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Year of the Mer
A dark, bloody epic fantasy reimagining of The Little Mermaid that goes far beyond the fairytale to explore family legacy, war, and what we will sacrifice for vengeance—the perfect read for fans of The Priory of the Orange Tree and Circe.
The fairytale mermaid Arielle might have gotten her happily-ever-after, but her granddaughter Yemi is having a much harder time. Her father, the king of Ixia, was assassinated years ago, her mother is slowly dying of a poisoned wound, and she faces whispers and slights from her own people. Yemi has been raised as the shield of the kingdom and is soon to inherit the throne, but she cannot shake her fury at how Ixia has treated her family after all they’ve sacrificed. Only her patient mother and steadfast personal bodyguard (and fiancée), Nova, help Yemi rein in that fury...most of the time.
When the kingdom’s discontented rumblings reach a fever pitch, a coup erupts and Yemi’s throne is usurped, stripping her of her family and forcing her into exile. Now, only one being has the power to help her: Ursla.
Like her grandmother before her, Yemi is tempted by a deal with the sea-witch. With powerful and ancient magic behind her, Yemi could avenge her family, take back her throne, and protect the love of her life. But she should know more than anyone that there is always a price. As much as Yemi wants vengeance, Ursla has been waiting a very, very long time for her own—and it may take more fortune than Yemi possesses to keep her from losing everything all over again.
The fairytale mermaid Arielle might have gotten her happily-ever-after, but her granddaughter Yemi is having a much harder time. Her father, the king of Ixia, was assassinated years ago, her mother is slowly dying of a poisoned wound, and she faces whispers and slights from her own people. Yemi has been raised as the shield of the kingdom and is soon to inherit the throne, but she cannot shake her fury at how Ixia has treated her family after all they’ve sacrificed. Only her patient mother and steadfast personal bodyguard (and fiancée), Nova, help Yemi rein in that fury...most of the time.
When the kingdom’s discontented rumblings reach a fever pitch, a coup erupts and Yemi’s throne is usurped, stripping her of her family and forcing her into exile. Now, only one being has the power to help her: Ursla.
Like her grandmother before her, Yemi is tempted by a deal with the sea-witch. With powerful and ancient magic behind her, Yemi could avenge her family, take back her throne, and protect the love of her life. But she should know more than anyone that there is always a price. As much as Yemi wants vengeance, Ursla has been waiting a very, very long time for her own—and it may take more fortune than Yemi possesses to keep her from losing everything all over again.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published April 7, 2026
102 people are currently reading
23474 people want to read
About the author
L.D. Lewis
8 books210 followersL. D. Lewis (she/her) is an editor, publisher, and Shirley Jackson award-nominated writer of speculative fiction. She serves as a founding creator and Project Manager for the World Fantasy and Hugo Award-winning FIYAH Literary Magazine. She also serves as the founding Director of (Hugo-nominated) FIYAHCON, Researcher for the (also award-winning) LeVar Burton Reads podcast, and pays the bills as the Director of Programs and Operations for Lambda Literary. She once chaired a Nebula Conference and Tech Directed a Nebula Award Ceremony (but hasn’t quite won a Nebula), and she runs the Ignyte Awards alongside Suzan Palumbo. She is the author of A Ruin of Shadows (Dancing Star Press, 2018) and her published short fiction and poetry includes numerous appearances in online publications, as well as Scholastic and Neon Hemlock anthologies, and Jordan Peele’s Out There Screaming. She lives in Georgia on perpetual deadline, with her partner, two cats, a coffee habit, and an impressive LEGO build collection. Visit ldlewiswrites.com to learn more.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 153 reviews
April 12, 2026
I will never shut up about this book
Read
January 7, 2026
Book Riot’s Most Anticipated Books of 2026:
I once read a horror story by L. D. Lewis that frightened me so much that I put the book down for a full year before picking it up again. This is a violent, dark sapphic extension of The Little Mermaid tale that will for sure keep you reading up past your bedtime. We know how Arielle got her fairytale ending, but Yemi, her granddaughter, is living a much different life. Yemi’s father, the king, was assassinated and her mother is dying. A coup forces Yemi into exile and the only place she can think of turning to is to Ursla, the sea-witch. Yemi wants vengeance and so, too, does Ursla. Will Yemi be tempted by her own rage and Ursla’s power? —Patricia Elzie-Tuttle
I once read a horror story by L. D. Lewis that frightened me so much that I put the book down for a full year before picking it up again. This is a violent, dark sapphic extension of The Little Mermaid tale that will for sure keep you reading up past your bedtime. We know how Arielle got her fairytale ending, but Yemi, her granddaughter, is living a much different life. Yemi’s father, the king, was assassinated and her mother is dying. A coup forces Yemi into exile and the only place she can think of turning to is to Ursla, the sea-witch. Yemi wants vengeance and so, too, does Ursla. Will Yemi be tempted by her own rage and Ursla’s power? —Patricia Elzie-Tuttle
Did Not Finish
March 16, 2026DNF @ 52%
I usually love anything dark fantasy, but I wasn't really feeling this. Usually when I DNF, I'm either mad at the novel or bored out of my mind. But I felt absolutely nothing here.
The more I read, the less excited I became about the way that the plot unfolded. The premise grabbed me until the intro started out with a heavy lore infodump. Add in the spoiled brat of a main character and my interest tanked pretty quickly.
The writing style wasn't my favorite either. Is it technically purple prose? It's full of unnecessary modifiers which really hindered the pacing and turned the whole thing into such a slog to read. The inciting incident happened at like 30% in. By that point, I stopped caring.
It was like the author used a lit fic writing style to write genre fiction. If it was a different fantasy story altogether, this might've worked out. But this was your average revenge story with a boring and immature FMC, so there was a tonal mismatch that took me out.
At least I tried, I guess. (But at what cost?)
Thank you to S&S/Saga Press and NetGalley for this arc.
I usually love anything dark fantasy, but I wasn't really feeling this. Usually when I DNF, I'm either mad at the novel or bored out of my mind. But I felt absolutely nothing here.
The more I read, the less excited I became about the way that the plot unfolded. The premise grabbed me until the intro started out with a heavy lore infodump. Add in the spoiled brat of a main character and my interest tanked pretty quickly.
The writing style wasn't my favorite either. Is it technically purple prose? It's full of unnecessary modifiers which really hindered the pacing and turned the whole thing into such a slog to read. The inciting incident happened at like 30% in. By that point, I stopped caring.
It was like the author used a lit fic writing style to write genre fiction. If it was a different fantasy story altogether, this might've worked out. But this was your average revenge story with a boring and immature FMC, so there was a tonal mismatch that took me out.
At least I tried, I guess. (But at what cost?)
Thank you to S&S/Saga Press and NetGalley for this arc.
April 4, 2026
Yeah, this was horribly disappointing and I am also BEGGING publishers to stop presenting first installments in a series as if they are stand-alones oh my god.
When I read the blurb I thought «huh, that sounds interesting.» And to be completely fair, it actually was kinda interesting. There’s a lot of interesting ideas and plot points in here, which only makes it more disappointing that the book they are a part of is so bad.
I think the worst aspect of the story was the pacing, which was absolutely horrendous. And by that I don’t mean ‘it was slow-paced and I prefer medium-paced books’, I mean it took until about 55%, i.e. 220 pages, for the plot to catch up to the blurb. The entire first half of this book was telling me a story I already knew from the blurb. Of course the way it is told in the book itself is more elaborate as it builds up the world, the characters and their dynamics, but that on its own cannot make up for how unengaging the plot is rendered by the simple fact that I already know it.
However, merely changing the blurb won’t solve all the pacing issues. Because during the first 100-120 pages, basically noting happens. It’s all world-building and introducing characters and relationships, while I’m waiting for the plot I read about in the blurb to finally get going. And it does all that set-up in a way that just left me so ambivalent towards everything and everyone I just learned about. From reading others’ reviews I can see that a lot of people dnfed during this part of the book and I honestly cannot blame them because I was struggling not to do the same.
And I really hate that this didn’t work for me, because it has so many interesting ideas, some of which are actually executed in a kinda good way, but that doesn’t save them from being weighed down by the rest of the book.
For example, one aspect I found really interesting was the main character Yemi. Because she is not a very likeable person. She was born a princess and then raised on the belief that she was going to inherit the throne one day, and that she was entitled to do so. So when she is ousted from power, she seeks to reclaim the throne by any means necessary. She never even really considers that there may be another option, because after all it is her gods-given right to rule over Ixia, what the people might want doesn’t matter to her. And her fiancée, who’s also her personal guard, tries to tell her that she’s being unreasonable, but Yemi is already so far past the point of no return that she interprets Nova’s concern as a malicious attempt to undermine her.
So we have an entitled queen protagonist who has gone slightly unhinged in her quest to regain her power and kill the ones who deposed her. And honestly, I kinda get it, because the people who ousted her didn’t do so ‘for the good of the people’ and are also actually assholes kinda. But then again Yemi isn’t trying to regain power ‘for the good of the people’, but for herself. And that could’ve been a really interesting story, but unfortunately it is mostly confined to the last ~50 pages (i.e. ~15%) of the book.
