Title: Mermaid Moon
Author: Susann Cokal
Age: Young Adult
Genres: Fantasy
Publication Date: March 3, 2020
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Source: Hardcover
Purchase: Hardcover | Kindle | Audible | B&N | Book Depository
Synopsis:
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.
My Rating:
Book Trailer:
My Thoughts:
This was my first Susann Cokal read and I was a bit impressed, I'm going with a 3.75 star rating. She has such a beautiful and lyrical way of writing that it pulls you deep into the story. Her imagery and world-building really helps to bring the story to life in your mind. It feels like you smell, taste and touch everything she mentions. I absolutely love that about her writing.
Mermaid Moon is a dark spin on The Little Mermaid. The main character is Sanna and she's born of a sea father and a land mother, but no one remembers who her mother is. She takes it upon herself to go to then land in search of her forgotten mother. I both enjoyed and disliked Sanna at the same time. She was interesting, but sometimes she did things that pissed me off. She is headstrong and independent. Powerful in her own right. I thought she was remarkable.
Baroness Thyrla lives on the land and she is simply evil. Even though she was a villain, the way Susann writes makes you like her every now and then. I enjoyed the scenes with her in it and the way she interacted with Sanna and the other characters of the story.
The world of the merfolk was interesting to see because it was controlled by a matriarchy. Women in this world were free to make decisions for themselves and free to love who they wanted. I adored the way these women were all bold and independent. For Sanna, she was faced with difficulties since she only had her father, but she still pulled through in the end.
That ending tripped me up!!! Overall, I enjoyed it and definitely plan to check out more of Susann Cokal's writing.
Side Note: Can we talk about the GORGEOUS cover and dusk jacket! It even has stunning sprayed edges. Definitely one of the most beautiful books I own, aesthetically speaking.
Author
Susann's previous book, The Kingdom of Little Wounds, received several national awards, including a silver medal from the American Library Association's Michael L. Printz Award series. It also got starred reviews in Kirkus, School Library Journal, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, and Publishers Weekly, and praise from Booklist, The New York Times Boook Review, and other venues. It was #3 on the Boston Globe list of best YAs of the 2013 and won an ALAN citation from the National Council of Teachers of English.
Giveaway
- Giveaway is open to International.
- Must be 13+ to Enter
- 5 Winners will receive a Copy of MERMAID MOON by Susann Cokal.
- Ends March 23, 2020
Thank you to JeanBookNerd for having me on this tour and introducing me to a new book!