Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions contained within are my own.

Back in 2021, I was lucky enough to be included on the TBR & Beyond Tours blog tour for the first book in this series, Skin of the Sea. What first drew me to the book, admittedly, was the breathtaking cover. Then I discovered it was about Black mermaids and I was all the way sold. I ended up enjoying the first book quite a bit so I was eager to pick up Soul of the Deep and finish out the duology. Did I enjoy it as much as the first? No. But did I still have a good time? Absolutely!

We begin this sequel at the bottom of the ocean as Simi deals with the consequences of the deal she makes at the end of book one. But her bargain has had unforeseen consequences on not only Simi, but the world. With demons and gods running amok, Simi has to return from the deepest depths to help set things right.

I have to say, there is a lot going on in this book. So much so that the plot felt a bit rushed and muddled. I constantly found myself rereading parts because I kept getting lost in the weeds of everything that was going on! Honestly, it made me wish that this had been a trilogy because I was loving the story, but I wish there had been more time to develop and flesh it out. That feeling goes for the characters, as well! Though Simi had an incredible arc that ended in a satisfying way, I felt like the rest of the characters that were so alive in the first book felt a little flat this time around.

All that said, the writing in this was just as beautiful and evocative as the writing in the first book. The author does an incredible job of building a world that comes to life in your minds’ eye. You feel the chill of the deep, the warmth of the jungles, and everything in between as Simi goes on her journey. The gorgeous writing was hands down my favorite part of Soul of the Deep! It definitely makes me excited to read from this author again.

So this was a “liked it, didn’t love it” kind of read and, though it didn’t hit as much as the first in the series, I still had a good time reading it.

I requested this book not realizing it was the second in a series. Unfortunately, I found book 1 to be too YA for my liking and did not finish it. Therefore, I will not be reviewing this title after all. I am sorry for the inconvenience. Please disregard my star rating as it doesn't reflect my thoughts on this series.

Soul of the Deep was a satisfying conclusion to Skin of the Sea. The bargain Simi made to save those she loved is far more dangerous than she had anticipated so she rushes back to the surface to make the trek to warn those who will be affected by a war between gods. The trickster god, Eshu asks for help from Simi to prevent catastrophe, but can he be trusted? While compared to Little Mermaid, most of the action happens on land, so although Simi is one of the Mami Wata (a protector of the souls lost at sea), I recommend this more to those who enjoyed The Gilded Ones or A Song of Wraiths and Ruin.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review. I thought this was such a great follow up and finish to the Skin of Sea duology and to the world. I love mermaid books and getting to read about Black mermaids is such a privilege!

Soul of the Deep was interesting and full of plot twists. The story is entertaining and paced well. It's an amazing sequel and conclusion. Natasha Bowen's writing style is incredibly descriptive which is the best part of both books Skin of the Deep and Soul of the Deep. It picks up right after the ending of book one and it adds to the story, allowing you to connect more with the characters and world. Well done Natasha Bowen

This sequel is beautiful! Thank you for the opportunity to read the latest Natasha Bowen story. It shows a strong, powerful, character of color who does not have easy choices to make, but pushes through regardless. I'll be purchasing this second book for my school's library. :)

This was a video review on Tiktok @rosegoldbooktok
https://www.tiktok.com/@rosegoldbooktok/video/7148914163371248938?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7262790721802487342

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

This was such a fantastic book. I loved every minute of it! Plus, I just LOVED the conclusion. I'll definitely be recommending this to my teen readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me an ARC!
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Unfortunately I DNFed this, it just didn’t catch my attention and maybe I’ll get into it again when I’m in the perfect headspace to give this another try! But I would buy and recommend this to others definitely!

Sequels can be hit or miss, they can either be a great follow up to its predecessor or they can be so bad that you wish you hadn’t wasted your time with it. Thankfully, Soul of the Deep is a wonderful follow up to Skin of the Deep. Where the previous book got off to a slow start and took me a bit to get into as the world building was developed and characters introduced, this book drew me right in from the beginning and held my attention to the end.

Getting to return to this world was a true joy as it delved even more into the mythology from the previous book and the characters were even more fleshed out and it was apparent they were hitting their stride. I loved getting to learn more about Simidele’s past before becoming a Mami Wata and getting introduced to more characters who were important to Simi in her previous life.

