The Mermaid, The Witch, and The Sea

Cover Image

Description

Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. For Flora, former starving urchin, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don’t trust, don’t stick out, and don’t feel. But on this voyage, as the pirates prepare to sell their unsuspecting passengers into slavery, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is en route to a dreaded arranged marriage with her own casket in tow. Flora doesn’t expect to be taken under Evelyn’s wing, and Evelyn doesn’t expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian.

Soon the unlikely pair set in motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood, which causes men to have visions and lose memories) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, and the all-encompassing Sea itself.

Press

An NPR Book Concierge Best of 2020 Selection

A School Library Journal Best YA of 2020 Selection

A Book Page Best of YA 2020 Selection

A Kirkus Reviews Best YA 2020 Selection

A Tor.Com Best of SFF, YA and Horror 2020 Selection

A Goodreads Staffer Top 3 Books of 2020 Selection

A 2020 Golden Poppy Mirrors and Windows Award Winner

★ “Careful prose juxtaposes gentleness and brutality, contrasting the tender emotions between Flora/Florian and Evelyn and the violence of a pirate’s life… Absolutely enthralling.”
-Kirkus, Starred Review

★ “A strikingly original and accomplished debut, The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea reads like an undiscovered classic with impressively modern flair.”
-Book Page, Starred Review

★ “Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Also an Octopus) has crafted a brooding, magical adventure with a healthy dose of intrigue. Her prose is delightful, by turns delicate and brutal, as her plot demands.”
-Shelf Awareness, Starred Review

“Colonialism and misogyny are seen for what they are. The complex plot concludes with a colossal showdown…Comfortable with same-sex romance (pretty chaste) and lots of carnage (knives out), savvy teens will cheer on these sheroes. Victims they are not, ultimately assisted by magic and empowered to set their own course.”
-The San Francisco Chronicle

“The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is a remarkable novel and hands down one of the best of the year.”
-Tor.Com

“An epic tale of survival, romance, mysticism, violence, loyalty, and resilience. It's also a perfect blend of substance and escapism…The utterly immersive and imaginative story will carry even the most YA-resistant adult into its waters.”
-Shondaland

“Tokuda-Hall aptly explores themes of gender identity and misogyny while illustrating colonialism’s horrors, in which even children must steal from and harm each other to survive.”
-Publisher’s Weekly

“Not just mermaids, a witch, and the sea, Tokuda-Hall also covers pirates, double agents, and the lure of forgetting… this is a dark and creative story, laced with romance, and not for the faint of heart.”
-School Library Journal

“Readers will easily warm up to the tenacious protagonists as they grapple with identity, discover themselves, and stop at nothing short of freedom.”
-Booklist

Blurbs

“The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea will take you on the journey of a lifetime. Maggie Tokuda-Hall has created characters I’ve never seen before, then put them in an adventure that feels more real than real life and twice as unpredictable. I wanted to live in the world of this book forever, and I can’t stop obsessing about the rich tapestry of pirates, mermaids, witches, and conniving nobles who inhabit it. The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea might just remind you of why you fell in love with adventure in the first place and change how you think about the genre forever. I envy anyone who’s getting to experience this incredible book for the first time.”
—Charlie Jane Anders, author of the Nebula Award–winning novel All the Birds in the Sky

“An utterly romantic and breathless adventure that wouldn’t let me sleep until I’d devoured every last word. It’s a journey of love, magic, and self-discovery unlike any I’ve ever read.”
—Dahlia Adler, author of Under the Lights and editor of His Hideous Heart

"Arrrrr you ready for the swashbuckling, gorgeous, action-packed world of The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea? I’ve been in love with Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s writing for a long time, and I’m thrilled that you get to fall in love with it, too. A stunning fantasy that breaks all the rules—and hearts—in the best of ways."
—Sara Farizan, author of Here to Stay and If You Could Be Mine

“The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is a beautiful confrontation of a book. Maggie Tokuda-Hall explores the cost of violence from every conceivable angle, trusting the reader to follow her intricate story and the complicated characters who inhabit it. Everything has a price, and every adventure takes its toll. The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea asks what parts of ourselves we’re willing to sacrifice, and who we’re willing to sacrifice them for.”
—Sarah Gailey, author of Magic for Liars and When We Were Magic