I was provided with a copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Care warnings: Racism, misogynoir, domestic violence, police brutality, discussions of suicide.

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow follows the story of Tavia and Effie, two Black teenage girls as they each attempt to come terms with their identity. Tavia is a Siren, a magical attribution that only applies to Black women, who can compel people with her voice. She desperately wants to find a way to silence her voice so she can live what she imagines to be a normal life.

Her play-sister, Effie, feels more at home in her role as Euphemia the mermaid at the local renaissance faire. She spends her days dreaming of being in the water as well as attempting to come to terms with a complicated past that lead her to survive an encounter that turned her friends to statues.

In Morrow's imagining of an alternative Portland, magical beings and people are an everyday part of the world. Each attribution has its own standing in society. Elokos are held in high regard while Sirens are regarded in fear. To this effect, Sirens are regarded as a threat to police and they deal with any suspected Siren in harsh and brutal ways.

I really enjoyed the journey the two characters went on. I love stories where woman's friendships and love for each other help to drive the plot forward. Effie and Tavia each have their own unique voice in the narrative and their individual stories push the narrative forward. I'm finding it really hard to discuss this novel without discussing the ending. All I can say is that the last 20% of the novel pulls everything into place in a really delightful way.

My only compliant is that I wish the world building was a little more developed. I wanted to know what other magical creatures existed int the world, how they mythos was developed, and how modern society adapted around the prevalence of magical beings and creatures.

Full disclaimer, I am a white reviewer and this book is clearly written for Black women. This is not to say that other readers shouldn't read this book, but I think they should be aware that aspects of this book, such as hair care, are not explained for someone who may not be familiar with Black hair care.White people have been centered in narratives for so long, for a variety of structural and racial reasons, not everything needs to be about us.

While I thought the portrayal of the complicated ways Black women engage with the world was well handled, I cannot speak to it as it is not my experience. What I can say is this book does a great job of explaining racism, misogynoir, and police brutality in a way that will, hopefully, allow the reader to search out more resources as needed.

Four and a half out of Five Stars. Well worth the read.

I really wanted to love this book. I was so intrigued by the description of fantasy/mythology mixed with contemporary racism, mysogynoir, and social justice issues. And I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but let’s be honest here. The cover is STUNNING!

Unfortunately, it just fell short for me. I felt like the writing was just chunky and disjointed. I found myself having to read and re-read multiple times just to get a true understanding of what was happening. For a long time, I wondered if this was a sequel to another book, because I felt like I was just missing out on crucial information. This information eventually was provided, but not in a very cohesive manner.

I did enjoy getting to know Effie and Tavia, as well as many of the other characters, and I loved seeing their "play-sister" bond throughout. I just didn’t feel like the overall character development was deep enough. The whole story just left me wanting more. There were some great characters in the story, and I felt like their stories were just left hanging in the end.

My 15 year old was intrigued by this book, so when she finishes I will add an update with her review as well.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Macmillan-Tom Doherty Associates and NetGalley.

This is probably going to be my shortest review to date. I'm going to go back and update it later, when I can handle talking in-depth about these topics. I began this arc two days before the news of George Floyd's death and the ensuing protests and riots reached me, and at this point I cannot in good conscience give an in-depth review without taking into account everything that is happening. However, you can see similarities between Tavia and Effie's story and current events.

Here is what I will say: I really enjoyed the concept of this book. I thought black sirens was everything I needed in my life, and I still think it's a wonderful idea. I loved the way the author included other magical creatures as well, especially the gargoyles and sprites. However, I think the plot can be a little lost in all of the ideas going on. It reads like a contemporary novel, which I expected, but the fantasy aspects aren't always clearly explained. I found myself googling to ensure I was understanding everything correctly (looking at you Elekos). I also felt like some definitions could have been included for the non-poc reading this novel. Just because we know what locs are, doesn't mean everyone else will.

What I loved most of all was the relationship between Tavia and Effie. While they face both external and internal struggles, they still have each other.

I look forward to rereading this book and taking a deeper dive into the world.

Immense gratitude To #NetGalley for the ARC of this novel for an honest review.

