Sea Witch Rising (The Sea Witch, #2)

by Sarah Henning

This sequel to THE SEA WITCH is an alternative reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. It’s a heart-wrenching story about the complications of sisterhood, the uncompromising nature of magic and the cost of redemption.

Alia has made a deal with the Sea Witch to give up her life as a mermaid in exchange for a human soul. Now she has only twelve hours left on land to win the prince she loves, or perish.
But Alia’s sister, Runa, knows that the prince isn’t capable of true love, so she makes her own bargain with the Sea Witch – and prepares to bring Alia back to the ocean, whether she likes it or not.
Below the waves, the Sea Witch has a plan to challenge the order of the sea. It’s going to take power – power she doesn’t yet have.
As Runa and the Sea Witch’s fates intertwine, they find themselves caught in the middle of a deadly conflict between land and water. Will they be brave enough to sacrifice their own hearts’ desires for a chance to save their worlds…?

• ISBN13: 9780008356088
• Publish Date: 8 August 2019 (first published 6 August 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[Baroness Book Trove]

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Will Evie and Runa be able to work together?

Sea Witch Rising by Sarah Henning is the fantastical sequel that the fans have been waiting for. Ms. Henning comes back into this world in a well thought out sequel. This book takes place during the Little Mermaid story but with twists that I never saw coming.

Evie

The titular character returns in this amazing sequel that paints the villainous character into a good role despite all the ups and downs she has endured. Evie has been through quite a lot since we last saw her, including helping out the little mermaid, Alia, to go to the surface to win the heart of the prince she has saved. Much like both Evie and Anna in the first book all those years earlier. Of course, she knew that by doing that she would get a whole lot of company, but Evie has braced herself and ready.

Evie is still the strong character that we saw from the first book but even more now since she has become the creature that she is. Unlike the others though she is still able to wield both land and ocean magic which makes her a formidable opponent.

Likes and Dislikes

What I like about her is that even being alone for so long, Evie is still a good person and wants to believe in the good in people. So, she hopes that they won’t lie to her for any service that the merperson wants from her. That includes going up to land to seek a love that may or may not happen. I adore that Evie is still in love with Nik despite that by this point, he is already gone. Evie trusts the youngest of the sea king’s daughters and hopes that she will be different.

The only thing that I dislike is that in the last fifty years she hasn’t tried to break the spell holding her in her cove.

Runa

The youngest of the sea king’s latest set of daughters and an actual twin as well. Out of all the daughters, she is his most prized one since she can do more for him than the others can. Runa doesn’t take into consideration how leaving the sea king will affect him or the other merpeople. For Runa, she loves Alia and will try to help her so that she can return to the sea and her sister can stay on land.

Sadly, their whole plan backfires, and now they are running out of time for them both. Alia to stay alive as a human, and Runa to go back to the ocean. Everything changes once the end of the little mermaid’s tale take place, and Runa has no clue what to do about that. It’s impressive to see her transformation and how she handles all of this within a matter of days.

Likes and Dislikes

What I like about Runa is that she takes everything with strides and manages everything. By that, I mean that she can do what she needs to do while making sure that everyone knows their part. Another thing that I like is that by helping things grow, she can help these witches on land that can barely do anything except heat a bowl of soup. She does very well on her new endeavor, and Evie probably knew that she would end up going on this route.

The things I dislike about Runa is that despite knowing that her twin couldn’t kill the newly turned King on his wedding night that she tries to do it for her. Then Runa falls into a lot of traps that she doesn’t see coming.

Five Stars

I am rating Sea Witch Rising by Sarah Henning with five stars as it is superb and excellently written. Ms. Henning had me on a hook the whole time reading it. I love the tie into World War 1 in this book since it is in 1914 and how it has affected the human’s kingdom and the sea’s kingdom as well. Everything about this book screams fantastic, and I love how it was all planned out perfectly. The ending was excellent, and I’m happy it ended as it did.

Other Book in the Series

Sea Witch

by Sarah Henning 
Series: Sea Witch #1 
Published by HarperCollins on July 31, 2018 
Genres: Young Adult, Fairy Tales & Folklore, Paranormal, Romance, Mermaids 
Pages: 368 
Format: Hardcover 
Buy on Amazon, Buy on Book Depository 
 

Wicked meets The Little Mermaid in the captivating origin story of the sea's most iconic villainess, perfect for fans of Heartless and Dorothy Must Die.

Ever since her best friend Anna died, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. Hiding her talents, mourning her loss, drowning in her guilt.

Then a girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears on the shore, and the two girls catch the eyes of two charming princes. Suddenly Evie feels like she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.

But magic isn’t kind, and her new friend harbors secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad—or on two legs—without Evie’s help. And when Evie reaches deep into the power of her magic to save her friend’s humanity—and her prince’s heart—she discovers, too late, what she’s bargained away.