The thing is, I don’t think this author is bad at writing, and I really wanna give her another shot. But her next book’ll probably be the sequel to this, and no matter how good it may be, I don’t know if it can remedy the bitter taste Year of the Mer left behind in my brain.
Tropes and such:
- sapphic knight/bodyguard x princess/queen romance
- majority black characters
- cursed family history
- somewhat unhinged queen
- fantasy racism (against merpeople)
----
Thank you to Saga Press for the ARC
When I read the blurb I thought «huh, that sounds interesting.» And to be completely fair, it actually was kinda interesting. There’s a lot of interesting ideas and plot points in here, which only makes it more disappointing that the book they are a part of is so bad.
I think the worst aspect of the story was the pacing, which was absolutely horrendous. And by that I don’t mean ‘it was slow-paced and I prefer medium-paced books’, I mean it took until about 55%, i.e. 220 pages, for the plot to catch up to the blurb. The entire first half of this book was telling me a story I already knew from the blurb. Of course the way it is told in the book itself is more elaborate as it builds up the world, the characters and their dynamics, but that on its own cannot make up for how unengaging the plot is rendered by the simple fact that I already know it.
However, merely changing the blurb won’t solve all the pacing issues. Because during the first 100-120 pages, basically noting happens. It’s all world-building and introducing characters and relationships, while I’m waiting for the plot I read about in the blurb to finally get going. And it does all that set-up in a way that just left me so ambivalent towards everything and everyone I just learned about. From reading others’ reviews I can see that a lot of people dnfed during this part of the book and I honestly cannot blame them because I was struggling not to do the same.
And I really hate that this didn’t work for me, because it has so many interesting ideas, some of which are actually executed in a kinda good way, but that doesn’t save them from being weighed down by the rest of the book.
For example, one aspect I found really interesting was the main character Yemi. Because she is not a very likeable person. She was born a princess and then raised on the belief that she was going to inherit the throne one day, and that she was entitled to do so. So when she is ousted from power, she seeks to reclaim the throne by any means necessary. She never even really considers that there may be another option, because after all it is her gods-given right to rule over Ixia, what the people might want doesn’t matter to her. And her fiancée, who’s also her personal guard, tries to tell her that she’s being unreasonable, but Yemi is already so far past the point of no return that she interprets Nova’s concern as a malicious attempt to undermine her.
So we have an entitled queen protagonist who has gone slightly unhinged in her quest to regain her power and kill the ones who deposed her. And honestly, I kinda get it, because the people who ousted her didn’t do so ‘for the good of the people’ and are also actually assholes kinda. But then again Yemi isn’t trying to regain power ‘for the good of the people’, but for herself. And that could’ve been a really interesting story, but unfortunately it is mostly confined to the last ~50 pages (i.e. ~15%) of the book.
The thing is, I don’t think this author is bad at writing, and I really wanna give her another shot. But her next book’ll probably be the sequel to this, and no matter how good it may be, I don’t know if it can remedy the bitter taste Year of the Mer left behind in my brain.
Tropes and such:
- sapphic knight/bodyguard x princess/queen romance
- majority black characters
- cursed family history
- somewhat unhinged queen
- fantasy racism (against merpeople)
----
Thank you to Saga Press for the ARC
Read
March 4, 2026DNF at 60 pages
April 9, 2026
An excellent well told epic fantasy that uses the tale of The Little Mermaid to tell a decidedly adult world of coups, war and magical bargains with high prices. Fascinating characters and an epic tale I can’t wait to read more about - strongly recommended.
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
August 31, 2025
Intricate, compelling, and exhilarating, YEAR OF THE MER is everything I want and more in a sapphic continuation of The Little Mermaid. Lewis crafts a maelstrom of familial love, ancestral hurt, and alluring magic in a world where instead of happily ever after, true love's kiss sparked political conflict for generations to come.
January 29, 2026
This was a very slow start for me, and some of the writing and phrasing felt awkward, which made it a struggle to get through. Unfortunately, the opening didn’t read as meaningful world or character-building so much as an information dump, paired with extended dialogue that didn’t seem to move the story forward. I was hoping for richer lore, more history of the wars, deeper insight into the courts and political structure, but instead was given a largely unlikable main character and a lot of unnecessary fluff.
Around the 35% mark, the pacing begins to improve, though I didn’t find myself truly engaged until about 60%, when the storyline noticeably shifts. Because of this structural change, I think the story may have been stronger if the duology were edited and condensed into a single standalone novel. After reading other reviews, it’s clear I wasn’t alone in struggling with the pacing—many readers point to the same 35% mark—which suggests the opening could have benefited from tighter editing and reduced filler.
That said, I do think this book will find the right audience. Readers who are especially drawn to Disney-inspired lore, queer romances, and are willing to commit to book one as setup for book two may enjoy this story more than I did.
Thank you to Netgalley and Saga Press for this ARC edition in exchange for an honest review.
Around the 35% mark, the pacing begins to improve, though I didn’t find myself truly engaged until about 60%, when the storyline noticeably shifts. Because of this structural change, I think the story may have been stronger if the duology were edited and condensed into a single standalone novel. After reading other reviews, it’s clear I wasn’t alone in struggling with the pacing—many readers point to the same 35% mark—which suggests the opening could have benefited from tighter editing and reduced filler.
That said, I do think this book will find the right audience. Readers who are especially drawn to Disney-inspired lore, queer romances, and are willing to commit to book one as setup for book two may enjoy this story more than I did.
Thank you to Netgalley and Saga Press for this ARC edition in exchange for an honest review.
March 18, 2026
A stunning cover and an overall cool premise (dark, sapphic Little Mermaid reimagining??) that suffers from an extremely unlikable FMC and slow pacing. Unlike most reviews, I actually enjoyed the first 30%. I wanted more from it, sure, but I was intrigued enough. But then it lost me… there are cars and trains and photographers but then also palaces and queens and magic… and not nearly enough Mer. The book never figured out what it was going to be and left me feeling super disconnected by the end.
Thank you Saga Press for the physical ARC!
Thank you Saga Press for the physical ARC!
December 5, 2025
Through "Year of the Mer," L. D. Lewis has crafted an engaging story that is both a dark re-imagining and a sequel to a well-loved fairy tale. This is not the story of The Little Mermaid that many of us grew up on, but a story of how the selfish choices of one Mer girl ended up causing strife and political unrest across multiple nations—both on land and in the sea—for many years to come.
Not only do we get to see how Arielle's descendants are living as a result of her decision to leave the sea to live as a human, but we also get a lot more insight into the character of the sea witch, Ursla, herself. Lewis has clearly put a lot of thought into this tale and has created a fascinating lore for the world itself as well as managing to give Ursla a proper backstory—something that I was especially interested in.
I found the pacing to be absolutely perfect here and I'm impressed at just how much story was packed into just 400 pages. Things do start off a little slow as we're introduced to the general setting, characters, and conflicts, but once the action kicks in, it really kicks in. I was personally happy to have had the slower start to really get myself oriented with the story and get some real insight into the character's personalities as well. (Also, this is only the first book of a planned duology, so we have plenty of time to see more action with book two!) The characters themselves were properly fleshed-out as well and each one really stood out as a unique person in the story. We really get to see their beliefs and ideals come through in the choices they make, as well how their interpersonal relationships occasionally make choosing the "right" path a bit of a struggle.
Overall, "Year of the Mer" was a riveting story packed with anger, trauma, revenge, and love—both familial and romantic. I'll probably be thinking about this one for a while still as I eagerly await the second book, because that ending especially has left me wanting more!
[Thank you to Saga Press for providing me with an advance review copy via NetGalley! I am leaving this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.]
Not only do we get to see how Arielle's descendants are living as a result of her decision to leave the sea to live as a human, but we also get a lot more insight into the character of the sea witch, Ursla, herself. Lewis has clearly put a lot of thought into this tale and has created a fascinating lore for the world itself as well as managing to give Ursla a proper backstory—something that I was especially interested in.
I found the pacing to be absolutely perfect here and I'm impressed at just how much story was packed into just 400 pages. Things do start off a little slow as we're introduced to the general setting, characters, and conflicts, but once the action kicks in, it really kicks in. I was personally happy to have had the slower start to really get myself oriented with the story and get some real insight into the character's personalities as well. (Also, this is only the first book of a planned duology, so we have plenty of time to see more action with book two!) The characters themselves were properly fleshed-out as well and each one really stood out as a unique person in the story. We really get to see their beliefs and ideals come through in the choices they make, as well how their interpersonal relationships occasionally make choosing the "right" path a bit of a struggle.
Overall, "Year of the Mer" was a riveting story packed with anger, trauma, revenge, and love—both familial and romantic. I'll probably be thinking about this one for a while still as I eagerly await the second book, because that ending especially has left me wanting more!