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow is a tale steeped in mythology. The protagonist Tavia is a black siren who must keep here powers and song a secret. Only her family knows here secret, causing stress at home. Tavia and her step-sister Effie try to survive complicated family issues, anger, secrets, as well as the issues of the outside world. This novel address difficult themes such as social injustice, racism, sexism, and misogynoir. Initially the pacing of this novel reads more like a contemporary than a fantasy, once the world building is truly established you are immersed in magical realism. Morrow creates a powerful captivating story that is well crafted with characterization and a storytelling style that is thought provoking.

Thank you Macmillan/Tor and netgalley for the chance to read this as an eARC.

First this cover is a siren song of an image, it drew me in and immediately made me want to read the book. Combine that with the promise of mermaids and Black girl magic and I was sold!

Second, the book itself. So many sections had me wanting to tab/highlight it because the story sadly still echoes a lot of what we see and hear about on a daily basis when it comes to racism (especially as I am reviewing this in the midst of protests for justice in the murder of Black people at the hands of the police). This story is utterly amazing and heartbreaking for its honesty.

The fantasy built into our world seamlessly but there were some flaws: the pacing was uneven, we don’t really gain an understanding of what elokos are, and there was a lot going on at times with two narrators in the first person. This is a solid novel and I love the story, but the flaws would sometimes take me out of the story.

I definitely plan on ordering a hard copy and rereading so I can tab it up. I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves urban fantasy, contemporary issue themes, and great female friendships.

Special thanks to the TorTeen team, the author Bethany C. Morrow and Netgalley for the physical and e-ARC copies of A Song Below Water. Receiving these copies did not affect my rating or review.

The Great: The plot twists/major reveals in the second half of the book, are maybe my favorite parts of the story. I did not see ANY of them coming. It has been a while since an author was able to completely and utterly shock me. And Morrow did just that. I'd thought I knew exactly where the story was going and could predict where the main characters would end up. But I was so wrong.

Also, I've found three new characters to love. Tavia and Effie’s sisterhood really stood out to me. They are two sides of the same coin. And their differences and similarities compliment each other. Their fierce loyalty to one another made the story that much better.

Tavia and Effie face similar struggles like being young black girls in a re-imagined yet still a predominantly white city. But they each have their own separate battles as well. They know each other's strengths and weaknesses and try to make sure the other knows that they're there for them. It isn't perfect, but it's really great to see.

And the third character I adored is Gargy the Gargoyle! Want to know more about him? You have to read the book.

The Good: Simply put, plot! Tavia and Effie are battling layers of social injustice. Whether it is based on race, gender, or mythology. Tavia's identity as a siren and Effie's involvement in an incident when she was younger makes them targets for scrutiny and hate. Morrow does a great job tackling these various themes with fantasy elements as a bonus. It felt comforting to see conversations I’ve had with my family and friends on the page. However, it is sad and disheartening to read the social injustices we are currently protesting against almost verbatim in the story. I so easily related characters in Morrow's world to people who we are currently fighting for.

The not-so-good: Unfortunately, the pace, especially for the first half of the book. This is something I expect in a debut fantasy novel. And it usually doesn't deter me. But I have to say that it took me longer than usual to get through it. I'm not sure if it is because of the usual reasons like setting the world/ world-building, introducing the magic system, and mythology. Or whether it was because I was reading it during the George Floyd protests when I was angry and hurt and terrified. And reading those same feelings and injustices in the story made it just a bit harder to read. I haven't fully decided yet.

However, the pace did pick up about halfway in and up until the end of the book.

Overall, I recommend this book to lovers of YA Fantasy, to readers who want to see themselves as glorious mythical creatures, and to readers who need to better understand the black experience.

4 stars

Before requesting this book on Netgalley, I was in love with the cover. Afterwards the synopsis drew me in further. Black sirens set in modern day portland? I’m sold.
The story is unlike anything I’ve ever read before weaving social commentary, myth and fantasy into harmonious whole. The novel is a bit weak on exposition though and I spent the first half of the novel being confused a lot of the time because some things aren’t explained until much later for apparently no good reason. As a consequence, it took my approximately until the halfway point of the book to really get into the story but from then on I really enjoyed it. I would also really love for this to have a graphic novel version or a movie.

Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan Tor-/Forge for an earc of this book.

I have to say I was drawn to this book. Was it the cover, the concept or the summary? I don't know. But I just was. When I started reading it however, I had a feeling of unease. I realized that I didn't quite know too much about the siren myth (and the other myths of sprites and elokos), so I found myself constantly googling things.

