Sparrowhawk #1 by Delilah S. Dawson – #ARC #GraphicNovel #Review

Goodreads: Sparrowhawk #1
Publish date: 20 August 2019
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Genre: Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Comic
Rating:

Teen Victorian fairy fight club! As the illegitimate daughter of a Naval Captain, Artemesia has never fit in with her father’s family, nor the high class world to which they belong. However, when she is targeted by the Faerie Queen and pulled into another realm, she has no choice but to try and save the world that has always hated her. Writer Delilah S. Dawson (Hellboy: An Assortment of Horror, Star Wars: Forces of Destiny) and artist Matias Basla (The Claw and Fang) present a beautiful, gripping tale perfect for fans of Labyrinth and Princeless. 

Sparrowhawk is a fast paced, well drawn comic. The artwork is full of bold colors although the style itself is not one that I’m usually drawn to or prefer. That said, I thought it suited the strangeness of this story. I liked the artwork on the chapter/title pages more than I did the artwork throughout the comic, but I loved the contrast of the colorful against the brutal, gruesome and dark faerie world story. The plot itself reminded me of elements of Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland, which the author also mentioned as her inspiration in the afterword.

I found the story interesting. Artemesia is the daughter of a colonizer and a slave woman who grew up in a family that was cruel and didn’t want her. After being forced into a situation she doesn’t want to be in, Art finds herself being pulled into the faerie realm, having been replaced by the Faerie Queen in her world. In faerie, Art meets a demonic bunny (reminiscent of the cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland) who makes a pact to help her get back home, in exchange for one of Art’s memories. Art must go through faerie slaying monstrosities in order to get back home, and along the way she encounters both the good and evil creatures of faerie, including the gentle faerie prince, whom she falls in love with. How far will she go to get back home?

Art was a strong willed character who was fiercely determined to go home. Her transformation from a thoughtful human, to a monster who enjoys killing as much as any unseelie, was disturbing. It begs the question: how far would you go to do what you think is right, even if it turns you into someone who you don’t like. The side characters were all very interesting as well and although he was an evil, twisted thing I really enjoyed the demonic bunny’s character.

I liked the sinister vibes of the ending and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next and how Art will deal with the repercussions of her actions.

Thanks to NetGalley and BOOM! Studios for providing the e-ARC for an honest review.
Have you read Sparrowhawk? Loved it? Hated it? Meh about it? Come let me know in the comments and let’s chat!

#WWWWednesday: 14 August

It’s time for another WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be talking about:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

What did you read last?

So… I did manage to finish reading two books: Party Weekend (Sweet Valley High #143) by Francine Pascal and A Random Act of Kindness by Sophie Jenkins. SVH was short and I read it pretty quickly, and while A Random Act of Kindness wasn’t particularly long, it took me a good four days to finish! This book slump though, am I right?! BUT two books is definitely better than no books, so I’m just going to keep pushing my way through this! Reviews for both coming soon(ish).

What are you currently reading?

I’M READING NOTHING!!!

Well, I’m still trying to find the next book that’ll stick for me after finishing A Random Act two days ago… It’s not going so well, but there’s one thing I haven’t tried yet and that’s switching genres. So I’m going to be attempting to read a few thrillers. I’m hoping one will stick! I’m looking at: Two Can Keep A Secret by Karen M. McManus, Truly Devious (Truly Devious #1) by Maureen Johnson and TH1RT3EN (Eddie Flynn #4) by Steve Cavanagh (because YAY for finishing another overdue ARC)!

What will you read next?

I’m hoping that in the spirit of ARC August I’ll be able to get to a few more of these overdue ARCs before the month passes me by! I mean, how are we already in the double digits of this month?! I mean, what? 😒

What are you currently reading? Leave me a comment and let’s chat 🙂

#TopTenTuesday: Book Characters I’d Love to Be Besties With

It’s that time of the week again, friends! We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: book characters I’d love to be besties with (submitted by Michelle @ Pink Polka Dot Blog). Fun! There are so many bookish characters that I’d love to be besties with, but these are the first ones that popped into my head!

Tanner Scott from Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
Tanner is one of the ultimate cinnamon rolls and I think being besties with him would be so awesome. Not only is he a reader (and a writer, duh), but he’s funny, sweet and so caring.

