BOOK REVIEW | Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

Slavery, Violence, War, Kidnapping, Blood (Full list of Trigger and Content Warnings here)

Black Rep

Hey everyone! I’m back with another review. Honestly it’s been a hot minute since I’ve written a review on my blog, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to actually do this one justice since it’s been a while since I read this one. Please bear with me as I try to remember what I read and loved about this book. It may not be super long, but I’ll share my thoughts as they come.

Also this is so late but thank you Netgalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wish me luck, friends! Here we go.

Okay first of all, I adore Simidele! She is the main character of this story, our resident Mami Wata (aka Mermaid for those that don’t know) and she is great. She’s a complicated character that doesn’t tow the company line all the time. For some reason, with the arrival of Kola, she starts to actually question what is happening with her life. Or, her after life. She wasn’t always a Mami Wata, since they must be turned into what they are by Yemoja…

Anyway, from the moment Kola comes into her life, a human that she ends up saving from an attempted drowning, she goes on an adventure with him. I loved their dynamic and it made me wish that there were more books about them. Yes, this is a duology, but that’s just not enough books for me lol. Give me all the books about Simi and Kola! Give me more!

Because now, Simi must somehow make sure that her fellow Mami Wata, and Yemoja herself, aren’t punished for her mistake. Was it a mistake? Not really, but it wasn’t something that she was supposed to do and now she must pay the price to save the rest. Kola goes with her, while he is also trying to save his siblings.

This is a fantasy world but it takes place in the past, during the trans-Atlantic slavery era, which has a major part of both Simi’s and Kola’s backstory. It was almost like I could see this happening in the past, and maybe there were Mami Wata out there in the ocean, we just couldn’t see them. I was so engaged in this story and this world that I read it a few times already. I wanted to learn more about Simi’s underwater world, traveling with both of them and meeting the different Orisha during their journey. It really made me want to read more stories about the Orisha, especially Yemoja as she ended up being my favorite.

Natasha’s writing was amazing. I felt like I was with Simi the entire time, almost like her own personal shadow, making sure that she is able to experience her journey the way she needed to. I hope that she ends up writing more books, because I loved both of them and her writing was amazing. I said that already but really, I just loved it that much.

Simi ends up saving Kola from drowning, the big rule that she is not supposed to do as her duty as a Mami Wata. From that point, she must find a way to ensure that Yemoja and her fellow Mami Wata are not destroyed for her discretion. She also somehow helps Kola return to his village in order to ensure that he can protect his twin siblings that are somehow reincarnated Orisha and will hopefully have the power to rectify the situation.

I liked the plot and being able to see other mythical creatures in this world outside of the Mami Wata – not to say that I don’t love them – and find out more about Simi’s past since she doesn’t always remember it herself.

I’m going to skip the rest of the categories mostly because I am working off of a brain that is not all there sometimes, and really the main thing to this review is that I loved it, and I need more black mermaids in my life.