Uptown Oracle Reads… Sea Witch

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Sea Witch
Sarah Henning

Everyone knows what happens in the end. A mermaid, a prince, a true love’s kiss. But before that young siren’s tale, there were three friends. One feared, one royal, and one already dead. Ever since Anna drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch. A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. As the two girls catch the eyes of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after. But her new friend has secrets of her own. Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain.

Sea Witch is a great origin story/prequel to the Little Mermaid. We find out how the sea witch comes to be evil and how the past repeats itself. I found the actual story to be unique, and I was always trying to figure out how it got the end and how we already know the Sea Witch. There’s an unfortunate slow start, and I wasn’t quite sure where it was heading until very late on. However, once it picks up it was a surprisingly good story which had me hooked. 

Evie’s character was okay. Just okay. She wasn’t particularly special apart from her having magic, and this wasn’t discussed much as where she lived wasn’t accepting of magic. I think I would have preferred a bit more magic to have been front and centre. Evie’s romance plot was strange as well, I didn’t understand her attraction and felt that it couldn’t possibly end up in happily ever after from the start. Actually both of the romance plot lines weren’t great as they felt rushed and didn’t have much development.

The male characters, the two princes, don’t feel important to the storyline and have very little depth as a whole. They were very typical, with one being the handsome one that gets all the girls, and the other being a nice guy that’s seen as a friend. The man focus was on the two girls which I felt was good, however I think some secondary characters did need some added personality. Annemette, however, had great development throughout the book. I love how she had clear motivations and goals and there was an air of mystery which drew me to her more than Evie. She kept me on my toes to realise what was going to happen.

It’s a prequel for the villain of The Little Mermaid, so you don’t expect a happily ever after but knowing the outcome didn’t stop me second guessing what was happening. The ending was bittersweet as we found out how the Sea Witch came to be, and It was a wonderful overall read.

Positives

+ Unique origin story
+ Female characters were at the forefront

Negatives

– Unimportant romance plot-lines

I received Sea Witch by Sarah Henning from the publisher via Edelweiss. This is an unbiased and honest review