Elisabeth, Nathaniel and Silas from Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
I know I should probably just pick one of these characters, but honestly, they’re like the Three Musketeers and I can’t imagine being besties with one without expecting to become besties with the others too! I love these characters so much!

Hannah Martin from Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Hannah Martin is just like me in so many ways. I think we’d be able to relate on so many levels.

Jessica Pan, author of Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come
Jessica Pan is a real person but she’s featured in her memoir, which I loved, so this totally counts, right? Honestly, I’d love to be besties with Jessica Pan because not only is she absolutely hilarious but I feel like we’d get on well because we’re both (sh)introverts and going through a lot of similar things people in their early 30s go through? Lol I’m not tryna be creepy though 🙈

Hazel from Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
Hazel is hands down one of the most hilarious and unapologetic characters I’ve had the pleasure to read. She’s loud, she’s clumsy, she’s always into doing her own thing, even when everyone else thinks it’s weird, but she does it anyway. I think we’d have the best time hanging out!

Mateo Torrez from They Both Die At the End by Adam Silvera
Mateo is so freaking pure. He’s so selfless and I just want to protect him at all costs. What better way to do that than by being his bestie!?

Knightly Brothers from That Second Chance (Getting Lucky #1) by Meghan Quinn
As much as I’d love to find myself in a relationship with either one of these amazing brothers who believe in a crazy love curse, I also really love their very different personalities and their hilarious banter. Although I’d probably get teased and pranked to no end, they’d be so much fun to hang with!

Lois Clary from Sourdough by Robin Sloan
I really love how passionate Lois is about everything and I admire how she dives into even the most unprecedented things and fights her way through to the other side. She’s so full of life and energy, plus she makes a really mean sourdough! We’d have awesome adventures in San Francisco!

The Illuminae Files Gang from The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Um, do I really need to have a reason why being besties with ALL OF THEM would be so fun? I love all their personalities and I mean, tbh, if I were going to be living in space, and finding myself fighting crazy battles for survival, these are the people I’d trust to keep me safe lol

Raymond from Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
I loved Raymond so much. He has the biggest heart and to be honest, he kind of reminds me of a bestie I lost several years ago to a horrible freak accident. I think being besties with Raymond would bring so much warmth and comfort into my life.

What characters would you want to be besties with? Would you wanna be friends with any of these characters? If you’ve also done a TTT for today, don’t forget to leave your links in the comment and let’s chat 🙂

Who Am I Book Tag

A few weeks ago, Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads tagged me to do this fun tag and I’m just now getting around to answering it! I love tags (y’all can tag me in all the tags!) but I’m quite horrible at making time to answer them (and it always takes me a while to think of the answers, I’m slow like that)! I’m glad I’ve finally gotten around to answering this one.


If you were a book genre, what would it be?

I’d probably be a contemporary, and most probably a contemporary romance because I’m a hopeless romantic. A big one! Despite going through the wringer and having all the bad luck when it comes to love myself, I’m still a fan of the mushy, gushy stuff and I’m one of those people that normally don’t mind having romance storylines in whatever I read (most of the time). I live for unrealistic expectations and being swept off my metaphorical feet!

What villain from a book do you identify with the most?

I always have such a hard time answering these types of questions. I’m going to go and say Victor Vale from Vicious (Villains #1) by V.E. Schwab, but also, Holland Vosijk from Schwab’s Shades of Magic series.

What protagonist are you most similar to?

It’d be too difficult to choose just one character I’m most similar to, but the first one that pops into my head is Hannah Martin from Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I resonated with so much of what Hannah felt, thought and experienced.

“I think I have to believe that life will work out the way it needs to. If everything that happens in the world is just a result of chance and there’s no rhyme or reason to any of it, that’s just too chaotic for me to handle. I’d have to go around questioning every decision I’ve ever made, every decision I will ever make. If our fate is determined with every step we take . . . it’s too exhausting. I’d prefer to believe that things happen as they are meant to happen.” 

Which book did you connect with in the past that you no longer do?