I fell even more in love with these characters and can only hope that the author will give us another book filled with Simi and her friends.

I thought this was an excellent follow up to the first book and a great way to end the duology. The first one was more of an adventure and this one was like an all out war to protect the ones they loved.

There were some new characters added and the return of some from the first book that I enjoyed. I really liked exploring all the different folklore and mythology of the Mami Wata and the different Gods they had to deal with in the book.

The forbidden romance aspect of the book had me intrigued too. I am always down for some yearning for each other. It builds up and makes it rewarding when certain things happen.

The only thing I didn’t really like about this book was the plot twist near the end. I thought it was super predictable and I was kind of expecting it the whole time so I wasn’t really surprised when it happened just like I thought it would.

I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys mermaid mythology and adventure stories.

Unlike the first one, this one was 10x easier to get into the groove of reading! I really enjoyed the character development and the ending left me wanting more! This is a must-read!

I was so excited to read more of Simi's journey in Soul of the Deep by Natasha Bowen. After the cliffhanger in her first book, I literally squealed when I saw my request for the advanced copy of this book was approved. Falling back into this world of orisas was simply lovely and I love the complexities and layers that Bowen weaves in this story. We see so much growth in Simi as she has to make tough decisions and face responsibilities. Soul of the Deep is a beautiful story that captivates the reader completely. Thank you Random House Children's for the advanced copy of this story!

3/5 stars
After the major cliffhanger Skin of the Sea ended with, I was anxious to get my hands on Soul of the Deep, which picks up months later.
If you're not familiar with the premise, the series is a retelling of The Little Mermaid, albeit with African mythology, which I find fascinating. We get more of the same with the sequel but while Skin of the Sea has been my favorite book of 2022, I was left underwhelmed with its sequel. On one hand, the story dragged at times but on the other, there were storylines I would have preferred to have fleshed out more. The pace of the story didn't pick up until the last quarter of the novel but the main plot's resolution did not match the build-up's intensity. The ending was also abrupt and left me wanting more, which I'm hoping means we are getting another sequel

This was an easy, captivating read for me. I have always like the concept of Black mermaids and I was sucked in this world with The Skin of the Sea. I love how the story was continued and the new elements added to the story in this book. Is there going to be another book because I feel like we are not done with this story.

Well, surprise surprise, I loved the sequel way more than the original. I know I’m in the minority of folks who always seem to love a sequel more than the original but especially with fantasy, the more I know the world, the magic, the characters - the more deeply I can immerse myself. Now that I’ve read more African mythology based fantasy, it was much easier to settle in with orisas, iyalawo, ajogun, babalawo, oyinbo etc as concepts.

I was so bought in with Simi this time and as much as I loved that this was a mermaid story, I liked the adventures on land even more. Don’t get me wrong, you get plenty of underwater action but 3/4 of the action takes place on land. And boy is there action in this one! There are some stunning betrayals and heartbreaking losses as the story progresses. I loved the focus on storytelling and song as well as community and forgiveness.

The ending is pitch perfect.

Read this one if you like Children of Blood and Bone, Raybearer or A Song of Wraiths and Ruin.

Thanks to Random House Children's for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.

Soul of the Deep is the sequel to 2021's Skin of the Sea, which combined West African Mythologies, the real life world of slave-trade era Africa, and elements of the Little Mermaid into a really enjoyable piece of YA. That novel worked really well with its strong lead characters, particularly Mami Wata (mermaid) girl Simi, who saves a boy (Kola) thrown overboard from a slave ship and is forced to go on a quest to prevent a dangerous Orisha from causing devastation through his greed. The story was wonderous even in the dark times of this setting as it showed off various creatures from West African Mythologies and ended on a really strong cliffhanger, even if that ending was a bit abrupt. So I was excited to see how it was followed up with this novel.

Soul of the Deep is a solid successor to its predecessor as it continues the story of Simi as she is forced to face the consequences of her actions, ones which threaten the entire world for reasons she could never have anticipated. The story's characters remain excellent, particularly Simi, as she deals with how conflicted her heart is between her duties to various Orisa, her love of Kola and her care for other people, and her need to try to fix things. And this time the turn through West African Myth is darker, as the antagonists are the Ajogun, the anti-gods that herald destruction, and the beings that the protagonists encounter are darker accordingly...and these creatures and beings are really well done. At the same time, the story again ends on an abrupt swerve, even if it makes sense, and relies on one ridiculously obvious and overdone kind of plot twist that makes this novel just a shade behind its predecessor in quality.