I think my only point of contention really was that it felt like I was just thrown into the deep end of this world, so to speak, and was made to figure things out and piece things together rather than given a more cohesive sense of what the world is and who the characters are from the beginning.

However, the book catches up from the sixth chapter and completely had me bowled over. I loved the discussions of race and cultural biases that were formed in this fantasy book. It gave this conversation a different take and was a great read - both in terms of the content and what I was left to think about.

I also loved the relationships that were shown in this book - the love, the need to protect and the mistakes that you make along the way. I would love to see a sequel for this book as I’ve found myself to grow quite attached to the characters - especially Effie, Tavia and Wallace. :)

Thank you NetGalley and the publishing for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, I couldn't finish this one. I made it 30% but I've been very lost. I don't understand the relationship between the characters or even other things in the plot, like elokos. Sorry. I wanted to love it! I love all the social commentary but, I struggled.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The first thing that struck me about A Song Below Water was the gorgeous cover. And then the concept won me over: Black sirens in alternate reality Portland?! Yes, please!

And while I’ve had issues with contemporary fantasy in the past, I did not have problems with that in this one. The way the fantastical intersects with the reality to touch on social issues, including racism, misogyny, and modern politics is incredibly well done.

While I did chafe a bit at the dual first person, as sometimes I did forget who was narrating what, I found Tavia and Effie otherwise pretty solid characters. I liked the overlap of Tavia’s struggles with hiding her new powers, and how that interacts with how she experiences persecution for being Black. And Effie comes to some revelations about herself as well, and while I ultimately found her storyline a bit less compelling, I did enjoy the friendship aspect between the two.

This book is great, delivering on a really cool premise, as well as discussing issues that continue to be relevant in our world today. I recommend this to anyone currently looking for a novel by an up-and-coming Black author that touches on racism in light of recent events.

Stunning cover, amazing concept, lovely writing, and two main characters I fell in love with!

Things I felt a bit lukewarm about: the little-explained world building (what the hell are elokos?), and the kind-of-meandering plot line (this book tried to include a lot, there wasn’t a clear objective right from the beginning, and I felt like that caused some loose ends). Things just kind of happened. It's just something that, as a reader, you mind or you like.

This wasn’t exactly what I expected, but it was a very enjoyable read nonetheless! The sisterhood in this book is just *chef’s kiss* and I was living for Gargy! I am definitely interested in reading more from this author!

A Song Below Water is a modern siren story, which Morrow uses to explore racism. In this alternate universe, all manner of supernatural creatures coexist with humans. And while many of the creatures are respected, even loved, the siren remains the outcast. Their irresistible voices are viewed as a threat to free will, and sirens are forced to hide or be persecuted. This is a heavy and moving story, and I'm so glad to see steadily growing representation in YA fiction. Though it was a coincidence, given the events of late May, this book is more relevant than ever.

Timely and relevant with the current events.

I have never came across a book so timely and reading this is this trying times and with the injustice for George Floyd, I made a decision to preorder this book and add this amazing gem to my TBR.

100% amazing 🎉

From Publisher's Summary: Bethany C. Morrow's A Song Below Water is the story for today’s readers — a captivating modern fantasy about black mermaids, friendship, and self-discovery set against the challenges of today's racism and sexism.

I was instantly captivated by the description of this novel and it did not disappoint. A Song Below Water is an amazing tale of friendship and all the ways that companionship between two black girls can be affirming and validating. The writing is almost lyrical and Morrow weaves in major issues like racism and sexism flawlessly. Nothing is too heavy-handed. I couldn't put this one down! I am not generally a fan of speculative fiction, but this is making me reevaluate that!

I got an ARC of this book.

Look at that gorgeous cover. Just look at it for a moment. Two black women on the cover of a YA book. That is still so rare that I really want you to take it in. This is not the story of some white kid who finds out he is the only one who can save the world. It isn’t the story about a sassy white princess finding out she doesn’t need a knight. This is the sort of fantasy I need in my life. This the fantasy that is about characters that feel real and aren’t just a script or a subverted script. This is new.

