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.

I received this in exchange for an honest review.

This book was everything I hoped for!! It was beautifully written and almost lyrical. The world building was great and I love the main characters and where their adventures lead them. This book definitely exceeded my expectations and is definitely one I will happily but this for my self and to sell. due to the beautiful writing, exciting adventures and stunning cover. It was pure magic.

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.