to the witch-- who was also her former lover-- to see if there is a way to find a cure for the illness. This search for a remedy takes them into an offworld adventure, and forces them to confront their own fraught past together.
I think this novella was more successful in some aspects than other. I sort of expect novellas to only give me glimpses of the world, leaving the rest for me to piece together in the space between; I don't mind doing so, but not much is explained up front which may not be to every reader's taste. I enjoyed the tense dynamic between Atuale and Yanja; their history of love and intimacy is clear, as is the sense of betrayal. I think both of them are well characterized, particularly through their flaws.
I think there is also an internal narrative in here that works beautifully with some of the original themes of The Little Mermaid, primarily regarding bodily autonomy and a sense of choice. We see this in not only Atuale's original transformation from sea-to-land-dweller, but also in revelations about the sea clan's attitude toward pregnancy (with mentions of forced pregnancy), and in Yanja's choice to maintain his biological transition from female to male. In a larger sense, Atuale is also often divided between her own desires--each of which requires sacrifice or limitations put on her, which made each step of her journey a little bittersweet.
I think that the story does feel muddled sometime, with the pacing coming out a bit confusing. I also feel like some of the relationship dynamics could have been brought to the forefront a little more. The writing was beautiful, but sometimes the dreamy passages also made things a little confusing. Still, it generally felt appropriate to Atuale's voice and understanding of her world, so I didn't mind too much.
Overall, I would put this at about 3.75 out of 5; I enjoyed it, and it provoked a bittersweet sense of feeling for me, but think it could have had a little more clarity in its execution. It reminded me a bit of a different science fiction retelling of a Hans Christian Anderson story - The Snow Queen, by Joan D Vinge, in the combination of science fiction elements and dreamy fairytale vibes.
June 1, 2021
An extremely loose retelling (or, really, sequel) to Little Mermaid. Now, I know the past decade has seen more fairytale retellings than we’ve ever asked for, or needed. But this one is fascinating. Strong enough to stand on its own.
It feels like an authentic fairytale, one passed down through generations through oral tradition— not like a Disney yarn (however fantastic Disney stories objectively are, they are a good bit removed from their origins). But make it sci-fi.
Here, it’s the remote future on a planet called Maraven (which may or may not be Earth) where humanity has evolved into different clans (species, really) adapted to their environments. Atuale (aka Ariel) grew up in the ocean clan, with gills. But she fell in love with Saareval (Eric), a land-dweller with clay-coloured scales, and begged for her childhood friend and lover Yanja, the gender-fluid World-Witch, to transform her to live on land through gene-editing.
Happily ever after, until now: twenty years later. Now, a plague is killing the land-dwellers, including Saareval, and to save him she has to beg Yanja’s help— and accompany Yanja to another planet called Farong to get the technology necessary to halt the plague.
It’s a lovely, timeless, incredibly inventive tale, but I have some complaints. The unnecessary description is so heavy as to be distracting, while the actual plot feels like a bad haircut, hacked too short. That’s perhaps to be expected given the fact that this book is tiny even for a novella— but it felt unnaturally abbreviated. Perhaps this shouldn’t have been a novella. Considering the fact that we started in point A and ended in point B, there wasn’t enough to smoothly transition. I feel like I was rushed, like I didn’t have enough material to actually get to point B— it’s just handed to me, unearned.
It feels like an authentic fairytale, one passed down through generations through oral tradition— not like a Disney yarn (however fantastic Disney stories objectively are, they are a good bit removed from their origins). But make it sci-fi.
Here, it’s the remote future on a planet called Maraven (which may or may not be Earth) where humanity has evolved into different clans (species, really) adapted to their environments. Atuale (aka Ariel) grew up in the ocean clan, with gills. But she fell in love with Saareval (Eric), a land-dweller with clay-coloured scales, and begged for her childhood friend and lover Yanja, the gender-fluid World-Witch, to transform her to live on land through gene-editing.
Happily ever after, until now: twenty years later. Now, a plague is killing the land-dwellers, including Saareval, and to save him she has to beg Yanja’s help— and accompany Yanja to another planet called Farong to get the technology necessary to halt the plague.
It’s a lovely, timeless, incredibly inventive tale, but I have some complaints. The unnecessary description is so heavy as to be distracting, while the actual plot feels like a bad haircut, hacked too short. That’s perhaps to be expected given the fact that this book is tiny even for a novella— but it felt unnaturally abbreviated. Perhaps this shouldn’t have been a novella. Considering the fact that we started in point A and ended in point B, there wasn’t enough to smoothly transition. I feel like I was rushed, like I didn’t have enough material to actually get to point B— it’s just handed to me, unearned.