More after the jump - Note: SPOILERS for Skin of the Sea are inevitable below, as this book picks up after its ending twist:


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Months have passed since Simi made the fateful decision to sacrifice herself - to pledge herself to Olokun, the Orisa condemned to the deepest parts of the Sea, in order to obtain his help to stop the trickster Orisa Esu from harming all she loved. Now she spends her days trying to find offerings that will satisfy the insatiable Olokun...when she isn't helping the Orisa gather the bodies of those fallen overboard from the Slave Trade, just as she one collected the souls of those unfortunates for Yemoja. And all the while she pines for the sun, for her fellow Mami Wata, for the humans and others she met on land....and Kola most of all, the human boy she saved and began to love.

But fate will drive Simi away from the depths of the Ocean once more, as her actions in stopping Esu, and in using Olokun to do it, may have released an even greater danger: the Ajogun, the anti-gods of death, destruction and misery, whose return to the world means the end of all. Only the offerings of Esu can keep them imprisoned...but Simi's actions have kept Esu away from this task, and the Tapa tribe, led by an ambitious woman with magical power, has begun to channel the powers of the Ajogun in hopes of conquering the people Simi once was part of and cared about...and are hastening the Ajogun's return in the process.

To stop the Ajogun and save those she loved once more, Simi will need not just to reunite with those she grew close to, and to Kola, once more. She'll need to do the unthinkable: work with the trickster Orisa who once tried to destroy her and her friends in his ambition and greed, before the Ajogun are released and it is too late to seal them away once more.....

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Soul of the Deep continues Simi's story after the stunning cliffhanger of Skin of the Sea, with Simi having sacrificed herself, and her chances at happiness with Kola, his family, or even with her fellow Mami Wata and Yemoja, all to save the day by pledging herself to Olokun. Most YA readers will be unsurprised to know she doesn't stay pinned to that fate and that she will in this book reunite with both groups, particuarly Kola, the boy she has feelings for, and of course that does happen here - and the book to its credit doesn't make the reader wait too long to have it happen.

And while that element is predictable, as well as other character elements, the book does a good job with it all playing out and with its character development. Simi's struggle between all the people and places to which she is pledged, and her TREMENDOUS guilt towards all the pain that has been at least tangentially caused by her actions, makes her a tremendously sympathetic heroine, even as she does need to learn not all guilt should lie with her and that she can't quite do everything alone. Other characters like Kola similarly have changed with the addition of new responsibilities and hurts as a result of what has happened due to the last book, and how the book has them and Simi interact is really well done.

Also realy well done is how the book uses its setting, slave trade Africa, where the Oyinbo (White Slave-dealing Europeans) are a constant threat, where certain African tribes are making use of them and aiding them while pillaging the other tribes they think of as weaker, and where innocents get caught up in horrifying fates. Most of this book features a conflict between such tribes, as one tribe is led by a leader who wants to prove her power and worthiness (especially against ignorant male leaders) via the power of the Ajogun, the demonic-like being of the Yoruba religion, who form the antagonists of our story and that's really well done. Similarly, the use of other creatures and beings from African myth is again extremely fascinating and well done for a second time around...even as those creatures and beings are now far darker than the usually pleasant versions we saw in the first book. The result is a setting and plot that generally works really well.

That said, not everything does work so well. While some of the predictableness of the plot didn't bother me, the book features one twist of a character betrayal that the reader will spot a mile away, especially after it pulls the annoying trope of having one character try to warn the heroine about it only for the heroine to cut that warning off before it can be fully made - and that twist being so predictable was kind of annoying given it's still played as a surprise. And while the ending features an internal reveleation that is a fitting move for Simi's character, it comes rather abruptly in her internal monologue, and I felt like it needed more time to be considered before Simi makes the choice that ends this book.

But overall Soul of the Deep is an excellent second novel in this world, and if we continue with a third book, I will very much be back. Very solid and recommended YA.

Just as spellbinding as the first novel. Simi continues to astound with her grace, compassion, and courage, and strength. The perfect ending for a beautiful story.

So the first book in a series was a bit difficult to get into, but I’m so excited to have read the second book because it was definitely more engaging than the first one.