There are actually a lot that I don’t connect with anymore but I think the biggest ones might be Twilight and Divergent. To be honest, my disconnect with Twilight really happened with all the movies. I mean no offense to anyone who loved the movie(s), but that was the first and only movie that caused me to walk out of the cinema LOL 🙈it just really wasn’t my jam. I never watched the Divergent movies for that reason. There are also a lot of romances that I used to read and love with all the angst in my 5’1″ body, but when I think of them now I cringe so hard!

What recent book would you love to be a character in?

I would love to experience the magic of the grimoires and the Great Libraries from Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson. Also, I’d just totally love to meet Elisabeth, Nathaniel and Silas. I’d be terrified but simultaneously excited by the prospect of stepping into one of these places. Knowing my luck though, I’d probably be hypnotised and lured in by some Class 8 grimoire that gruesomely kills me, but you know, I just want to have the experience of seeing and feeling these books come to life! 🤷🏻‍♀️

How do your reading habits show off in your personality?

I tend to get intensely stuck in the zone when I’m reading and I think that definitely shows off in my personality. Also, even though I tend to gravitate towards certain genres because they’re in my comfort zone, I’m also not averse to trying a wide variety or something completely new, and I think that’s similar to how approach most of the things in life!

What book taught you something about yourself?

There’s really not one book that I can pinpoint for this answer. I think that I take something away from all the books that I read, including the fantasy ones! There are just too many books that I’ve read in my lifetime that have taught me something for me to choose one. Shameless self-promotion: I did post about books that have shaped me the other day, so you can check that out here if you’re curious to see it!


I’m tagging a few friends (no pressure if you don’t do tags by the way, just ignore me!) but to whoever is reading this, if you want to do it too, feel free to join!
Amanda | Emer | Joanna | Sammie | YOU!

Goodreads Monday – 12 August

It’s time for another Goodreads Monday, a weekly meme started by @Lauren’s Page Turners that invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you’re feeling it! I think from this week’s post onward, I will use a random number generator to choose the books for this weekly meme!

This week the random number generator picked #621 on my GR ‘to-read’ list, and the books is: Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan. Although this is #621 in a list of over 900 books, this is actually one of my more ‘recent-ish’ adds to my tbr, since I added it in December 2018! I guess I really add books quickly on GR don’t I? 😅This book has a rating of: 3.63 stars.

Anna Kerrigan, nearly twelve years old, accompanies her father to visit Dexter Styles, a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family. She is mesmerized by the sea beyond the house and by some charged mystery between the two men.

‎Years later, her father has disappeared and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that once belonged to men, now soldiers abroad. She becomes the first female diver, the most dangerous and exclusive of occupations, repairing the ships that will help America win the war. One evening at a nightclub, she meets Dexter Styles again, and begins to understand the complexity of her father’s life, the reasons he might have vanished.

With the atmosphere of a noir thriller, Egan’s first historical novel follows Anna and Styles into a world populated by gangsters, sailors, divers, bankers, and union men. Manhattan Beach is a deft, dazzling, propulsive exploration of a transformative moment in the lives and identities of women and men, of America and the world.

Why do I want to read it?

I’m pretty sure that I added this to my GR TBR after talking to my sister one day. She offhandedly mentioned that if I was looking for a book to read, one of her close friends had just finished reading Manhattan Beach and highly recommended it, so I should check it out too! I’m a big lover of historical fiction, I love being transported to past times, and when a mystery involving gangsters and divers and other intriguing elements, is thrown into the mix, I knew that I wanted to read this! If I’m not mistaken, this book won the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Fiction, so that’s also pretty cool. I’m definitely still keen to read this one and I’m looking forward to picking it up!

Have you read Manhattan Beach or is it also on your TBR?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and let’s chat books
!

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [17]

Friends, how is it already practically the middle of August? How? What? When? Now we’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

After finishing This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel on Friday I found myself feeling very restless and unable to pick up another book. These are classic signs of a book slump for me and I’m sad to admit that I’m still undecided about my next read! I keep looking (read: gazing longingly) at the many books I have on my shelves and TBR carts, and I keep going back and forth between a few that I want to pick up, but when I start reading, I find myself woefully distracted by another book. I’ve also been distracted by my ARC August TBR list, which I haven’t even made the smallest of dents in! The fact that it’s already mid-August and I haven’t even really started an ARC has me feeling a little stressed out 😰 Welp. But I’m hoping to shake off this feeling in the coming week and hopefully finish (at least) one book! Here’s a list of the books that I started this weekend. Have you read any of these? What do you think I should continue with right now? A Random Act of Kindness is an ARC and Sweet Valley High is for one of my Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge prompts!

