by Margo Lanagan
Hardcover, 320 pages
Expected publication: September 11th 2012 by Knopf Books for Young Readers (first published January 10th 2012)
ISBN 0375869190 (ISBN13: 9780375869198)


Blurb

On remote Rollrock Island, men go to sea to make their livings—and to catch their wives.

The witch Misskaella knows the way of drawing a girl from the heart of a seal, of luring the beauty out of the beast. And for a price a man may buy himself a lovely sea-wife. He may have and hold and keep her. And he will tell himself that he is her master. But from his first look into those wide, questioning, liquid eyes, he will be just as transformed as she. He will be equally ensnared. And the witch will have her true payment.

Margo Lanagan weaves an extraordinary tale of desire, despair, and transformation. With devastatingly beautiful prose, she reveals characters capable of unspeakable cruelty, but also unspoken love.

The Good

  1. The cover.  Seriously, does this not make you want to read this book? So beautiful!

  2. The mermaids.  This is really the best mermaid book I’ve ever laid hands on. The mermaid magic and rules are wonderfully unique, although I would have appreciated a little bit of man-eating. The predicament of the sea-women is compelling and sad and just perfect.

  3. The writing.  The writing is not typical, and some may not like it, but I loved it. Those who enjoy poetry and classics will fall in love with Lanagan’s flowery, heartbreaking prose and find this story compulsively readable.

  4. The structure.  The novel is a set of short first-person narratives that alternate point of view. I generally enjoy these types of novels anyway, but what made this one even better was that the narratives are linked, allowing the reader to switch views and get completely new information, sometimes in a completely different time period, without feeling lost or disoriented.


The Bad

  1. Losing steam.  While I love this book and I do love all the stories, I felt like they lost steam toward the end of the novel. It wasn’t that they were any less compelling narratives, they just felt slower somehow.


Overall Rating

One of the best books I have read this year, definitely top 10. The writing was beautiful and the narratives heartbreakingly perfect.