The book’s description is a bit misleading. The siren trial does happen, everything is exactly what it says, but it really isn’t about that. The description is more the setting than the plot. The trial and the protest are just such small parts of the narrative. There is even talk about police policing people of color more than white people and just how dangerous the police really are. It has been extra hard to read that right now. I know that exposes my white privilege, but that is good. You should know that when I am reviewing a book about black characters. I am white and I have said and done bad things thinking they were the right things. Books like this help me learn and they help others to feel seen. The plots are just hard. This is a huge bonus for me in this book. There is no shying away from things.

The characters were hard to tell apart at first. The first 25% was so slow for me. I couldn’t tell the two women apart and I couldn’t figure out when the plot was ever really going to start. Then BAM it was full steam ahead. It was a wild ride and I loved every second after that first chunk. So much happened. SO MUCH. If the first chunk was a little faster, then this easily would have been one of the best books I have read in the last few years. I almost put it down and gave up on it repeatedly.

The twist ending was not what I was expecting. I was expecting only a small part of it. I am so happy with it. I don’t want to ruin anything though. Just know that the ending will have an easier to guess portion, but there is a lot you won’t know. No matter how much you think you have figured out there is just a bit more there.

Tavia and Effie are sisters -- not by blood, but in every way that matters. Both of them badly need the support and love of a sister. Like her late grandmother, Tavia is a siren. But the world, not to mention Tavia's father, dislikes and distrusts sirens, and Tavia lives in fear of her secret being discovered. Meanwhile, Effie was long ago the only survivor of a terrifying incident in a Portland park, and she has begin to fear that the incident is coming back for her.

After a few years of hearing about -- but not being able to find at a library! -- Bethany Morrow's first book Mem, I was pumped as hell for her YA novel. And I was right to be: It's excellent. Tavia and Effie's friendship forms the heart of this book, and it's a beautiful center for a wonderful book. Though the book includes some gestures toward present and past romance for the girls, their sisterhood remains the central relationship. Not for a single second do you doubt that these girls are going to protect each other and fight for each other, no matter what's happening to them. Without spoilers, Tavia makes a sacrifice for Effie at the end of this book that brought genuine tears to my eyes. Though at first it seems like Tavia's the sister the story's really about, and Effie's the sister who will stand by her to the end, you pretty quickly learn that Effie's got her own stuff, and it's no less painful and important than what's going on with Tav.

Which is actually another really strong element of the book: Everyone Has Stuff! A Song Below Water hands out the full measure of humanity to just about every character, with the possible exception of Effie and Tavia's classmate Naema; she's a real piece of work. Notably, this isn't limited to the kids! Though Effie's mother is deceased and she doesn't know her father (that's a whole other thing), she has two in loco parentis who spend all their time not telling her anything about her dad or her heritage. Tavia's dad takes every opportunity to remind her that he didn't want a siren daughter, and her mom never steps in to defend her. But what's lovely and unusual is that the book doesn't write anyone off for their imperfections (except, again, maybe Naema, who's a real asshole). Tavia and Effie are old enough girls to hold the cognitive dissonance of loving their parents while understanding that they're flawed.

If there's a true enemy in this book, it's the American system of racism and other kinds of bigotry. Bethany Morrow can't have known that the country would be in the grips of such significant social unrest when her book came out, but it's a tragically apt environment for A Song Before Water. LL McKinney coined the phrase stand-in bigotry for speculative fiction stories that use the structures and vocabulary of real-world oppression, while applying them to fictional identities. McKinney makes the vital point that stand-in bigotry often uses real oppression as a prop while declining to interact with the real systems of prejudice that do terrible harm in our own world, as exemplified by the police brutality that has racked our nation over the past week and a half.

Morrow beautifully sidesteps this error. A Song Below Water is fundamentally about racism and sexism, which interact with and exist alongside the fictional prejudices she creates. Tavia and Effie are reminded again and again that they can only depend on each other, that Black girls stand for Black girls because nobody else will do it. Despite the fantastical elements of this book, A Song Below Water exists very much in our own world, with all of its painful flaws and structural inequalities. Morrow makes Tavia's struggle with her siren identity a truly intersectional one, as she understands the risks she already runs as a visibly Black, visibly female person, and tries her best not to add another area of risk by admitting she's a siren. It's a heartbreaking struggle; every part of it keeps her from being fully who she is.

At its heart, A Song Below Water is the story of two girls trying to do right by each other and themselves. As you can probably tell, I loved it and I recommend it most highly.