December 19, 2023
My second book by Aimee Ogden and I loved it just as much as the first! I was really in the mood for a quick sci-fi read and this fulfilled that and more!
April 5, 2022
What was that? Should one go by the fact that it was a Nebula nominee for Best Novella or the overwhelmingly lukewarm reviews on GR here? I’d suggest the latter.
An overdone, overwrought, and overwritten mishmash of fairy tale and science fiction, this novella favored style over substance so heavily that it resulted in a plot being all but buried beneath quasi-poetic imagery. Muddled, dreamlike narrative that doesn’t offer much but at least has the decency to be brief. Didn’t work for me, but didn’t take up much time either.
An overdone, overwrought, and overwritten mishmash of fairy tale and science fiction, this novella favored style over substance so heavily that it resulted in a plot being all but buried beneath quasi-poetic imagery. Muddled, dreamlike narrative that doesn’t offer much but at least has the decency to be brief. Didn’t work for me, but didn’t take up much time either.
February 27, 2021
Originally published at Reading Reality
I’m not quite sure what I was expecting with this one. I know it isn’t like anything I expected it to be – and that’s always marvelous.
OK, I was expecting it to be short and it was. This week kind of fell apart for me, so I was looking for something short to round out the week and get me back on track and this definitely ticked off those boxes.
Now that I’ve had a chance to cogitate on it a bit, Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters has left me with three sets of resonances that really shouldn’t gel, but somehow do.
First, there is a fairytale at the heart of this story, although I didn’t figure out which one until after the end. I was just not expecting an SFnal retelling of The Little Mermaid. And it isn’t obvious at first, but when you look back, all of the elements are definitely there, even though the happy ending in this version is way more bittersweet than Disney would ever have left things.
Although I think Atuale is actually a selkie rather than a mermaid, that isn’t clear in the story and it really isn’t necessary to know. What is known about her story is just about enough. She gave up her place as a Sea-Lord’s daughter because she fell in love with a land-dweller.
But Saareval is not a prince. And he doesn’t need to be. Love is love is love, as becomes even clearer as the story continues. Atuale’s shift from sea-creature to land-dweller was also the result of intervention by a witch with a hidden agenda, but the World-Witch is no Ursula.
And in spite of its fairy tale underpinnings, this story is no fantasy.
There’s a plague on Atuale’s world, and it is raging among the land-dwellers. Her husband and his entire family have been struck down with it and the healers are unable to find a cure. It’s up to Atuale to reach out to her friend-turned-enemy, the World-Witch, to make a deal to take her out to the stars in order to find a cure that her husband’s people won’t even want if she finds it.
But her journey among the stars makes her question every single thing that has happened since the day she left the sea. There’s an entire universe out there and Atuale is eager to explore it, along with someone who loves her exactly as she is and not just the parts of her that he finds acceptable.
“For all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been’”. Atuale’s choices are both sad. She can save her husband’s people, knowing that they will never fully accept her or the cure she brings. Or she can travel among the stars. She can never do both.
And the choice, her choice, is both bitter and sweet.
Escape Rating B+:The above quote is by John Greenleaf Whitter from his poem Maud Muller, and it kept running through my head the entire time I was reading this story. It’s so clear that the story isn’t about the plague, but about Atuale’s choices about what to do about it.
She’s immune, she’s not going to get it no matter what happens. The process that made her capable of living on land did not fully make her one of her husband’s people, leading to their grudging tolerance of her but also her immunity to a plague that strikes only them.
So this is a story about what we sacrifice for love, because that’s the choice that faces Atuale at every turn. In order to have one love she has to give up another, and it’s a choice that tears her in two through the entire story.
I think I felt most for Atuale as she experiences the wonders – and very definitely the dangers – of exploring the wider universe. It’s a tease and a torment and she wants it and wants to share it, but the price is too high. Which does not erase that wanting at all.
But, and it’s just enough of a but to have kept this from getting an A grade, I wanted a bit more about Atuale’s people and their world, because it’s a much bigger world and a much sadder story than we see at first. It’s not that this story isn’t complete in itself, because it is, but rather that the relationship between Atuale and the World-Witch has SO MUCH history behind it and we get hints rather than a full picture. And I wish I had that full picture, complete with its story of love both requited and unrequited, royal privilege, royal politics and revolution. I felt teased and wished I had more to go on.