[Thank you to Saga Press for providing me with an advance review copy via NetGalley! I am leaving this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.]
April 26, 2026
The pacing of this book makes so much more sense when you realize it’s going to be part of a duology or series.
QUEER BLACK MERMAIDS with complicated feelings and time spent in the water! Yessss!!
QUEER BLACK MERMAIDS with complicated feelings and time spent in the water! Yessss!!
April 7, 2026
This was such a stunning, immersive read. A Little Mermaid retelling/continuation with its own sharp, original edge that made the story feel entirely fresh.
The pacing of the story was excellent; I feel like it gave enough space at the beginning to fully sink into the world and understand the nuances of the characters, their motivations, and the tensions shaping everything around them. Once everything was established, we got the dial turned all the way up. Nothing felt drawn out or rushed, and every moment carried weight.
There’s this constant push and pull throughout the story between power, fear, love, and identity that I really loved. This story really explores how the “right” path isn’t always obvious. I especially liked how the story’s romance was handled. While it wasn’t the central focus, it’s deeply felt. That tension between unconditional love and doing what’s best for yourself was portrayed so beautifully and painfully real. Sometimes survival, responsibility, and self-preservation demand choices that conflict with that love.
Overall, this was powerful, emotional, and thought-provoking. It’s a story about transformation, sacrifice, and what it really means to choose yourself, even when it hurts.
Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC!
Favorite Quotes:
“She posessed a certain juiciness, in the way of berries, but the threat of her being poisonous just barely outweighed the intrigue of her taste.”
“From the seas we came. And to the seas we return.”
“[She] kissed her, if for no other reason than she needed more of her warmth. And sure as the moon was high, she finally felt something that wasn’t anger.”
“[I]f they want to fear me, I will be a thing to be feared.”
“These people, they can’t be ruled by love or adoration. They don’t want it. They need fear. And I intend to be terrifying.”
The pacing of the story was excellent; I feel like it gave enough space at the beginning to fully sink into the world and understand the nuances of the characters, their motivations, and the tensions shaping everything around them. Once everything was established, we got the dial turned all the way up. Nothing felt drawn out or rushed, and every moment carried weight.
There’s this constant push and pull throughout the story between power, fear, love, and identity that I really loved. This story really explores how the “right” path isn’t always obvious. I especially liked how the story’s romance was handled. While it wasn’t the central focus, it’s deeply felt. That tension between unconditional love and doing what’s best for yourself was portrayed so beautifully and painfully real. Sometimes survival, responsibility, and self-preservation demand choices that conflict with that love.
Overall, this was powerful, emotional, and thought-provoking. It’s a story about transformation, sacrifice, and what it really means to choose yourself, even when it hurts.
Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC!
Favorite Quotes:
“She posessed a certain juiciness, in the way of berries, but the threat of her being poisonous just barely outweighed the intrigue of her taste.”
“From the seas we came. And to the seas we return.”
“[She] kissed her, if for no other reason than she needed more of her warmth. And sure as the moon was high, she finally felt something that wasn’t anger.”
“[I]f they want to fear me, I will be a thing to be feared.”
“These people, they can’t be ruled by love or adoration. They don’t want it. They need fear. And I intend to be terrifying.”
April 7, 2026
This book made a lot of baffling choices, the worst being the characterization of its protagonist. Yemi is extremely unlikable: petulant, entitled, selfish, volatile, irrational, and incompetent. It was so hard to get through 400 pages of Yemi trying to reinstate herself on the throne when I believed that literally every other character in the book would have made a better monarch than her. Like girl, you’re literally running around slaughtering civilians. Read the room.
Other mystifying aspects of the world building include the usage of modern technology (e.g., cameras, radios, typewriters, cars, and guns) for no discernible reason or visible impact on society, as well as the choice to have the protagonist start the book already in a relationship with her guard. As such, the romance contributes zero dramatic tension, and in fact I wish that Nova would dump Yemi and go forth to live a better life. I think this book would have benefited from more iteration at the concept stage; as such, the prose is fine, but it can’t overcome the flaws of the world-building and plot structure.
I received an ARC of this book at Emerald City Comic Con. My thanks to the publishers.
Other mystifying aspects of the world building include the usage of modern technology (e.g., cameras, radios, typewriters, cars, and guns) for no discernible reason or visible impact on society, as well as the choice to have the protagonist start the book already in a relationship with her guard. As such, the romance contributes zero dramatic tension, and in fact I wish that Nova would dump Yemi and go forth to live a better life. I think this book would have benefited from more iteration at the concept stage; as such, the prose is fine, but it can’t overcome the flaws of the world-building and plot structure.
I received an ARC of this book at Emerald City Comic Con. My thanks to the publishers.
Did Not Finish
March 23, 2026DNF - 20%
Th premise of this book was what enticed me to request it from Saga Press as an ARC. It was a Little Mermaid retelling, sounds great right? The story actually focuses on "Arielle's" granddaughter, Yemi, who is one of the most insufferable, bratty, obnoxious characters, I have ever read. There was no appeal to her at all. Even Nova, her fiancee and bodyguard, was super horny all the time.
The world building was interesting until a point. It seemed steeped with magic and folklore in the beginning, but then Yemi steps on shore and into a...car? There was excessive infodumping but not in the parts where it was needed. There was a whole scene of Yemi trying to get a beer at a bar which felt like it was just added in to get to one plotline and it really wasn't super necessary.
Overall, I gave this book a shot, but there was nothing really likable about the characters or the story for me to want to continue.
Thank you to Saga Press for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review
Th premise of this book was what enticed me to request it from Saga Press as an ARC. It was a Little Mermaid retelling, sounds great right? The story actually focuses on "Arielle's" granddaughter, Yemi, who is one of the most insufferable, bratty, obnoxious characters, I have ever read. There was no appeal to her at all. Even Nova, her fiancee and bodyguard, was super horny all the time.
The world building was interesting until a point. It seemed steeped with magic and folklore in the beginning, but then Yemi steps on shore and into a...car? There was excessive infodumping but not in the parts where it was needed. There was a whole scene of Yemi trying to get a beer at a bar which felt like it was just added in to get to one plotline and it really wasn't super necessary.
Overall, I gave this book a shot, but there was nothing really likable about the characters or the story for me to want to continue.
Thank you to Saga Press for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
BOOK REVIEW: Pub Email, Year of the Mer
“Being a fairy tale princess does not guarantee a peaceful throne.”
🗓 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: April 7, 2026
📚 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: Year of the Mer (Year of the Mer Duology #1)
👑 𝗔𝘂t𝗁𝗼𝗿: L. D. Lewis
✨ 𝗤𝘂𝗂𝗰𝗄 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗒 & 🍵 𝗧𝗲𝗮 𝗧𝗁𝗼𝘂𝗀𝗁𝘁𝘀
Yemi is the granddaughter of a fairy tale mermaid who thought she’d gotten her happy ever after. But Yemi’s life is far from smooth. Her father, the king of Ixia, was assassinated, her mother carries a poisoned wound, and Yemi has spent her life holding together a kingdom that barely appreciates her efforts. Raised as both shield and heir with Nova, her loyal bodyguard and fiancé, at her side, Yemi’s simmering anger and political tensions finally erupt into a coup that forces her into exile. As she faces betrayal and loss, ancient magic and dangerous pacts may be the only ways to fight for her throne and the people she loves.
This was a rich and layered fantasy with a lot on its narrative plate. The mix of personal anger, family legacy, political upheaval, and deep magic gives the story weight and drive. At times the worldbuilding felt dense, especially early on while establishing all the stakes, which slowed the pacing for me a bit, but once the action and conflicts picked up I found myself drawn into Yemi’s journey. The characters are complex and the stakes feel genuinely high, even if some plot threads took longer to click into place. Overall it’s an immersive start to the duology with a blend of classic fantasy and mythical legacy energy.
🫶 Thank you to @titanbooks for this gifted copy!
🌊 Fantasy with mythical legacy
⚔️ Political upheaval and exile
💔 Family and betrayal
🧙 Ancient magic and consequences
👑 Complex heir drama
✨ Rich worldbuilding
“Being a fairy tale princess does not guarantee a peaceful throne.”
🗓 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: April 7, 2026
📚 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: Year of the Mer (Year of the Mer Duology #1)
👑 𝗔𝘂t𝗁𝗼𝗿: L. D. Lewis
✨ 𝗤𝘂𝗂𝗰𝗄 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗒 & 🍵 𝗧𝗲𝗮 𝗧𝗁𝗼𝘂𝗀𝗁𝘁𝘀
Yemi is the granddaughter of a fairy tale mermaid who thought she’d gotten her happy ever after. But Yemi’s life is far from smooth. Her father, the king of Ixia, was assassinated, her mother carries a poisoned wound, and Yemi has spent her life holding together a kingdom that barely appreciates her efforts. Raised as both shield and heir with Nova, her loyal bodyguard and fiancé, at her side, Yemi’s simmering anger and political tensions finally erupt into a coup that forces her into exile. As she faces betrayal and loss, ancient magic and dangerous pacts may be the only ways to fight for her throne and the people she loves.