What are you currently reading?

This week and weekend has been a bit of a mad time! My parents and sister were visiting me in Bali and so I spent a lot of my time after work hanging out with them and driving them around places. It was really nice to have them here, but I definitely realized how much I appreciate some quiet time alone to decompress and read! I barely read anything at all when they were here! Of course, it’s nice to take a break from reading sometimes and perhaps with how I’ve been feeling like a book slump’s coming on, it was a good thing for me to focus on other things for a while. I’m hoping that I can finally pick and stick to a book this week! For how busy this week/end was, I think I did pretty alright with my blogging, although I still have a fair few reviews from July to catch up on! I’m hoping I’ll be able to catch up a bit this coming week. On that note, here’s a list of my posts from this week, in case you missed out!

Review: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Top 5 Saturday: Books about Assassins
Friday Favorites: Books that Define You
Review: The Surface Breaks by Louise O’Neill
Review: A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
#WWWWednesday: 07 August
#TopTenTuesday: Cover (Re)Designs That I Love/Hate
ARC August TBR
Goodreads Monday: 05 August

How has your reading and blogging week been?
Come let me know in the comments and let’s have a chat 🙂

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo – #BookReview

Goodreads: The Poet X
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary, Poetry
Rating:

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.

So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent. 

An honest and beautiful book written in a unique format about a young woman finding herself and her place a world that tells her she’s too much or not enough through the art of spoken word poetry. Would 100% recommend listening to the audiobook while following along with the book!

This was my first time reading a novel in this format, poetry, and while it made it a really unique, enjoyable and fast read, I also felt a little disconnected to many of the characters, except Xiomara. Of course, this was her story. Her thoughts and emotions come through very strongly through Acevedo’s writing and what made me appreciate the style more was listening to it being read by the author on audiobook (which I followed along to with the physical book). The author herself is a spoken word poet and I loved that this was the something that Xiomara was so passionate about. Following Xio’s journey of finding herself through poetry, navigating first love with Aman, maintaining the close bond with her twin Xavier and her best friend Caridad, and dealing with the tumultuous relationship with her extremely pious mother was a very intimate experience.

“And I think about all the things we could be if we were never told our bodies were not built for them.” 

There are a lot of issues tackled within this story and considering it’s told in verse, I thought that they were explored well. Xiomara is a very empowering, driven and smart character who was trying so hard to find her place and where she fit in a society where she has been over sexualized and objectified, and made to feel not good enough. She has for so long let her fists do her talking for her until the day she discovers slam poetry. The way she slowly comes to understand how she sees the world, where she fits in the world, and grows to find beauty in her skin through the power of spoken word poetry is so very beautiful.

“When has anyone ever told me
I had the right to stop it all
without my knuckles, or my anger,
with just some simple words.”

That said, I found the ending quite rushed. After the big incident at her house where the story reached a very heartbreaking and infuriating climax, I thought the issues between Xio and her mother were resolved very quickly and not in a very satisfying way. I was hoping for it to be hashed out a bit more, and although we experience some of the process, it felt like a “too clean” resolution; especially when the tension and misunderstanding was so high, only for everything to be good again in a short time. Especially when this conflict between the two women was such a big part of the story. I wished we’d gotten to really see how Xiomara and her mother came to terms with their vast differences because what happened between them was big and slightly frightening. While I love a happy ending (and maybe I’m just too jaded for saying this lol) this was such a picture perfect one that it felt a little unrealistic.

“I only know that learning to believe in the power of my own words has been the most freeing experience of my life. It has brought me the most light. And isn’t that what a poem is? A lantern glowing in the dark.” 

Another thing that disappointed me just a little was that we never got to see the poem that she recited at the final show. This is just my gripe but I was so excited to read what she spoke about and I was honestly really sad that we didn’t get to experience it.

