Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Soul of the Deep by Natasha Bowen

Image: Penguin Random House

Soul of the Deep by Natasha Bowman. Of Mermaids and Orisa series #2. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~11 hours. Read by Betide Badaki. Books on Tape/ Listening Library, September, 2022. (Review of e-audio borrowed from the public library.)

Teen Tuesday features Soul of the Deep by Natasha Bowman. This sequel to Skin of the Sea picks right up and, to avoid any spoilers, I will be vague. The mermaid Simidele has made a promise in order to save the ones she loves and leaves them without explanation. She is now bound to the god Olokun, who in turn made a promise to release Esu, but he reneges on that promise. Without Esu forever binding the ajogun, these malevolent beings begin wreaking havoc on land and in the sea, threatening the entire world.

Both of these books are steeped in West African mythology and the world building is lush, vivid and cinematic. I continue to prefer reading books like these with my ears for the melodic delivery and proper pronunciation. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

Image: Penguin Random House

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~11 hours. Read by Yetide Badaki. Listening Library/ Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, November, 2021. (Review of downloadable e-audiobook borrowed from the public library.)

Happy Tuesday! Posting a tad late today because I needed to solve the Wordle entry. Do you Wordle? So much fun!

Teen Tuesday features a sparkling debut called Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen. During the time when large ships would arrive in West Africa to steal humans, Simi is a Mami Wata, a mermaid whose job it is to collect the souls of those who die in the sea and send them home. Simi is a restless mermaid, who often returns to the land in order to remember her life as a human. Once she returns to the sea, however, those memories fade. One day, she discovers a boy in the ocean, thrown overboard by one of those evil ships, and he is alive! She can't leave him to drown and, in saving him, has broken an ancient rule and angered the gods. Now, she must make amends and also help the boy, Colo, reunite with his family.

Ms. Bowen notes in her Author's Note that her favorite fairy tale when growing up was The Little Mermaid despite the fact that she did not see herself in it. Later, she learned of the existence of West African myths that described mermaids. This historical fiction/ mythology mash-up is the first book of a duology and I can't wait for the next one! I fell in love with Simi and Colo and the twins, I laughed and I cried. 

The West African setting is vivid and lush and the writing is gorgeous! I was glad that I read this one with my ears. It was narrated by a West African narrator so I learned the proper pronunciation of the names of the gods and human characters.

And isn't that cover just amazing? 

Audio Review: Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

Narrated by Katherine Kellgren. Unabridged audiobook on 7 CDS. 8 hours, 1 minute. Macmillan Audio, September, 2012. 9781427222176. (Audiobook obtained at Odyssey reception at ALA Annual)

This 2013 Odyssey Honor tells two stories seamlessly. In 1873, a young naturalist named Ezra Doyle discovers a mermaid named Syrenka during his journeys along the coast off Plymouth, Massachusetts. The two fall in love and meet secretly until they are discovered by a fisherman, whose nets happen to ensnare Syrenka. 

In modern-day Plymouth, seventeen-year-old Hester lives with the knowledge that all of her female relatives, her mother, grandmother and reaching back for generations have died within days of giving birth to their daughters. So Hester closed off her heart to the possibility of romance, choosing to ignore the signals that her best friend Peter is giving and hating the fact that she is hurting him. All her resolve weakens when she meets Ezra on the beach one night. It is through Ezra that Hester begins to piece together the beginnings of the curse that befell her family.

For some reason, I nearly abandoned this before the end of the first disk. I found either the performance or the language a bit overwrought. While I have loved most of Kellgren's performances, I wasn't a fan of her narration of the Kane Chronicles, so I may have brought some of that bias to this listening. I'm glad I stuck it out though because I was soon immersed in both worlds and very eager to learn the outcome. 

Kellgren seemed to dial back a bit and settle into what she does best, accents. Each character had a unique and distinct voice. I also thought the pacing was perfect. I wanted her to hurry up a bit, instead of feeling like I was being yanked along at a breathless pace. 

As mermaids stories go, I was glad that Elizabeth Fama kept hers "real." These were wild creatures with fangs and claws who hunt for subsistence. But the most jarring violence is the human reaction. Olaf, the fisherman brutally rapes Syrenka and impregnates her. It is mainly this scene which pushes the readership of this lovely, dark and tragic tale into high school though a mature and thoughtful eighth grader could handle it. 

The worldbuilding in both times is vivid. All the characters are so well drawn, even the minor ones. I so wanted more of the pastor and Peter. I've been to Plimouth Plantation three or four times because I help chaperon the seventh grade trip to Boston and there. I felt she captured the occasional awkwardness of the reactions of young teens well as well as describing the place and its juxtaposition in the real world.