This was a rich and layered fantasy with a lot on its narrative plate. The mix of personal anger, family legacy, political upheaval, and deep magic gives the story weight and drive. At times the worldbuilding felt dense, especially early on while establishing all the stakes, which slowed the pacing for me a bit, but once the action and conflicts picked up I found myself drawn into Yemi’s journey. The characters are complex and the stakes feel genuinely high, even if some plot threads took longer to click into place. Overall it’s an immersive start to the duology with a blend of classic fantasy and mythical legacy energy.
🫶 Thank you to @titanbooks for this gifted copy!
🌊 Fantasy with mythical legacy
⚔️ Political upheaval and exile
💔 Family and betrayal
🧙 Ancient magic and consequences
👑 Complex heir drama
✨ Rich worldbuilding
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
2026-releases
May 9, 2026DNF @ 19%
i made it through three chapters before giving up.
these chapters consist mostly of clunky, overdone infodumping prefaced by even more infodumping. this constant stream of information is the opposite of immersive; it constantly pulled me out of what little happened in the first ~75 pages. it feels like about 90% filler, which is annoying in the first book of what is apparently a duology—this couldn’t have been condensed into a standalone?
the language is jarringly modern for a fantasy setting (even one with cars), and the setting itself is still awfully ambiguous at the point i stopped. it’s apparently a fantasy land with some recent technological developments, but the vibe is unclear. is it steampunk? just-fantasy-enough-to-justify-the-mermaids? idk 🤷🏼♀️
our main character, yemi, is not very likable, which can be interesting if done right. i didn’t make it far enough into the book to determine if her entitled, deliberately provocative behavior was an intentional choice in the storytelling or if she was just accidentally annoying.
ultimately i wouldn’t recommend this one. i like the concept (what if the little mermaid’s choices caused literal generations of troubles for her descendants and everyone else too?) but what i read was so bogged down that i lost interest entirely. please bear in mind that i read an ARC so some changes may have been made before publication!
i received an ARC from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
i made it through three chapters before giving up.
these chapters consist mostly of clunky, overdone infodumping prefaced by even more infodumping. this constant stream of information is the opposite of immersive; it constantly pulled me out of what little happened in the first ~75 pages. it feels like about 90% filler, which is annoying in the first book of what is apparently a duology—this couldn’t have been condensed into a standalone?
the language is jarringly modern for a fantasy setting (even one with cars), and the setting itself is still awfully ambiguous at the point i stopped. it’s apparently a fantasy land with some recent technological developments, but the vibe is unclear. is it steampunk? just-fantasy-enough-to-justify-the-mermaids? idk 🤷🏼♀️
our main character, yemi, is not very likable, which can be interesting if done right. i didn’t make it far enough into the book to determine if her entitled, deliberately provocative behavior was an intentional choice in the storytelling or if she was just accidentally annoying.
ultimately i wouldn’t recommend this one. i like the concept (what if the little mermaid’s choices caused literal generations of troubles for her descendants and everyone else too?) but what i read was so bogged down that i lost interest entirely. please bear in mind that i read an ARC so some changes may have been made before publication!
i received an ARC from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 2, 2026
I was stoked to read this story. I love retellings, and couldn’t wait to see how this author gave The Little Mermaid a fresh, new spin. But unfortunately, it just didn’t work.
First off, the story dragged for the first 1/3. You meet Yemi, and her guard/fianceé, Nova, and get an introduction to the kingdom. While that in itself isn’t bad, the way the story is told, and flows, makes it hard to keep interested.
30%-ish into the novel shows the first signs of conflict, and the storyline becomes more Interesting. You want to see how Yemi will handle what has happened to her and her kingdom. And then it slows down again. It is also hard to care about Yemi as a character because she’s completely unlikable. The author gives her no real redeeming qualities, and she’s just awful those around her-especially Nova.
This story truly ramped up after Yemi finds out the truth about her grandmother, Arielle, and chooses to seek ultimate revenge. It’s like a train wreck waiting to happen, and even though you want to look away, or hope than Yemi will have a breakthrough and redemption arc, you’re left greatly disappointed. I know that the author was going for feminist rage, and rising above the ashes, but this story, and FMC, fail to deliver on that mark.
This retelling had a lot of promise, and could have been a killer story. But it was far from that.
Thank you NetGalley, and Saga Press, for my arc. My opinion is my own.
First off, the story dragged for the first 1/3. You meet Yemi, and her guard/fianceé, Nova, and get an introduction to the kingdom. While that in itself isn’t bad, the way the story is told, and flows, makes it hard to keep interested.
30%-ish into the novel shows the first signs of conflict, and the storyline becomes more Interesting. You want to see how Yemi will handle what has happened to her and her kingdom. And then it slows down again. It is also hard to care about Yemi as a character because she’s completely unlikable. The author gives her no real redeeming qualities, and she’s just awful those around her-especially Nova.
This story truly ramped up after Yemi finds out the truth about her grandmother, Arielle, and chooses to seek ultimate revenge. It’s like a train wreck waiting to happen, and even though you want to look away, or hope than Yemi will have a breakthrough and redemption arc, you’re left greatly disappointed. I know that the author was going for feminist rage, and rising above the ashes, but this story, and FMC, fail to deliver on that mark.
This retelling had a lot of promise, and could have been a killer story. But it was far from that.
Thank you NetGalley, and Saga Press, for my arc. My opinion is my own.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I originally liked the idea behind this book. I agree that Ariel (Arielle) coming on land and marrying the future King could have unforseen ramifications on the political landscape. However, the author's contempt for the source material was off putting to say the least. They seem to dislike both the original Hans Christian Andersen and the Disney version of the Little Mermaid. This made the tone unenjoyable for me, since I do enjoy both of those and the original Ariel is likeable. There are lots of weird digs at the original characters and the new characters are extraordinarily rash and hard to root for.
Additionally, the plotting is weirdly paced. I could've started the book at the last 60% and enjoyed it. There's a lot of info dumping early on when I didn't care about the story yet.
The idea is creative and the intent seems interesting, but the execution wasn't there for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.
Additionally, the plotting is weirdly paced. I could've started the book at the last 60% and enjoyed it. There's a lot of info dumping early on when I didn't care about the story yet.
The idea is creative and the intent seems interesting, but the execution wasn't there for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.
Want to Read
December 29, 2025Omg a dark reimagining of my favourite fairytale, THE LITTLE MERMAID?! Yes please!
April 21, 2026
This was a much darker take on the world of the little mermaid but I am so curious to know where this story will go next.
Yemi is the granddaughter of Ariel, but the legacy she was left with is not part of the fairytale. Her father was assassinated, her mother is dying of poisoned wound and there are people plotting to take away her throne. And Yemi cannot move past the rage building within her.
I loved Yemi as a character. She's not some kind, fairytale princess. She's angry, she knows what she wants and she won't hesitate to do whatever she has to do to get her revenge. She was the strongest part of the story. While the coups and military plots might not have been the strongest part of the book, Yemi had me coming back.
I can't even imagine where this story will take Yemi next and I can't wait for the second book.
Yemi is the granddaughter of Ariel, but the legacy she was left with is not part of the fairytale. Her father was assassinated, her mother is dying of poisoned wound and there are people plotting to take away her throne. And Yemi cannot move past the rage building within her.
I loved Yemi as a character. She's not some kind, fairytale princess. She's angry, she knows what she wants and she won't hesitate to do whatever she has to do to get her revenge. She was the strongest part of the story. While the coups and military plots might not have been the strongest part of the book, Yemi had me coming back.
I can't even imagine where this story will take Yemi next and I can't wait for the second book.
Read
April 24, 2026While L.D. Lewis’ new novel takes inspiration from both Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, and the 1989 Disney adaptation, this reimagining “is very much its own thing. And what a glorious thing it is.” Read Alex Brown's review of Year of the Mer at Reactor!
April 8, 2026
2026: 3.25
I don’t know how I finished this because every detail just seemed to wash in one ear and out the other
I can tell you almost nothing about what I just read
Why did I give it 3.25? I wasn’t bored in the moment even if I couldn’t tell you anything after the fact 😅
I don’t know how I finished this because every detail just seemed to wash in one ear and out the other
I can tell you almost nothing about what I just read
Why did I give it 3.25? I wasn’t bored in the moment even if I couldn’t tell you anything after the fact 😅
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
*I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.*
I really wanted to DNF midway through the first chapter, but after the (longer) second chapter, I’m tapping out.
One thing is purely my own fault, though: for some reason, I assumed that Yemaya, the granddaughter of Arielle, was a mermaid and at least the first chunk of the book was going to take place underwater. No idea why I thought that, and that was completely incorrect; Yemaya is bipedal and lives on land. Don’t know if she gains a mermaid tail later.