“Late into the night I write and the pages of my notebook swell from all the words I’ve pressed onto them. 
It almost feels like the more I bruise the page the quicker something inside me heals.” 

Overall though, this was a beautifully told story and I think it’s one that many young women who don’t feel comfortable in their skin, or who are still looking for a way to fit in as they are, will be able to relate to and feel empowered by. Did I mention that this was extremely quotable? I’m very keen to read more from Acevedo!

Have you read The Poet X? Loved it? Hated it? Felt ‘meh’ about it?
Leave me a comment below and let’s chat!

Top 5 Saturday: Books about Assassins

It’s time for another Top 5 Saturday, a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books and this week’s topic is: books about assassins. I love a good book focused on assassins, but I realize that I’ve got more of these books on my TBR than ones I’ve actually read. I don’t know if these are the only four books that I’ve read about assassins (probably not) but they are favorites, so book five will be a bonus book that’s currently on my TBR and will hopefully no longer be on it after this month!

The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan
I think this was one of the first adult fantasy novels that I ever picked up and it was so good! I didn’t expect to be so sucked into the world and to become so attached to the characters. Royce & Hadrian are as different as they come but they complement each other so well. I’m keen to read more of them in the Riyria Chronicles 🙂

Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas
Throne of Glass is my favorite of Maas’ two series, even though I find that a lot more people liked ACOTAR more. There was a lot of intense romance in this as well, but I loved the world building and characters more in this series than in the other. I always thought Celaena was a pretty sweet as assassin who really lived up to her kickass reputation!

Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson
This was my first introduction to Sanderson and it was the series that bumped him onto my auto buy and favorite author list. This is truly an epic but it is incredible adult fantasy–his world building, characters and magic in this series are just amazing!

Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo
The characters in SoC are thieves and badasses. They’re the rebels and misfit and together they undertake an insane and dangerous mission to infiltrate a fortress. The world building is amazing and the magic system is also really cool.

BONUS: Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicle #1) by Jay Kristoff
I’ve been hearing a whole lot about this adult fantasy series about a ‘fledgling killer’ who attends a school of assassins by Kristoff! I don’t know why I haven’t read it yet but I’m looking forward to starting it soon. I’m excited to read my first book written by Kristoff, since I’ve only read his collabos with Kaufman (but have seriously loved both series they’ve done together)!

What are your favorite books with assassins? Do you have favorite assassins? Let me know in the comments and let’s chat!

Friday Favorites: Books That Define You

Hi friends! It’s time for another Friday Favorites hosted by Kibby @ Something of the Book! This weekly meme is where you get to share a list of all your favorites based on the list of prompts on Kibby’s page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: favorite books that define you. Since this week has been so super busy with family time after office hours I’m going to keep this one really short. Here are the books that come to mind when I think of reads that have impacted my life in some way. Some have made appreciate the privileged life I lead more. Some have made me consider how I see the world and what role I can play in making it ‘better’ place to live. Some have made me question my own thoughts and opinions. Some have got me through some really hard times. Some have fuelled my love for books and magic. All I have learned so much from in one way or another.

What are some of your favorite books that define you? Would any of these make your list? Leave me a comment below and let’s chat!

The Surface Breaks by Louise O’Neill – #BookReview

Goodreads: The Surface Breaks
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retelling
Rating:

Deep beneath the sea, off the cold Irish coast, Gaia is a young mermaid who dreams of freedom from her controlling father. On her first swim to the surface, she is drawn towards a human boy. She longs to join his carefree world, but how much will she have to sacrifice? What will it take for the little mermaid to find her voice? Hans Christian Andersen’s original fairy tale is reimagined through a searing feminist lens, with the stunning, scalpel-sharp writing and world building that has won Louise her legions of devoted fans. A book with the darkest of undercurrents, full of rage and rallying cries: storytelling at its most spellbinding.

A dark feminist fairytale retelling of the beloved Little Mermaid. If you’re expecting something like the Disney movie, you’ve definitely picked up the wrong book! O’Neill’s writing hooked me (hah) from the start and had me rooting for the character I least expected!

