This book is FAR too visceral and raw for me to read right now. Actually probably anytime. It reminds me unnervingly of Robin McKinley's Deerskin and also Catherine Called Birdy which both traumatized me as a teenager. I knew by 10% of the book that there was no way I could finish it; I skimmed to 20% and confirmed it. It looks interesting, with the mermaid born of a human going on land to find something, perhaps her mother, but the way it is written completely turns me off.

I am an avid reader of mermaid stories. The Little Mermaid was my absolute favorite Disney movie as a child. I played out that VHS so much my parents had to buy a new one. That means that when I see a book about mermaids I am going to want to read it.

With all that said this was not my favorite. Mostly because I am not sure what was going on. The story lagged a lot and then you mix that with some confusing aspects and you get a disappointed Stephanie. I am just not really sure what happened. Sanna, our half mermaid half human, sets off with a goal of find her mother who is from the land. However, this was not a quest to find her mom like I had hoped. It ended up being a cluster of randomness and then all hell breaks loose. At the end she finds her mother in a blink to just tie up the quest. It just felt really out of the blue with no satisfying finish. I would have enjoyed this a lot more if it was an actual adventure to find her mom.

Thank you to Netgalley and Candlewick Press for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED THIS! Well then again anything mermaid is my weakness and this did not disappointment! I loved every bit of lore and magic the author crafted and want more!

A beautiful mermaid tale with Little Mermaid vibes!! The book was well-paced and I enjoyed it! Though I do wish it was a little more fleshed out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Honestly from the beginning I really struggled with this book. It at times had beautiful and lyrical writing but other times it just lagged on and wasn't too intriguing. This story didn't hold much excitement for me and I didn't like nor connect with any of the characters. I really tried to get into this book because I really love mermaids, but ultimately this book was just not for me. I do love the cover though!

I wanted to enjoy this more, I really enjoyed the writing, the authors style is beautiful, but I found it lagged at times, it could be so slow and I lost interest because of that, I also found a lot of the characters a bit unlikeable

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I was extremely excited to read this book as I am a huge mermaid lover ! But unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations! The writing style was extremely beautiful and poetic, but I didn’t enjoy the story itself. I found a lot of parts weird and sometimes was a little confused. I didn’t like the religious element and I just really didn’t enjoy the book. I guess it just wasn’t what I was hoping for.

What a fascinatingly wonderful story! As a lover of mermaids and fairytales, as soon as I read the description, I knew I had to read it, and I’m glad I did!

The writing style was absolutely wonderful, written in the poetic way of one who understands how to weave an intriguing and beautiful tale.

While the plot was obviously well thought out, the execution was at times sort of clunky and could’ve used a little bit more smoothing out.

FANTASTIC! A wonderful twist on a classic sea creature... Kept me guessing and rooting for Sanna! Absolutely adored this, and I really must get my hands on the gorgeous physical copy.

MERMAID MOON is a lush, evocative tale perfect for fans of dark fairy tales. Cokal is a gifted storyteller – I found myself luxuriating over specific turns of phrase and marking them so I could return to them later. So much of this book hearkened back to the traditional fairy tales, before their Disney sanitation, and it really worked for me as a reader. I loved her portrayal of mermaids, and the matriarchal society that Cokal created for them. I liked Sanna’s practical approach to experiencing a totally new culture, and I really loved when the perspective would switch to either the townspeople or the flok, so you can keep up with the other character’s motivations.

If you are a fan of a quick plot, this book might not be for you. I live for descriptive writing – and I found Cokal to write beautifully without too much purple prose – but the underlying plot definitely feels like an afterthought to the stunning world she created. Works for me, but won’t work for everyone.

The tone of the novel felt so magical and classic that I am grateful to Candlewick Press for publishing such an enchanting book.

**I received an eArc from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

I enjoyed this book! Whenever I picked up "Mermaid Moon", I felt like I was taken to a dark fairy-tale land, and found the story to be intriguing.⁣
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The writing style and language in this book are absolutely beautiful! It is poetical, lyrical, mysterious, and fantastical. The author really makes each world come to life, and her vivid descriptions make everything jump off of the page. The imagery she uses is beautiful as well. ⁣
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At times, unfortunately, some parts of the storyline felt a bit disjointed to me. It was sometimes hard for me to tell who was narrating what chapter, and where in the timeline it fit. I felt that the transitions between points of view and chapters were not always smooth, particularly toward the beginning and middle of the book. ⁣
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However, even with what felt to me to be a bit jumpy at times plot wise, if you enjoy fantasy novels, I highly recommend this take on a classic fairy-tail ;). ⁣
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Thank you so much to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for an ARC of this book. All opinions stated in this review are my own.

**Disclaimer: I was given an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

First, I need to point out, Susann Cokal's writing is absolutely beautiful. She was able to weave a realistic and dark fantasy world while pulling in real-world religious and mythological elements..

Unfortunately, I couldn't bring myself to read more than half of the book. The beginning chapter really pulled me into the story, but the rest of the chapters dragged on. Sometimes there was too much description and it took me out of the central conflict, or I would forget what was going on or who was speaking.