Things I didn’t like that did not come from me making dumb assumptions: the worldbuilding is interesting but deeply odd. Cars and (landline) phones and cameras exist, but, while guns exist, they’re not any kind of widespread. On the one hand, I like the wish-fulfilment of this, but on the other hand, I’m struggling to make it make sense. The setting feels hugely messy because of this; we have characters saying ‘yikes’ and radio, but they sail wooden ships. It doesn’t feel cohesive, just really confusing.
There are also things like – once a monarch is crowned, no one outside their inner household ever sees their face again. They always wear a mask, even within the palace. When they host feasts, they don’t eat, because the mask can’t come off. This…is a completely unbelievable way to run a monarchy. a) hosting feasts is a huge diplomatic thing and if you don’t eat at said feast you’re sending a very bad message to the guests you presumably want to think well of you, and b) more importantly, how can anyone trust a monarch they can’t see?! What noble or ambassador or businessman can EVER be sure they’re talking to the actual monarch and not a body-double? How can you make treaties or sign deals or ANYTHING?
I assumed that living like this would mean the monarchs regularly, you know, go about incognito, because no one will recognise them without the mask, but from Yemaya’s thoughts that’s not it, she really will be wearing the mask for the rest of her life once she becomes queen.
Yemaya is going to be marrying another woman. Very cool! But I’m baffled that this has apparently made no difference to the religious and political factions that are unhappy because Yemaya has Mer blood. If Yemaya adopts, or her wife acts as surrogate, won’t the next heir be Mer-blood free? Or will Yemaya be pregnant and give birth (in which case the baby would have Mer blood)? Maybe this is clarified later in the book.
Yemaya and Nova – her bodyguard and wife-to-be – are not the kind of characters I like reading about. Yemaya hates being a royal, doesn’t want to be queen, and other than interacting with the military has no interest in the role. She’s horrifically rude/tasteless at an important dinner just because she’s bored. She drags her feet at everything. I know why this is a popular character type, but to be honest I’m incredibly bored of it. If you’ve been raised from birth to all this responsibility, shouldn’t you be inured to it by now? Shouldn’t you be at least tolerable at playing nice with nobles and whatever? How have you not learned manners yet? Nova is hyper-competent, but also very…blase about everything? The book goes on and on about how she never leaves Yemaya’s side…and then almost immediately she wanders off, leaving Nova unguarded, because they’re on a military ship so the whole military is supposedly guarding her. But…there’s no military guard on Nova’s door? You wandered off with no one to replace you? What??? It’s a lot of stuff like that.
Then there’s the prose, which is full of really odd or awkward phrasing. Occasionally I genuinely didn’t understand what was being said. Examples below. (Usual caveats apply: I read an advanced reader copy, there’s no telling what’ll change between what I read and the book in stores on release day.)
‘someone was wearing poorly’ sounds very awkwardly phrased to my ear.
When frustrated by a bunch of military leaders, Yemaya thinks
I really can’t figure out what this means – I get that she’s reminding herself that these people are important, but what does the ‘if no one else’ refer to? She can’t actually believe it doesn’t matter what the rest of the military thinks of her? Or the civilian populace? Or the nobility? Or – you get it.
Very odd phrasing, possibly a typo?
‘It was dark except where it wasn’t.’ Okay, snark aside: does this not mean it’s a well-lit night?
That ‘ever’ is jarring.
Of a painting of a dead man, the book says
I think I understand what this means, but ‘immortal silence’ is deeply weird phrasing.
‘Depleted’ seems an odd way to say that?
Qorrea is the equivalent of princess in this setting. From context, this line is supposed to mean that while the Qorrea is with the military, the military is supposed to protect her. But in that case it should be ‘deputized to the Qorrea’s protection’, not ‘into’. ‘Into’ makes it sound like the Qorrea is protecting the military.
This is where I wanted to DNF. ‘soft, wet mischief’? If I had a paper copy of this book this is where it would be defenestrated. Definitely in the top ten grossest ways I’ve ever heard sex described, thank you not at all!!!
This is a military commander saying they know the Qorrea will take the throne soon, and it’s fine because the military likes her. But ‘loved with us’ doesn’t make sense there. ‘Loved by us’, maybe? I’d have gone with ‘And among us, she is loved’ personally.
Don’t disagree with the statement, but very awkward phrasing.
When speaking of a landmark,
I think I understand what’s meant here, but ‘marked minutes’ feels incomplete. ‘and marked that viewers were minutes from the city’s docks’, maybe, something like that.
‘which was its own end to the sentence’ sounds horrible to me.
‘inspected Yemi for lies’?
Speaking of the country’s population,
‘these waters’ meaning the sea. This line has been driving me bonkers because Ixia, this nation, is not an island – and even if it WAS, surely it would have to be a TINY island for most of the population to be involved with the sea? Imagine saying of Ireland, ‘most of the people had at some point earned their livelihoods from the sea’. It would be nonsensical. And Ixia isn’t an island, from comments in the second chapter it seems to have a land border with another country. So how does this work? Is Ixia a tiny strip running along the coast, just a few miles wide? I’m baffled and I can’t drop it.
‘shine of his spear’ just sounds wrong.
Hate that super-modern note, don’t like it at all.
The first sentence is way too long; the second is confusing. If the stone walls are pale, how do they look like a forest? It’s at the top of a mountain, what are they reflecting? The forest is below them.
There’s a lot of banter like this, which strikes me as very modern and also really stupid. You’re supposed to be the next queen-and-consort! Why do you sound like moody teenagers?
What on earth does ‘exploratory of the roots of our famished seas’ mean?
This is the second-in-command of Nova’s spy network. And it’s kind of emblematic of the book: being funny takes precedence over things making sense. It’s funnier to have a histrionic second-in-command than it is to have, you know, a really good one who isn’t an idiot.
I don’t understand this as a response to the question. And there’s a lot of moments like this, where something is said that, to me, doesn’t match up to what they’re responding to. I don’t know if it’s genuinely bad writing, or if I’m being Very Autistic, but it’s exhausting. In this example, Yemi/Yemaya is the one speaking, and she doesn’t believe she’s a god, so what is she talking about?
Two chapters in, and I’m out.
I really wanted to DNF midway through the first chapter, but after the (longer) second chapter, I’m tapping out.
One thing is purely my own fault, though: for some reason, I assumed that Yemaya, the granddaughter of Arielle, was a mermaid and at least the first chunk of the book was going to take place underwater. No idea why I thought that, and that was completely incorrect; Yemaya is bipedal and lives on land. Don’t know if she gains a mermaid tail later.
Things I didn’t like that did not come from me making dumb assumptions: the worldbuilding is interesting but deeply odd. Cars and (landline) phones and cameras exist, but, while guns exist, they’re not any kind of widespread. On the one hand, I like the wish-fulfilment of this, but on the other hand, I’m struggling to make it make sense. The setting feels hugely messy because of this; we have characters saying ‘yikes’ and radio, but they sail wooden ships. It doesn’t feel cohesive, just really confusing.
There are also things like – once a monarch is crowned, no one outside their inner household ever sees their face again. They always wear a mask, even within the palace. When they host feasts, they don’t eat, because the mask can’t come off. This…is a completely unbelievable way to run a monarchy. a) hosting feasts is a huge diplomatic thing and if you don’t eat at said feast you’re sending a very bad message to the guests you presumably want to think well of you, and b) more importantly, how can anyone trust a monarch they can’t see?! What noble or ambassador or businessman can EVER be sure they’re talking to the actual monarch and not a body-double? How can you make treaties or sign deals or ANYTHING?
I assumed that living like this would mean the monarchs regularly, you know, go about incognito, because no one will recognise them without the mask, but from Yemaya’s thoughts that’s not it, she really will be wearing the mask for the rest of her life once she becomes queen.
Yemaya is going to be marrying another woman. Very cool! But I’m baffled that this has apparently made no difference to the religious and political factions that are unhappy because Yemaya has Mer blood. If Yemaya adopts, or her wife acts as surrogate, won’t the next heir be Mer-blood free? Or will Yemaya be pregnant and give birth (in which case the baby would have Mer blood)? Maybe this is clarified later in the book.
Yemaya and Nova – her bodyguard and wife-to-be – are not the kind of characters I like reading about. Yemaya hates being a royal, doesn’t want to be queen, and other than interacting with the military has no interest in the role. She’s horrifically rude/tasteless at an important dinner just because she’s bored. She drags her feet at everything. I know why this is a popular character type, but to be honest I’m incredibly bored of it. If you’ve been raised from birth to all this responsibility, shouldn’t you be inured to it by now? Shouldn’t you be at least tolerable at playing nice with nobles and whatever? How have you not learned manners yet? Nova is hyper-competent, but also very…blase about everything? The book goes on and on about how she never leaves Yemaya’s side…and then almost immediately she wanders off, leaving Nova unguarded, because they’re on a military ship so the whole military is supposedly guarding her. But…there’s no military guard on Nova’s door? You wandered off with no one to replace you? What??? It’s a lot of stuff like that.
