In Sea Witch, Evie is best friends with a prince and has caught the eye of another prince. But the townsfolk are mean-hearted and whisper constantly about why the lowly daughter of a fisherman is spending so much time in noble company. Evie is also battling tremendous amounts of guilt and loneliness from the drowning of her childhood friend Anna. Then one day, a woman who looks like a grown-up Anna shows up.
This book is advertised as the back story of Ursula, the villain from The Little Mermaid. But what we get is mostly a tale about friendships, young love, and class differences. At times, it feels like the book is conflicted about what tale it's trying to tell, with so much personal drama going on between each pair of characters. But for all that, the vast majority of this book, up to the very end, moves quite slowly with hardly any action or forward progress.
This is definitely a book that could have benefited from some aggressive editing to tighten up the story and remove unnecessary filler. But there was enough in here to keep me intrigued and reading. And once we get towards the end, the pacing picks up and everything is resolved satisfactorily. I especially enjoyed the epilogue, which ties this story back to the classic fairy tale.
I had a hard time rating this book. The majority of it was just ok, but the epilogue pulled it into the enjoyable category for me. While it's not my favorite retelling of The Little Mermaid, I think it's entertaining enough, assuming you're a reader who could enjoy a slow take on the classic tale.
Readaroo Rating: 3 stars
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