Lezersrecensie
Slow, but enchanting
I listened to the audiobook of Sea Witch. The audiobook is narrated by Billie Fulford-Brown.
"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."
This is a book about three unlikely childhood friends; Evie, the witch and daughter of a fisherman - Nik, the crown prince of Havnestad and the Øresund Kingdoms - and Anna, the young girl who drowned four years ago.
The book is mostly centered around Evie's story. Evie is Nik's best friend, despite of their unequal social classes and the fact that Nik's mother - the Queen - disapproves of their friendship.
One day, Nik falls off his boat because of an unexpected heavy storm and he nearly drowns. Evie and Iker (Nik's cousin and Evie's crush) set out to rescue Nik, but when Evie gets to Nik she sees a girl hovering above him in the water. The girl has long blond hair and blue eyes, just like their friend Anna used to have. When Evie walks closer, the girl sees Evie and swims away. Evie is shocked to see a tail. Did she just see a mermaid?
Nik survives and a few days later a girl shows up in Havnestad. The girl resembles the mermaid and Anna. She introduces herself to Evie as Annamette. Why has she come to Havnestad and why does she look so much like Anna?
Sea Witch wasn't what I expected it to be. It's not so much a retelling of The Little Mermaid, as it is a story about friendship, love, betrayal and revenge. The retelling part is limited to the last 10% of the book. Also the story is a bit slow. The majority of the story is about the blossoming and unlikely love between Evie and Iker, the class differences, Annamette's crush on Nik.. Not much happens in the first half of the book.
But, although it was a slow-paced story, I did really enjoy listening to the audiobook. Sarah Henning combines the Anderson tale of The Little Mermaid with 19th century Denmark and Danish history. The characters and their motives are well described and the story is full of magic. Because of the slow-paced plot, the background story of Anna, Evie and Nik was very detailed and I thought it was enchanting to listen to.
3,5 out of 5 stars.
"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."
This is a book about three unlikely childhood friends; Evie, the witch and daughter of a fisherman - Nik, the crown prince of Havnestad and the Øresund Kingdoms - and Anna, the young girl who drowned four years ago.
The book is mostly centered around Evie's story. Evie is Nik's best friend, despite of their unequal social classes and the fact that Nik's mother - the Queen - disapproves of their friendship.
One day, Nik falls off his boat because of an unexpected heavy storm and he nearly drowns. Evie and Iker (Nik's cousin and Evie's crush) set out to rescue Nik, but when Evie gets to Nik she sees a girl hovering above him in the water. The girl has long blond hair and blue eyes, just like their friend Anna used to have. When Evie walks closer, the girl sees Evie and swims away. Evie is shocked to see a tail. Did she just see a mermaid?
Nik survives and a few days later a girl shows up in Havnestad. The girl resembles the mermaid and Anna. She introduces herself to Evie as Annamette. Why has she come to Havnestad and why does she look so much like Anna?
Sea Witch wasn't what I expected it to be. It's not so much a retelling of The Little Mermaid, as it is a story about friendship, love, betrayal and revenge. The retelling part is limited to the last 10% of the book. Also the story is a bit slow. The majority of the story is about the blossoming and unlikely love between Evie and Iker, the class differences, Annamette's crush on Nik.. Not much happens in the first half of the book.
But, although it was a slow-paced story, I did really enjoy listening to the audiobook. Sarah Henning combines the Anderson tale of The Little Mermaid with 19th century Denmark and Danish history. The characters and their motives are well described and the story is full of magic. Because of the slow-paced plot, the background story of Anna, Evie and Nik was very detailed and I thought it was enchanting to listen to.
3,5 out of 5 stars.
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Gesponsord
Deze thriller trekt je razendsnel mee in een complot met onbetrouwbare staatslieden met hun eigen agenda's, internationale conflicten en hoogoplopende bedreigingen voor de samenleving.