Upcoming Book Signing Tour

Friday, October 4th at 11:00 AM

Missouri Library Association Panel
#ReadLocal: A conversation with Local YA Authors at KCI Expo Center
11730 N Ambassador Dr
Kansas City, MO 641153

Sunday, October 13th at 3:00 PM

In Conversation with Vanessa Lillie at Our Daily Nada
304 Delaware St
Kansas City, MO 64105

Thursday, November 7th at 6:30 PM

Sequel State of Mind Panel at Johnson County Public Library, Monticello Library
22435 W 66th St
Shawnee, KS 66226

Saturday, November 9th at TBD

In Conversation with Naomi Hughes at Watermark Books
4701 E Douglas Ave
Wichita, KS 67218



Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Sea Witch Rising by Sarah Henning. 

Until the next time,



Happy Reading!

This review was originally posted on Baroness' Book Trove

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of Sea Witch Rising in exchange for a fair and honest review. Though to be fair, I had already intending to read and review the sequel to Sea Witch.

Sea Witch Rising is the dramatic conclusion to the Sea Witch plot by Sarah Henning. In this novel, we see the tale of the Little Mermaid retold in a truly unique fashion. To say that the focus was entirely on the Sea Witch wouldn’t be entirely accurate; the little mermaids in this tale did get to tell their tale as well.
Where the first novel in this series was an origin story, the sequel continues the tale that was dramatically begun, taking it farther beyond than readers could have ever expected. But in many ways, this conclusion is the full circle telling we’ve always wanted and needed to see.
The novel continues Evie’s tale, but also introduces Runa’s quest to save her sister, Alia from the tragic fate known to mermaids who fall in love with humans. These two plots converge, creating one massive story for readers to enjoy (I know I did).


I’ve been looking forward to Sea Witch Rising ever since the title was released. And it certainly lived up to my expectations. This novel really did twist the tale of the Little Mermaid into something new and completely unique. It upped the ante of the tale, adding in strong characters, political schemes, and a foundation in history.
There are several different elements to this tale. First, there’s the Sea Witch, Evie. This was never the life she wanted for herself, and truly all she wants to do is to be free. Then there’s Runa, twin sister to Alia. Alia made the infamous pact with the Sea Witch to get a chance at the man she loves. Meanwhile, Runa just wants to save Alia from the sea foam fate.
And finally, there is the setting to consider. On the one hand, we have a World War looming in the horizon, with submarines putting the mermaid civilization at risk. On the other hand, we have a corrupt monarchy to contend with. These were unexpected twists to this tale, but they went a long way into making the world feel more solid and dangerous.
There was a lot of complexity to this tale, because of these elements. It made it harder to predict what was going to happen next. It also made things a lot more intriguing. I love this new interpretation of the world around our characters. And of course, I adore the main characters.
I’ve always liked Evie, so I was surprised when Runa became such a focus. Though I did grow to like her as well. Runa is a passionate and caring individual, one who was willing to give up her idea of a happy life if it meant saving her sister. It’s hard not to respect that.
Runa’s journey was possibly the most surprising side of this story, but it was beautifully written. Part of me is actually quite sad that this series is a duology, because I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of her or her sisters.
The politics involved in this novel were another pleasant surprise. I enjoyed seeing that each of the mermaid sisters appeared to have a gift and a purpose, as well as learning that there was corruption behind it all. It made the underwater world seem a little less ideal. In many ways, mermaids are more similar to humans than they would like to admit.
The final battles in this novel were intense, and stunningly written. I don’t want to say too much, for the sake of spoilers. But I will say that I enjoyed every minute of it. I also love how things were handled after the fact; the way Sarah Henning wrapped up all of the many subplots going on. I hadn’t seen it coming, but it actually made quite a lot of sense. And it was satisfying as well.
On the whole, I really did adore both Sea Witch and Sea Witch Rising. I’m sad that the series is over, but that just means I need to keep my eyes open for whatever project Sarah Henning picks up next. I wonder what it’ll be?


For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[tweetybugshouse]

This is the sequel to Sea Witch the backstory on one of the most evil villains of all time from the Little Mermaid. I really enjoyed this sequel way more then book one as i felt that it was mostly telling us what we all ready knew about this tale. This sequel takes what was lacking in book one and throughly different story that we all know. This is why i am liking the new malificent story as we have these evil characters but Disney never really tells us why they are evil. What decision changed them from being good to evil? Did a parent wound them so bad that they never learned to be good? Or what circumstance in their past wounded them to the turning point of this evil root?

In the Sea Witch Rising not only are we getting new ideas about what really is happening in the Sea Kingdom with the Sea King, we also get to know the pain that Sea Witch went through. We learn how she became chained to her lair, we learn that in all intents and purposes she was just like the Little Mermaid who wanted more then what she had underwater. This second book is very action packed and even left me feeling like more story could be forth coming from the ending. I truly enjoyed this boook.