Then there’s the prose, which is full of really odd or awkward phrasing. Occasionally I genuinely didn’t understand what was being said. Examples below. (Usual caveats apply: I read an advanced reader copy, there’s no telling what’ll change between what I read and the book in stores on release day.)
scents of tobacco and hearth and of bergamot someone was wearing poorly.
‘someone was wearing poorly’ sounds very awkwardly phrased to my ear.
When frustrated by a bunch of military leaders, Yemaya thinks
You need these people, she calmed herself. If no one else.
I really can’t figure out what this means – I get that she’s reminding herself that these people are important, but what does the ‘if no one else’ refer to? She can’t actually believe it doesn’t matter what the rest of the military thinks of her? Or the civilian populace? Or the nobility? Or – you get it.
“We’ll prepare the final report for the generals by arrival tomorrow.”
Very odd phrasing, possibly a typo?
Night had fully descended, and all was dark but what the moon graced.
‘It was dark except where it wasn’t.’ Okay, snark aside: does this not mean it’s a well-lit night?
But what else is there ever to do at sea but callous your hands and trade make-believe?
That ‘ever’ is jarring.
Of a painting of a dead man, the book says
The Bear King stood in immortal silence,
I think I understand what this means, but ‘immortal silence’ is deeply weird phrasing.
Roughly half of [the nation] hated the throne, but was just too depleted to fight about it anymore.
‘Depleted’ seems an odd way to say that?
The present military force was by default deputized into the Qorrea’s protection,
Qorrea is the equivalent of princess in this setting. From context, this line is supposed to mean that while the Qorrea is with the military, the military is supposed to protect her. But in that case it should be ‘deputized to the Qorrea’s protection’, not ‘into’. ‘Into’ makes it sound like the Qorrea is protecting the military.
allowing her mind to wander to the soft, wet mischief to be made in the nooks and crannies of the late Bear King’s ship, should she ever catch his daughter in the proper mood.
This is where I wanted to DNF. ‘soft, wet mischief’? If I had a paper copy of this book this is where it would be defenestrated. Definitely in the top ten grossest ways I’ve ever heard sex described, thank you not at all!!!
“We know her future is coming fast. And she is loved with us.”
This is a military commander saying they know the Qorrea will take the throne soon, and it’s fine because the military likes her. But ‘loved with us’ doesn’t make sense there. ‘Loved by us’, maybe? I’d have gone with ‘And among us, she is loved’ personally.
And the truth of anything was that any word spoken by anyone had the potential to be a lie.
Don’t disagree with the statement, but very awkward phrasing.
When speaking of a landmark,
They shielded the palace atop the cliffs from naval attack and marked minutes to the city’s docks.
I think I understand what’s meant here, but ‘marked minutes’ feels incomplete. ‘and marked that viewers were minutes from the city’s docks’, maybe, something like that.
“I’m fine. Not thrilled to get back to the Rock of course, but…” She shrugged, which was its own end to the sentence.
‘which was its own end to the sentence’ sounds horrible to me.
Nova’s dark brown eyes warmed like amber in the sunlight as she inspected Yemi for lies.
‘inspected Yemi for lies’?
Speaking of the country’s population,
Most of the people had at some point earned their livelihoods from these waters.
‘these waters’ meaning the sea. This line has been driving me bonkers because Ixia, this nation, is not an island – and even if it WAS, surely it would have to be a TINY island for most of the population to be involved with the sea? Imagine saying of Ireland, ‘most of the people had at some point earned their livelihoods from the sea’. It would be nonsensical. And Ixia isn’t an island, from comments in the second chapter it seems to have a land border with another country. So how does this work? Is Ixia a tiny strip running along the coast, just a few miles wide? I’m baffled and I can’t drop it.
the blinding, impossible shine of his spear
‘shine of his spear’ just sounds wrong.
Nova, who was giving her a yikes look
Hate that super-modern note, don’t like it at all.
The palace itself was a sprawling compound in the shape of interlocking squares built from pale stone, adorned with ornate porticos and laced with intricate gardens that told the story of bored royals with green thumbs going back centuries. In the summer, the stone became highly reflective as it warmed, making it seem like the walls were made of forest.
The first sentence is way too long; the second is confusing. If the stone walls are pale, how do they look like a forest? It’s at the top of a mountain, what are they reflecting? The forest is below them.
“What do you think is the slowest we’ve ever walked?”
“Does standing still count?”
There’s a lot of banter like this, which strikes me as very modern and also really stupid. You’re supposed to be the next queen-and-consort! Why do you sound like moody teenagers?
The Qorrea has apparently returned with the rest of Her Majesty’s navy from an exercise we’ve been told was “exploratory of the roots of our famished seas.” Good news, you think, Max?
What on earth does ‘exploratory of the roots of our famished seas’ mean?
“I’m ridiculous?” Van nearly shrieked.
This is the second-in-command of Nova’s spy network. And it’s kind of emblematic of the book: being funny takes precedence over things making sense. It’s funnier to have a histrionic second-in-command than it is to have, you know, a really good one who isn’t an idiot.
“You’d be…amicable to a dissolution of the monarchy?” [random stuff here]
“If you tell someone they’re a god from birth, indoctrinate them, steep them in that reality, give them immeasurable power and influence, and then suddenly tell them they’re not because you’ve changed your mind, thereby fucking up their entire reality, how well do you expect that should go?”
I don’t understand this as a response to the question. And there’s a lot of moments like this, where something is said that, to me, doesn’t match up to what they’re responding to. I don’t know if it’s genuinely bad writing, or if I’m being Very Autistic, but it’s exhausting. In this example, Yemi/Yemaya is the one speaking, and she doesn’t believe she’s a god, so what is she talking about?
Two chapters in, and I’m out.
Did Not Finish
May 5, 2026DNF ~30%
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
3.5 stars
(Thank you to Saga Press for providing an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.)
Year of the Mer is a sequel to the story of The Little Mermaid, albeit a version of that story that isn’t quite the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, and isn’t quite the fluffy, cute Disney movie. We’re following Yemi, granddaughter of Arielle, a Mer who as we know, visited a sea witch to ask for her tail to be turned to legs so she could live on land and marry a prince. Except in this version of the story, that decision has resulted in a lot of conflict and political turmoil for Ixia, the human kingdom Yemi is now heir to the throne of.
As a result of all this war and turmoil, Yemi is a very angry young woman - understandably, in a lot of ways. Her father has been assassinated, her mother has suffered an attempted assassination attempt that has left her body slowly turning to stone, and her family are subject to a lot of hostility due to their Mer heritage - and despite her mother’s efforts to rule diplomatically and justly. Yemi’s rage treads the line between justifiable, and sometimes a little immature. That does occasionally make her a frustrating character to follow - I did find myself rolling my eyes at her behaviour and reactions more than once - but at the same time means that her overall character arc feels justified, and well developed. It’s always interesting to follow a character who is ostensibly our heroine, but at the same time is flawed and prone to mistakes, and Yemi was portrayed very realistically in these respects.
Our other main character is Nova, Yemi’s fiancée and personal bodyguard. She seemed like a good foil for Yemi, but I do think she was a little less developed as a character, and the author didn’t dive as deeply into her backstory or motivations. The book is dual-POV, but while Yemi’s perspective was obviously the primary one, I did feel it was noticeable that Nova’s perspective became less visible later in the book, making things feel a little unbalanced, and relegating Nova to more of a secondary character status. I did, however, enjoy Yemi and Nova’s relationship and interactions, and did appreciate that their sapphic relationship was a perfectly normal occurrence in what seemed to be a pretty queer-normative world.
There are a lot of interesting ideas in Year of the Mer, and I did find it a compelling take on a Little Mermaid sequel - one that was doing something a bit different with the premise, while still keeping the elements the reader would expect to see in such a sequel. I appreciated the positioning of the original story as something that was perhaps less romantic and ‘fairytale’ than we are used to, and how that resulted in a continuation that felt fresh, and that had a little more nuance and ‘bite’ (sometimes literally!). I also found it interesting that the world that is built here was also somewhat different to the fairytale world we are used to from more familiar versions of the tale. The almost continuous period of war since Arielle married the prince has resulted in faster technological advancement that would otherwise have occurred in only sixty years, and therefore Ixia and its neighbouring kingdoms now have things like cars, phones, radio, electricity etc. This did take a bit of getting used to initially, having expected a world more like the original story, but ultimately I thought it was another interesting way for the author to put her own stamp on things.
I will say that I did also have some issues with elements of the worldbuilding, specifically in relation to the religion of Ixia and how it informed the history of the previous sixty years, and the sea witch Ursla’s various machinations and role in events. I never felt like a lot of these aspects were explained clearly enough, and therefore I spent a lot of the book mildly confused about how various characters and/or elements related to each other, or had informed various actions or religious development. It almost felt like, in an effort to avoid the info-dumping method of worldbuilding that is often criticised (as it happens, I often don’t mind it), the author went too far in the other direction, and neglected to include enough explanation of things.
