Sea Witch (The Sea Witch, #1)

by Sarah Henning

[Quirky Cat]

Sea Witch is Sarah Henning’s first novel, though it does pick up on the trend of reimagining the world around fairytales and their characters. I personally can’t get enough of that, so it’s fine by me. That being said – Sarah Henning absolutely blew me away with this book. So if you’re sitting there debating on whether or not you want to read another rendition of the Little Mermaid/Ursula’s tale…give it a try.
I have to take a minute to gush about this cover though. Honestly, I know I say this a lot, but the cover was the reason I stopped scrolling and stopped to read the description. It is absolutely striking, and without a doubt one of my favorite covers for the year. I almost don’t want to put the book on my shelf, since that would hide the cover…




I knew going into this book that it’d be a spin on Ursula, so right away I found myself trying to guess which character was which, comparing the characters in the book to the tale I know so well. I have to say, Henning did a wonderful job of keeping balance. There are elements of the original version, the Disney version, and her own all blended together. I couldn’t have asked for more.
Evie was such a sympathetic character, it was next to impossible to avoid getting attached to her. Even when you could see her making foolish mistakes, it was difficult to judge her for them - though I did cringe my way through a scene or two. It was hard not to – I would have loved to be in the book and have stopped her from making those mistakes.
But that’s just it – that proved how invested I was in the book, doesn’t it? I hadn’t expected to care so much for the characters, or the events going on, but I did. I couldn’t help it.
I loved all the unique twists and turns that were added to Sea Witch. I honestly never would have guessed the ending, which was oddly refreshing. I’m happy with that, and I’m also happy with some of the revelations made about mermaids in general. It fit oddly well with some of the original mythologies involving mermaids.
Along with magic, intrigue, and deception, there’s also a fair amount of romance. So really, there’s a little something for everyone in this tale. It’s also a fairly fast paced story, with almost no dragging along with the plot. There were a couple of points I wouldn’t have minded some more details, but on the whole I’m content with what I was given.
I looked up what Sarah Henning is coming out with next, in hopes that it would be another reimagining tale, but that isn’t the case. I’ll confess the book, Fight Like a Girl, still looks interesting…but I was hoping for more of the same vein as this, because she’s clearly very talented with it. Perhaps in the next book we’ll see another fairy tale or princess?