Can Evelyn have her happily ever after and a best friend too?
Sea Witch by Sarah Henning was a page-turner. The story is so original and I adored it. Mrs. Henning has woven an excellent book creating the villain origin story for The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson. Not so much Disney but the original tale from Denmark itself. The main character is fantastic, and I loved the plot for the whole story. It was great to see what a fabulous tale the author created.
The Main Character:
The main character in this book is named Evelyn (Evie to her friends) who has always lived in the Oresund Strait with her mom, dad, and maternal aunt. Evie is the main point of view character, and Evie isn’t the person that I would initially think would look like the Sea Witch. I like the fact that she went from being human to what resembles Ursula in the Disney version of The Little Mermaid. I can relate to Evie, well except for the witch part, but I understand the not fitting in part. We learn about her throughout the story, and I like how she grows throughout the story.
The things that I like about Evelyn is that she knows that she doesn’t fit in with anyone there, but she doesn’t let that stop her from making friends and genuinely like them. The friends that she does have are above Evie's station in life, but she doesn’t care about that. She is also trying to do everything she can to live a good life. Evie is a lovely person and is a pretty strong person on a boat.
The things that I dislike about Evelyn is the fact that she is trying to help Annemette. Even though, Annemette mistreats Evie. Another thing that I disliked about Evie is that she doesn’t fight back against bullies. I mean I get that back then it probably wouldn’t matter if she had fought back. She doesn’t understand why the girls don’t like her and are jealous of her friendship with Niklas, the Prince, of the story.
The Friends
Evie has a total of four friends in this story that aren’t her family. However, Evie's family is there for her when she needs them.
Her first friend is Anna who died before the story started. Anna from with what we know throughout the book was a great person. Anna is remembered fondly as the best friend of Niklas and Evie.
Niklas is a prince of their land. He is a great friend to Evie even though, she is beneath his station and he should have grown out of their friendship. He is also great at hiding things.
Nik’s cousin Iker who is the prince from across the Strait. Iker is a pretty strange character throughout the book. He is first and foremost a prince and the cousin to Nik and is always on display for everyone. He is probably not the right person to fall in love with either, as he is considered a player.
The last is Annemette a new person that shows up out of nowhere. Although, Annemette is the new friend she looks amazingly like Anna. Evie has a hard time not believing that she is Anna. So, Evie is trying to help Annemette even if it’s not a good idea to do that at all.
The last three of these four characters grow throughout the book, and they don't always choose the right path.
The Villain
I can’t exactly say who the villain is since that will be a total spoiler. We all know that I hate spoiling things for any new readers for this book. I ca n’t tell you who the villain is, but I can say it’s not Evie. You will have to read the book to find out.
Five Stars
Sea Witch by Sarah Henning was a great read. It kept me guessing on every page. I like that the author added in some Norse words and actual Danish words as well. Granted pronouncing those words were hard and I ended up skipping them so that I could continue to read. I am giving this book five stars however despite some words giving me a hard time. I truly wanted to learn more about Evie in this book. I kept on thinking about the story consistently, even in my dreams. I highly recommend the Sea Witch. It is an outstanding book.
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This review was originally posted on Baroness' Book Trove