Song of the Sea by Deborah Grace White
Clean/Royal Fantasy
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Song of the Sea: A Little Mermaid Retelling (Singer Tales #2) by Deborah Grace White
5 STARS, Clean Royal Fantasy, My format: paperback
Goodreads Synopsis | Buy on BookShop
Reviews in series: #1 Song of Ebony
Estelle is the youngest mermaid daughter of an underwater empire and her deepest desire is to be able to see the surface of the ocean. Demetrius is one of the youngest members of the royal guard and he feels drawn to following and protecting Estelle as she takes her impulsive adventures.
Personal Review:
This was so delightfully magical.
I'm sitting in an afterglow of song magic, sparkly scales, and stone-faced men getting in touch with their sentimental sides.
The start of this book was a little slow for me but it took me about 150 pages to figure where I knew Prince Farrin from (how did I miss that!!!!) and when Estelle, our heroine, and Demetrius, the hero, make it to land, things start to pick up.
THEN the last half-ish of the book when Estelle and Demetrius are a couple years older, I could not put this book down. It was so sweet, such a clever twist on Little Mermaid, and I absolutely love how it was tied to Book 1.
Estelle is portrayed well. Ariel in The Little Mermaid can be really annoying so I was happy to see much of the story from Estelle's point of view and her kind of innocent attitude towards wanting to live on land instead of in the water. I also really appreciate how much she matured as she came to adulthood, but she still didn't lose her desires. And even though her earlier impulsive choices came with some negative side effects, she sort of grew into it and I thought that was lovely.
Demetrius is a great no-business character. I love that he has a strong presence but also is not completely certain of his ability. I thought it was so sweet that he had a growth process of understanding his own merit as a person...or merman. His character was a great contrast to Farrin, and the fact that the 2 men are both strong and sweet in their own ways and can get along well is a lovely thing to see.
To top it all off, this book is squeaky clean. I cannot wait to read more books from this world.
Content Warnings:
there are a couple of scenes that involve kissing, evil magic, and killing, but everything is handled very tastefully and so well done I think a young YA audience could read this fine