It also seemed like there was sometimes a lack of clarity in other aspects of the writing, especially during dialogue scenes, where I often felt like I was missing the sense of what people were saying - almost like I’d come in to the scene a couple of lines too late to understand the context of the conversation, or characters were talking in some kind of shorthand that outsiders (i.e. the reader) can’t really understand. There were definitely several instances where I read a page of dialogue, and at the end of it found myself wondering what on earth the characters were going on about!
Overall, though, I found this to be a very effective take on a Little Mermaid sequel, with some unexpected and fresh ideas, and I’m interested to see where Book 2 of this duology takes us. And just in case you were wondering (but without any massive spoilers), actual merpeople do feature in this story as well!
#
(Thank you to Saga Press for providing an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.)
Year of the Mer is a sequel to the story of The Little Mermaid, albeit a version of that story that isn’t quite the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, and isn’t quite the fluffy, cute Disney movie. We’re following Yemi, granddaughter of Arielle, a Mer who as we know, visited a sea witch to ask for her tail to be turned to legs so she could live on land and marry a prince. Except in this version of the story, that decision has resulted in a lot of conflict and political turmoil for Ixia, the human kingdom Yemi is now heir to the throne of.
As a result of all this war and turmoil, Yemi is a very angry young woman - understandably, in a lot of ways. Her father has been assassinated, her mother has suffered an attempted assassination attempt that has left her body slowly turning to stone, and her family are subject to a lot of hostility due to their Mer heritage - and despite her mother’s efforts to rule diplomatically and justly. Yemi’s rage treads the line between justifiable, and sometimes a little immature. That does occasionally make her a frustrating character to follow - I did find myself rolling my eyes at her behaviour and reactions more than once - but at the same time means that her overall character arc feels justified, and well developed. It’s always interesting to follow a character who is ostensibly our heroine, but at the same time is flawed and prone to mistakes, and Yemi was portrayed very realistically in these respects.
Our other main character is Nova, Yemi’s fiancée and personal bodyguard. She seemed like a good foil for Yemi, but I do think she was a little less developed as a character, and the author didn’t dive as deeply into her backstory or motivations. The book is dual-POV, but while Yemi’s perspective was obviously the primary one, I did feel it was noticeable that Nova’s perspective became less visible later in the book, making things feel a little unbalanced, and relegating Nova to more of a secondary character status. I did, however, enjoy Yemi and Nova’s relationship and interactions, and did appreciate that their sapphic relationship was a perfectly normal occurrence in what seemed to be a pretty queer-normative world.
There are a lot of interesting ideas in Year of the Mer, and I did find it a compelling take on a Little Mermaid sequel - one that was doing something a bit different with the premise, while still keeping the elements the reader would expect to see in such a sequel. I appreciated the positioning of the original story as something that was perhaps less romantic and ‘fairytale’ than we are used to, and how that resulted in a continuation that felt fresh, and that had a little more nuance and ‘bite’ (sometimes literally!). I also found it interesting that the world that is built here was also somewhat different to the fairytale world we are used to from more familiar versions of the tale. The almost continuous period of war since Arielle married the prince has resulted in faster technological advancement that would otherwise have occurred in only sixty years, and therefore Ixia and its neighbouring kingdoms now have things like cars, phones, radio, electricity etc. This did take a bit of getting used to initially, having expected a world more like the original story, but ultimately I thought it was another interesting way for the author to put her own stamp on things.
I will say that I did also have some issues with elements of the worldbuilding, specifically in relation to the religion of Ixia and how it informed the history of the previous sixty years, and the sea witch Ursla’s various machinations and role in events. I never felt like a lot of these aspects were explained clearly enough, and therefore I spent a lot of the book mildly confused about how various characters and/or elements related to each other, or had informed various actions or religious development. It almost felt like, in an effort to avoid the info-dumping method of worldbuilding that is often criticised (as it happens, I often don’t mind it), the author went too far in the other direction, and neglected to include enough explanation of things.
It also seemed like there was sometimes a lack of clarity in other aspects of the writing, especially during dialogue scenes, where I often felt like I was missing the sense of what people were saying - almost like I’d come in to the scene a couple of lines too late to understand the context of the conversation, or characters were talking in some kind of shorthand that outsiders (i.e. the reader) can’t really understand. There were definitely several instances where I read a page of dialogue, and at the end of it found myself wondering what on earth the characters were going on about!
Overall, though, I found this to be a very effective take on a Little Mermaid sequel, with some unexpected and fresh ideas, and I’m interested to see where Book 2 of this duology takes us. And just in case you were wondering (but without any massive spoilers), actual merpeople do feature in this story as well!
#
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I wish to thank NetGalley and Saga Press for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 2.5✨
-
Tropes:
The Little Mermaid retelling (60 years later)
Dark
Actions with real consequences
FMC royalty x FMC queensguard
Political intrigue
Revenge
Bad deals
Curses
-
Content warnings:
-
What it is about:
This book is not a fairytale, and is not exactly a retelling. This book explores how fairytale characters make poor choices and ultimately face their real consequences, beyond the happy endings we are familiar with.
This story takes place 60 years after The Little Mermaid. The main character is Arielle’s granddaughter, a rage-driven girl with anger management issues, and very focused on revenge. Their kingdom is nearly at war, and the same goes for the Mer people, whose throne Arielle left unattended.
-
What I think:
The premise is interesting, and I am tired of books with characters displaying red flags that don’t face any real-life consequences and miraculously change for the sake of the plot. But we all know real life is different. And this book seems to be more realistic regarding that, by showing how Arielle’s choices affected her lineage, and her people (both on land and in the sea).
I did not relate to the main character (Yemi), but I don’t see this as a negative. I understand this is part of the plot and the author’s goal. I am hoping there will be a lesson to learn from this, perhaps some character growth in the second book, and/or some real consequences.
I could see the conflicting desires Yemi and Nova had for their future together. Nova is very loyal, too loyal, refusing to leave Yemi alone to the point of sacrificing her own wants for Yemi’s. It is cute, but Yemi does not deserve this girl, and I hope this gets set right in book 2 (hopefully in a realistic way, not in a Nova-was-able-to-change-her way). But I have faith in this point based on the author’s note.
I also appreciated that romance was not a big part of the book.
-
What didn’t work:
This being said, I felt like DNF’ing this book so many times, and I had to drag myself to finish it.
Why? Because it is slow-paced. I went through the book wanting to see her making a bad deal and its consequences and how it would unravel afterwards, only to find out this is right at the end. Everything that you see in the description of the book is exactly what happens in the book. Usually, the description presents a premise for the story, its events happen early on, and set the mood for the rest. In this case, the description presents exactly what happens throughout the entire book. The first 1/3 was very slow and more introductory to the world and its characters. At about 30% of the book, she flees the country. We have to wait until 60% of the book to see her strike a deal with Ursla - a first deal, nothing major. She then strikes the real deal, and only does her part at about 85%, which is when things get mildly interesting, but it is already too late. And right at the end, we see the consequences of her decision. Maybe my expectations could have been better managed with a more mysterious blurb.
Additionally, in the beginning, there were times I was confused and had to reread the prologue and Chapter 1. Some family names appeared without introduction: the first mention of the Blackgate royal family was confusing, as I thought it referred to royals from a neighboring country. I inferred that Qorrea was a title a bit too late - at first, I thought it was a name. The beginning could be improved with some polishing: some paragraphs start abruptly, missing a connection to the previous thought. For example, in chapter 4, “the rock’s library was the single most complete repository [...]”, it was not clear they were in the library; the transition was confusing. As a first-time reader of this story, it felt like there were missing pieces, where the author has the knowledge and assumes we have it too, leading to some back-and-forth to understand what it all means.
Rating: 2.5✨
-
Tropes:
The Little Mermaid retelling (60 years later)
Dark
Actions with real consequences
FMC royalty x FMC queensguard
Political intrigue
Revenge
Bad deals
Curses
-
Content warnings:
-
What it is about:
This book is not a fairytale, and is not exactly a retelling. This book explores how fairytale characters make poor choices and ultimately face their real consequences, beyond the happy endings we are familiar with.
This story takes place 60 years after The Little Mermaid. The main character is Arielle’s granddaughter, a rage-driven girl with anger management issues, and very focused on revenge. Their kingdom is nearly at war, and the same goes for the Mer people, whose throne Arielle left unattended.
-
What I think:
The premise is interesting, and I am tired of books with characters displaying red flags that don’t face any real-life consequences and miraculously change for the sake of the plot. But we all know real life is different. And this book seems to be more realistic regarding that, by showing how Arielle’s choices affected her lineage, and her people (both on land and in the sea).
I did not relate to the main character (Yemi), but I don’t see this as a negative. I understand this is part of the plot and the author’s goal. I am hoping there will be a lesson to learn from this, perhaps some character growth in the second book, and/or some real consequences.