Here is another Rusalka made. Another human woman set on fire by an insatiable man, needing to swallow the sea so she can douse the flames in her heart. She will lament her fate for the next three hundred years. She will sing sailors to their graves for her vengeance. And despite everything that I have been told about the Salkas, despite the fact that they killed my Uncle Manannán and drove my mother into the arms of the Sea King, I would not blame her.

Well, this book was certainly not what I expected. Growing up, I had always loved the Little Mermaid best out of all the Disney movies. The music was fun, Ariel was beautiful, her voice was magical and of course, Prince Eric was handsome (dat smile tho)! Even as an adult I still enjoy the movie – mostly for the music, but also for the nostalgia of those childhood days. I had never read the original Hans Christian Anderson story though, but thanks to a circulating Buzzfeed article on the original stories behind Disney classics, I knew it was dark. So when I started this book, I had that half in mind, but also the Disney version I love so much. Still, I don’t think I was ready for how dark this retelling would be!

Louise O’Neill paints a bleak story of a radically patriarchal kingdom of merfolk, where mermaids are meant as mere things that obey the every word of mermen and that whatever the merman says, goes. As Gaia escapes this oppressive world she has grown up in, she comes to find that in the human world, women are also ignored and thought of as weak creatures who are only appreciated by men for their looks and “open legs”. It was instilled by her father, the Sea King, that women are only good for their beauty and their ability to obey and be quiet, so it is no surprise that she believes the same of men on the surface. Sadly, it is this that gets the boulder rolling downhill, leading to the dire situation she finds herself in as the book progresses. It is a stark allegory of our society and I think extremely relevant, especially considering the rising discourse today. How far we have to go on that front…

She’s crazy, we used to say about maids in the kingdom who pursued mer-men relentlessly… I’m beginning to wonder that if, when we call a woman crazy, we should take a look at the man by her side, and guess at what he has done to drive her to insanity.

When I read that this was a feminist retelling of the classic I was wondering what that’d look like and the further I read, the more I appreciated how O’Neill weaved the feminist conversation into the story. The oft-repeated female trope of pitting women against each other is also present in the story, perpetrated by Gaia and other female characters against her; no surprise, considering how much men/masculinity is revered in ‘their’ world. Gaia wasn’t a very convincing feminist main character for a good portion of the book and only grew into it at the very end. She spent the majority of the story blinded to the reality that she seemed to recognize was wrong, only to push it aside because of her desperation to make a man-boy love her. It was a little frustrating but there’s no denying that O’Neill did a great job of capturing the restlessness and naïveté of a young girl on the cusp of womanhood. That said, I do wish that there was more of an ending. I felt like the climax and the conclusion were one and the same, so just as I thought we’d see more fight and fierce-woman action from Gaia, the story ended. It was rushed and a little unsatisfying. So much of the story was filled with pining for a boy, a failed love story in a sense, and the story only began to strengthen when the Sea Witch, Ceto, reappeared at the end. Who, by the way, ended up being my favorite character in this book!

“Your religion should help you make the decision if you find yourself in that situation, but the policy should exist for you to have the right to make it in the first place. 
When you say you can’t do something because your religion forbids it, that’s a good thing. When you say I can’t do something because YOUR religion forbids it, that’s a problem.”

Although she went about it in her characteristically evil way, and yes, it was wrong… Ceto was actually empowering and I feel she was the only “true feminist” of the whole book. If O’Neill made a book about Ceto, I’d definitely read it!

Overall, this book really took me by surprise. It was a fairly quick but enjoyable read (even though it had big text which I’m not a fan of, yes I’m one of those people that like small text!). The story certainly didn’t shy away from the brutality and anger, but also the passion, strength and love that make this society. Alas, the cute Disney love story was eclipsed by one of the desperate longing of a confused girl filled with wanderlust, who has spent her lifetime searching for answers and fighting all she has known to find her true self. The Little Mermaid will certainly never be the same again.

Also, MAJOR COVER APPRECIATION! Not only are the colors and the details in the artwork of the sleeve beautifully done but the naked cover of the hardback is just as beautiful too with a scale design. Every time my eye passes over where it sits on my bookshelf I just want to pick it up and stare at it because it’s so gorgeous!

Have you read The Surface Breaks? Loved it? Hated it? Felt ‘meh’ about it? Leave me a comment below and let’s chat!