As a self-proclaimed lover of all things mermaid I knew I wanted to read this book. Sometimes I forget the source material for mermaid myths is often times utterly heartbreaking. Mermaid Moon was similar to that original story in a lot of ways.
Sanna is a complicated half-girl, half-mermaid and she wants to find her mother. In some ways this quest feels a little more relatable and noble than following a hot guy, but it is no less dangerous and scary. Sanna has spent much of her life isolated and apart from the rest of the seavish community, which has turned her into a spectacle as she becomes the witch's apprecentice and goes on a quest on two legs.
Cokal has done an amazing job with fairy tales before that are not modern but modernized and Mermaid Moon has that as well. her settings are lush and vibrant and full of magic and danger.
If you are a mermaid person or just a lover of fairy tales get ready for an adventure and some moments you won't see coming.

Mermaid Moon is a quick and fun read perfect for those who enjoy fairy tale re-tellings, especially with a dark twist.

You'll meet most of your favorite characters from the Little Mermaid tale including a terrifying but entertaining sea witch.

The story is about Sanna who has a merfolk father and a human mother and while Sanna is a love child she has to deal with serious backlash because of her half-human self.

She gets into serious adventures and troubles after she decides to find her mother in the human world.

It's a well written engaging tale that fairy tale lovers will surely enjoy.

Mermaid Moon is a wonderful, dark and incredibly rich fantasy novel, so well built and fast paced that I wasn't able to put it down till I reached the end. I was absolutely captivated by the atmosphere, the characters and romance.

This novel submerges the reader in a landscape so imaginative and detailed that the information of the world building, as complex as it is, never feels forced, and is never difficult to understand or picture in one's mind. Just absolutely beautiful!

I really wanted to try to like this book. I got about 14% into the book or so before I reconciled within myself that I was just not going to connect with the characters. I wasn't sure what this book actually was or what it wanted to be. From what I did read, I felt the writing itself wasn't lacking, just the pacing and the build up of characters. Everything kind of just starts at once and there's no explanation at all. The world building leaves a lot to be desired for me. I think people could enjoy this book, I was just not one of them.

So far, all of my knowledge of mermaids is a sweet Disney Princess and the terrifying monsters from Harry Potter’s Tri-Wizard Tournament. So it was a pleasure to read Mermaid Moon, which was considerably darker than Ariel’s tail (pun intended), but still less murderous than JK Rowling’s creations.

Well...

The writing here is beautiful. Cokal is a gifted story teller and weaves a story of traditional Catholicism and mermaid lore together seamlessly. I also love the plot line: Sanna, born of a seavish father and a landish mother, journeys to find said mother after a forgetting spell was placed on everyone after she was born. No one remembers who the mom is. And mom doesn’t remember bearing a child.

The villain Sanna encounters, Baroness Thyrla, is one of the most memorable in recent books. The lengths she goes to attain eternal life is as creative as it is macabre. She stands out as one of the best parts of the book.

There are also lovely and natural LGBT themes integrated here.

So what brings my rating down—

Though the writing was beautiful, it was at times too much. This book was long. And it wasn’t length that added anything compelling. There was description upon description (I guess some people really need to know how inter species sex happens) that left me skimming, but didn’t really allow me to connect in any meaningful emotional way, and multiple points of view (too many) at times were unnecessary and took me out of the story.

And while it claims to be a feminist story, the “boys are dumb and violent” line got a bit heavy handed (and the women here were far deadlier than any male violence on the page) and other than the mermaid tribe being matrilineal, they weren’t strong, good women. Except for Sanna (and Kett), the women were awful and didn’t stand out as “yes! This is why girls should be in charge.”

Overall, I’m glad to have read this, and really liked the unique take on the mermaid story, but it wouldn’t be something I would come back to.

Thank you to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for giving me this ARC to review.

The writing in this books is so whimsical, it made me feel like I could really dive into this fairy tale. The main character growing and becoming a stronger woman as she seeks to find her mother. I haven’t book this book down, finding myself reading during any downtown I had. I really hope this eventually gets a physical edition because I’d love to had it to my bookshelf.

This book has the most beautiful writing. It is so full of beautiful imagery and fairy-tale wonder. I loved the images that conjured in my mind from the description of the sea, the tails and hair of the merfolk, the way the merfolk glides through the sea, the roses, the bones. It was all so lovely.

I also loved how the merfolk lived in a matriarchy, which is contradictory to many fairy tales. In the merfolk flok, the women made the decisions. They would not chase after the males for attention. (Well, one character did, but that wasn’t typical.) When Sanna goes to land, she is frustrated with how the baron tries to “take care” of her, because she knows she can take care of herself. It made for such an interesting contrast between the land people and the merfolk. And, I love who saves who at the end.

This book was also very pro-LGBT. It was never a question whether it was ok for a mermaid to marry the same sex or not. In fact, there was an equal amount of same-sex relationships and different-sex relationships. I really appreciated how normalized it was in this book.

There are only two reasons why I give this book 4/5 stars and not a perfect score is because I feel like this is really long for teens. I even felt like it was long for me, so I wonder how long it would take teens to finish. This may be a better book to recommend for the summer when teens have more free time.

The second reason is because the ending left me hanging. I just felt like the whole premise of the book was to find her mother, and the end left me feeling slightly disappointed.

I was so excited for this book! I really wanted to read a new mermaid book and this one was so so good! I loved the plot and the adventure. It is one that I will read multiple times and will be purchasing for my libraries YA collection.