Note: I received an e-ARC of A Song Below Water from the publisher, for review consideration. This has not affected the contents of my review.

thank you to netgalley/publishers for sending me this Earc in exchange for review

a contemporary magical realism novel featuring mythology and following black sirens. Before going into this book I didn't read the synopsis for the novel I went into it blind and was only gravitating towards it from the cover!!! (which is stunning in itself).

between the pages of the book though we delve into a story that features so many elements and tough subject matters that are going on in the world right now!!! this delves into a lot of social justice, and black lives matter movement (in this alternative Portland USA black sirens are dismissed and pushed aside). we see our main character try and fight back against the injustice of Black sirens and make sure their voices will heard no matter what. This is definitely a timely novel which is so important especially right now In our world and what is happening in this news!!!.

in this novel we see/hear about protests happening for Black sirens, one of our main character getting stopped by the police for nothing and we hear about black sirens getting murdered in certain parts of this novel.

even though I really enjoyed this novel there were moments where I felt the story could of been explained more which when reading other reviews other people are saying the same things such as, there are people called Elekos but we don't really get a understanding of them very much and basically seems like we are meant to know what they are straight the way ( but that maybe just me)

this was a very good novel and I would recommend reading this one.

The YA fantasy genre crosses with themes of racism, misogyny, and social justice in this novel about two best friends, one a siren, the other just discovering who she is. Tavia and Effie are closer than sisters and their fierce love and protectiveness of each other was one of my favorite things about this book. The incorporation of prejudice, oppression, and the Black Lives Matter movement into a fantasy context was really well-done.
My only complaint is that the story progressed a little too slowly for my taste. I was so interested in the themes but the story itself never quite grabbed me the way I hoped. I give it 3.5 stars but rounding it up to 4 because I so loved Tavia and Effie and their stories were so incredibly relevant.
Thank you NetGalley, author, and publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with the digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll admit it, the first thing that drawn me to this book was its cover. I mean, how beautiful is it? Stunning for sure! Then I read the plot and I found it to be really interesting and promising. A book about sirens and misogynoir? It sounded extremely interesting and I so wanted to love it! Unfortunately, this book didn’t convince me.
A thing that I really liked in this novel was the friendship between Tavia and Effie, our two main leads. They really care deeply about each other and we can see that all the time.
Another thing was definitely the representation of our own society in this magical context. The characters here are dealing with racism not only because of the colour of their skin, but also because they are women and they have some kind of magical powers. I think this was an original and good topic. However, this social commentary was pretty much the only thing that kept me going with this book.
Here, there were no world-building and almost no character-building. Since the beginning of this book a lot of specific terms were thrown at us without a single explanation or description, such as sprites and ekolos. I had no idea what they were, so I didn’t know how these creatures looked or acted like. I felt very disoriented and I had to google them in order to find out something.
Going through the first 30% of the story was kind of difficult for me, I was constantly confused about what was really going on and what/who the characters actually were: it seemed all a bit of a mess. I felt like I’d been thrown into the story without any kind of introduction or acknowledgement about what I was going to read about. Fortunately, then it started to become a little more interesting, but the pacing was very slow and for me it was still hard to keep going on with this read. And that’s something that surprised me, because it rarely happens to me.

Morrow has weaved a tale that questions racism in society and the fear and injustice that people experience. This book reads like hard-hitting contemporary with a magical realism twist and comments on racism and how society other people who are not white. Although the novel itself discusses humans and sirens, humans fear sirens and their voices, because their voices are powerful. They fear the power and change that sirens have with their voice. The humans don’t want change and are hanging onto their way of life. The novel begins when a siren is murdered, and protesters want justice for her. Sirens are unknown to society, and they can’t understand them and don’t make an effort to. Since sirens are different, they don’t relate to them and see them as less than.
This novel focuses on racial tensions and the racial profiling that Black people and other minorities face daily. There was a particular scene where an officer pulls one of the characters over, and the tension permeated the page. The officer pulls her over for no reason, and she has to sit there, hoping that nothing terrible happens to her. This book was fast-paced and a very enjoyable read. As to the writing itself, the author relied a lot on telling rather than showing how characters feel or showing what is happening in the scenes. But the plot was strong and kept me reading until the very last page.