Initially, I said there were three things rattling around my head after reading this book. One was The Little Mermaid. The second was that quote from Whittier. The third is also from Disney, and was that ever a surprise. The ending of Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters and the post-credits scene from the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, At World’s End, encapsulates the ending to the romances in both stories in a way that echoes back to the bitter sweetness of that quote from Whittier. Love and happiness, pain and heartbreak, all jumbled together in a ball of tears.
I’m not quite sure what I was expecting with this one. I know it isn’t like anything I expected it to be – and that’s always marvelous.
OK, I was expecting it to be short and it was. This week kind of fell apart for me, so I was looking for something short to round out the week and get me back on track and this definitely ticked off those boxes.
Now that I’ve had a chance to cogitate on it a bit, Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters has left me with three sets of resonances that really shouldn’t gel, but somehow do.
First, there is a fairytale at the heart of this story, although I didn’t figure out which one until after the end. I was just not expecting an SFnal retelling of The Little Mermaid. And it isn’t obvious at first, but when you look back, all of the elements are definitely there, even though the happy ending in this version is way more bittersweet than Disney would ever have left things.
Although I think Atuale is actually a selkie rather than a mermaid, that isn’t clear in the story and it really isn’t necessary to know. What is known about her story is just about enough. She gave up her place as a Sea-Lord’s daughter because she fell in love with a land-dweller.
But Saareval is not a prince. And he doesn’t need to be. Love is love is love, as becomes even clearer as the story continues. Atuale’s shift from sea-creature to land-dweller was also the result of intervention by a witch with a hidden agenda, but the World-Witch is no Ursula.
And in spite of its fairy tale underpinnings, this story is no fantasy.
There’s a plague on Atuale’s world, and it is raging among the land-dwellers. Her husband and his entire family have been struck down with it and the healers are unable to find a cure. It’s up to Atuale to reach out to her friend-turned-enemy, the World-Witch, to make a deal to take her out to the stars in order to find a cure that her husband’s people won’t even want if she finds it.
But her journey among the stars makes her question every single thing that has happened since the day she left the sea. There’s an entire universe out there and Atuale is eager to explore it, along with someone who loves her exactly as she is and not just the parts of her that he finds acceptable.
“For all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been’”. Atuale’s choices are both sad. She can save her husband’s people, knowing that they will never fully accept her or the cure she brings. Or she can travel among the stars. She can never do both.
And the choice, her choice, is both bitter and sweet.
Escape Rating B+:The above quote is by John Greenleaf Whitter from his poem Maud Muller, and it kept running through my head the entire time I was reading this story. It’s so clear that the story isn’t about the plague, but about Atuale’s choices about what to do about it.
She’s immune, she’s not going to get it no matter what happens. The process that made her capable of living on land did not fully make her one of her husband’s people, leading to their grudging tolerance of her but also her immunity to a plague that strikes only them.
So this is a story about what we sacrifice for love, because that’s the choice that faces Atuale at every turn. In order to have one love she has to give up another, and it’s a choice that tears her in two through the entire story.
I think I felt most for Atuale as she experiences the wonders – and very definitely the dangers – of exploring the wider universe. It’s a tease and a torment and she wants it and wants to share it, but the price is too high. Which does not erase that wanting at all.
But, and it’s just enough of a but to have kept this from getting an A grade, I wanted a bit more about Atuale’s people and their world, because it’s a much bigger world and a much sadder story than we see at first. It’s not that this story isn’t complete in itself, because it is, but rather that the relationship between Atuale and the World-Witch has SO MUCH history behind it and we get hints rather than a full picture. And I wish I had that full picture, complete with its story of love both requited and unrequited, royal privilege, royal politics and revolution. I felt teased and wished I had more to go on.
Initially, I said there were three things rattling around my head after reading this book. One was The Little Mermaid. The second was that quote from Whittier. The third is also from Disney, and was that ever a surprise. The ending of Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters and the post-credits scene from the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, At World’s End, encapsulates the ending to the romances in both stories in a way that echoes back to the bitter sweetness of that quote from Whittier. Love and happiness, pain and heartbreak, all jumbled together in a ball of tears.
January 19, 2021
Yanja can’t have just wanted, because just is an empty, useless word. There’s never a just this, or an only that, when someone does something. It’s a web, all tangled together, and the person least likely to unwind it all is the one in the middle.
Rating: Not For Me (but I understand why others may like) - translating to 2.5 or 3 stars because of the potential
This was a very different read from those I usually pick up. The premise sounded fascinating, but ultimately, it isn’t one that worked for me. I definitely think there is a lot here that others may enjoy.
In this world, humans have developed gene technology to allow them to adapt to live in many different places and planets, such as underwater and in desserts. Atuale is a part of the Sea-Clan and chooses to move to live among the land-dwellers on her planet, making a life with the man she loves. However, a terrible plague is making its way through her adopted people, and as her husband lies dying, she teams up with the World Witch, Yanja, to go off-planet in search of a cure.
It’s kind of hard for me to do a list of what I liked and what I didn’t because it was all so mixed together. So I’ll just talk a bit about why it was so mixed.
I think the main reason this book didn’t really hit well for me is because of the length. I’m primarily a character reader, and this book was just too short with too much happening for me to become invested in the characters. I felt like I didn’t have a good grasp on Atuale’s motivations other than that she loved her husband, but then some of the following events made me question what we were repeatedly told, and there wasn’t enough time left to resolve that.
There were flashbacks to Atuale’s time as a member of the Sea-Clan, and I was really interested in these, but I feel like they needed to be much more fleshed out. It felt like it was just giving us a taste of a huge world and backstory that didn’t get explored to satisfaction. I would have loved to see more worldbuilding, to understand the different clans and the politics between them, and even the people themselves. I have absolutely no understanding for what these people look like. There are a lot of mentions of fur, scales, manes, and tentacle type things, but there were no cohesive descriptions, so it really took me out of the story every time something like this was mentioned as I tried to fit it into my sketchy mental picture.
The writing style was another thing I went back and forth on. At first I had a really difficult time with the style, but as I got into the story, I began to enjoy the descriptions and the wordiness to them. There were passages that caused me to pause and reread because I just really enjoyed how the author chose to word it. However, there were definitely times that it felt very purple. Sometimes descriptions got really elaborate for something that felt rather mundane, and I found myself scanning ahead and skipping sections of descriptions when this happened.
I think that this was a really fascinating concept and that was a large reason why I felt so unsatisfied; I was really interested in the flashbacks, the world, and what was going on with the characters and just wanted to understand more. I also appreciated the representation of LGBTQ+ and trans individuals. It was somewhat confusing because we didn’t really have the backstory to explain the history of what they were talking about, but I do like seeing more inclusive stories.
Thanks to Netgalley for the advance e-copy of this work. This did not influence my review.
Rating: Not For Me (but I understand why others may like) - translating to 2.5 or 3 stars because of the potential
This was a very different read from those I usually pick up. The premise sounded fascinating, but ultimately, it isn’t one that worked for me. I definitely think there is a lot here that others may enjoy.
In this world, humans have developed gene technology to allow them to adapt to live in many different places and planets, such as underwater and in desserts. Atuale is a part of the Sea-Clan and chooses to move to live among the land-dwellers on her planet, making a life with the man she loves. However, a terrible plague is making its way through her adopted people, and as her husband lies dying, she teams up with the World Witch, Yanja, to go off-planet in search of a cure.
It’s kind of hard for me to do a list of what I liked and what I didn’t because it was all so mixed together. So I’ll just talk a bit about why it was so mixed.
I think the main reason this book didn’t really hit well for me is because of the length. I’m primarily a character reader, and this book was just too short with too much happening for me to become invested in the characters. I felt like I didn’t have a good grasp on Atuale’s motivations other than that she loved her husband, but then some of the following events made me question what we were repeatedly told, and there wasn’t enough time left to resolve that.
There were flashbacks to Atuale’s time as a member of the Sea-Clan, and I was really interested in these, but I feel like they needed to be much more fleshed out. It felt like it was just giving us a taste of a huge world and backstory that didn’t get explored to satisfaction. I would have loved to see more worldbuilding, to understand the different clans and the politics between them, and even the people themselves. I have absolutely no understanding for what these people look like. There are a lot of mentions of fur, scales, manes, and tentacle type things, but there were no cohesive descriptions, so it really took me out of the story every time something like this was mentioned as I tried to fit it into my sketchy mental picture.
The writing style was another thing I went back and forth on. At first I had a really difficult time with the style, but as I got into the story, I began to enjoy the descriptions and the wordiness to them. There were passages that caused me to pause and reread because I just really enjoyed how the author chose to word it. However, there were definitely times that it felt very purple. Sometimes descriptions got really elaborate for something that felt rather mundane, and I found myself scanning ahead and skipping sections of descriptions when this happened.
I think that this was a really fascinating concept and that was a large reason why I felt so unsatisfied; I was really interested in the flashbacks, the world, and what was going on with the characters and just wanted to understand more. I also appreciated the representation of LGBTQ+ and trans individuals. It was somewhat confusing because we didn’t really have the backstory to explain the history of what they were talking about, but I do like seeing more inclusive stories.
Thanks to Netgalley for the advance e-copy of this work. This did not influence my review.
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