I could see the conflicting desires Yemi and Nova had for their future together. Nova is very loyal, too loyal, refusing to leave Yemi alone to the point of sacrificing her own wants for Yemi’s. It is cute, but Yemi does not deserve this girl, and I hope this gets set right in book 2 (hopefully in a realistic way, not in a Nova-was-able-to-change-her way). But I have faith in this point based on the author’s note.
I also appreciated that romance was not a big part of the book.
-
What didn’t work:
This being said, I felt like DNF’ing this book so many times, and I had to drag myself to finish it.
Why? Because it is slow-paced. I went through the book wanting to see her making a bad deal and its consequences and how it would unravel afterwards, only to find out this is right at the end. Everything that you see in the description of the book is exactly what happens in the book. Usually, the description presents a premise for the story, its events happen early on, and set the mood for the rest. In this case, the description presents exactly what happens throughout the entire book. The first 1/3 was very slow and more introductory to the world and its characters. At about 30% of the book, she flees the country. We have to wait until 60% of the book to see her strike a deal with Ursla - a first deal, nothing major. She then strikes the real deal, and only does her part at about 85%, which is when things get mildly interesting, but it is already too late. And right at the end, we see the consequences of her decision. Maybe my expectations could have been better managed with a more mysterious blurb.
Additionally, in the beginning, there were times I was confused and had to reread the prologue and Chapter 1. Some family names appeared without introduction: the first mention of the Blackgate royal family was confusing, as I thought it referred to royals from a neighboring country. I inferred that Qorrea was a title a bit too late - at first, I thought it was a name. The beginning could be improved with some polishing: some paragraphs start abruptly, missing a connection to the previous thought. For example, in chapter 4, “the rock’s library was the single most complete repository [...]”, it was not clear they were in the library; the transition was confusing. As a first-time reader of this story, it felt like there were missing pieces, where the author has the knowledge and assumes we have it too, leading to some back-and-forth to understand what it all means.
March 6, 2026
4.25 for me.
This was definitely an epic fantasy so if that is not ur jam this may not be the book for you because it can feel like a heavy read at times. Now there were a lot of things I liked but some things didn't quite hit the mark.
This book definitely took the little mermaid story and expanded upon it in a way that was really cool and I loved the concept and I think that was executed well. It was really cool to explore the idea of what happens next and the consequences of those choices and the effect they can have on the generations to come and how while you may prosper from your choice's others may suffer because of them. I also appreciated that the way the author did their worldbuilding which is the info dump style. That way is just my preferred method, and I think it was done well especially for an epic fantasy bc I understood this world, how it came into being and the conflicts that were going on and once I understood that I could focus on the actual details of the story which as an epic fantasy were dense at times.
I also really liked Yemi the FMC and queen to be, and I felt like her choices were ones I would make. Now that's to say I have no desire to be in a position of power, and I know I am not suited for it, but I understood Yemi and her rational. Because for me I will take care of everyone but if you turn your eyes to hurt those in my community especially my family/friends well let's just say that the taking of a tongue would be the least drastic thing I would do. Maybe that's just proof that both of us are not suited to being in charge but oh well. It also really annoyed me that everyone around her was so risk adverse and war adverse which yes war should always be a last resort, but when you see the sparks of a fire you have to actively take measures to put out the fire. You don't take a wait and see approach or half measures and hope it doesn't fame into an inferno destroying everyone and everything you care about.
Now where it didn't quite hit the mark for me is that that while I appreciated the info dump at the start the first 30-35% of the book the pacing was really really slow. Even though things were happening it just felt like the story was dragging. It really started to pick up at the 35% mark but that last couple chapters were my favorite. I also want to say the romance in this book is not the point of the story it is very much a subplot which I wouldn't have an issue with except for me Yemi and Nova have almost no romantic chemistry for me at least. Now Yemi is the queen to be, and Nova is her bodyguard and their relationship felt more like work besties that are ride or die in the workplace even though Nova needs to check Yemi at times but out of work outside of work events they wouldn't hang out. The chemistry for me just barely there for me romantically and what was there felt more like a business friendship if that makes sense. I did like that no one questioned their relationship and eventual marriage and that it the norm.
Overall, this was a really interesting book that I think I will read the next book even though I did struggle at times with it because I am very intrigued with where the story is going to go as this left on a very interesting cliff hanger.
----
This book is about Yemi who the granddaughter of the legendary mermaid Arielle is, but she has never known a fairytale life. With her father assassinated, her mother dying, and her people turning against her, the future queen of Ixia is fueled by fury only her fiancée and bodyguard Nova can steady. But when a coup to steal her throne occurs just days after the passing of her mother, Yemi is forced into exile. And who is there with waiting arms...Ursla. Just as with her grandmother the sea‑witch is offering her a deal. A deal that would offer her just enough power to reclaim her kingdom and protect the woman she loves, but as with every bargain it has a cost. Because Ursla has waited generations for her revenge, and Yemi may lose far more than her crown if she accepts the deal.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was definitely an epic fantasy so if that is not ur jam this may not be the book for you because it can feel like a heavy read at times. Now there were a lot of things I liked but some things didn't quite hit the mark.
This book definitely took the little mermaid story and expanded upon it in a way that was really cool and I loved the concept and I think that was executed well. It was really cool to explore the idea of what happens next and the consequences of those choices and the effect they can have on the generations to come and how while you may prosper from your choice's others may suffer because of them. I also appreciated that the way the author did their worldbuilding which is the info dump style. That way is just my preferred method, and I think it was done well especially for an epic fantasy bc I understood this world, how it came into being and the conflicts that were going on and once I understood that I could focus on the actual details of the story which as an epic fantasy were dense at times.
I also really liked Yemi the FMC and queen to be, and I felt like her choices were ones I would make. Now that's to say I have no desire to be in a position of power, and I know I am not suited for it, but I understood Yemi and her rational. Because for me I will take care of everyone but if you turn your eyes to hurt those in my community especially my family/friends well let's just say that the taking of a tongue would be the least drastic thing I would do. Maybe that's just proof that both of us are not suited to being in charge but oh well. It also really annoyed me that everyone around her was so risk adverse and war adverse which yes war should always be a last resort, but when you see the sparks of a fire you have to actively take measures to put out the fire. You don't take a wait and see approach or half measures and hope it doesn't fame into an inferno destroying everyone and everything you care about.
Now where it didn't quite hit the mark for me is that that while I appreciated the info dump at the start the first 30-35% of the book the pacing was really really slow. Even though things were happening it just felt like the story was dragging. It really started to pick up at the 35% mark but that last couple chapters were my favorite. I also want to say the romance in this book is not the point of the story it is very much a subplot which I wouldn't have an issue with except for me Yemi and Nova have almost no romantic chemistry for me at least. Now Yemi is the queen to be, and Nova is her bodyguard and their relationship felt more like work besties that are ride or die in the workplace even though Nova needs to check Yemi at times but out of work outside of work events they wouldn't hang out. The chemistry for me just barely there for me romantically and what was there felt more like a business friendship if that makes sense. I did like that no one questioned their relationship and eventual marriage and that it the norm.
Overall, this was a really interesting book that I think I will read the next book even though I did struggle at times with it because I am very intrigued with where the story is going to go as this left on a very interesting cliff hanger.
----
This book is about Yemi who the granddaughter of the legendary mermaid Arielle is, but she has never known a fairytale life. With her father assassinated, her mother dying, and her people turning against her, the future queen of Ixia is fueled by fury only her fiancée and bodyguard Nova can steady. But when a coup to steal her throne occurs just days after the passing of her mother, Yemi is forced into exile. And who is there with waiting arms...Ursla. Just as with her grandmother the sea‑witch is offering her a deal. A deal that would offer her just enough power to reclaim her kingdom and protect the woman she loves, but as with every bargain it has a cost. Because Ursla has waited generations for her revenge, and Yemi may lose far more than her crown if she accepts the deal.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
April 13, 2026
***Thank you to Saga Press for providing an advanced copy of the book. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***
Year of the Mer took a bit of time to settle into a good rhythm, but it did eventually reel me in with its fascinating world-building, brutal plot, and conniving sea witches. The first third or so of the story was very heavy on the lore and introducing a ton of characters, which did bog things down some. It didn’t help that a lot of the kingdom’s history and the characters’ relationships felt incredibly convoluted and hard to follow at times. I’m still not sure that all of the motivations behind the different wars, betrayals, and coup attempts made sense to me, but I had fun trying to piece the puzzle of it all together and following all of the action. Regardless of whether I understood it all, the history of this kingdom was undeniably a MESS that led back to one person: Arielle.
Year of the Mer was definitely not the Little Mermaid from my childhood. lol. This book was dark, gritty, and full of vengeance. I liked how it dared to show all of the undesirable consequences of Arielle’s actions, including the negative impacts on her own family. Her happily ever after caused so much strife for everyone and played right into a long-term plan by Ursla that destabilized both the human and mer realms, which left them ripe for a takeover.
The central figure of Year of the Mer, Yemi, was so deeply unlikable. Even in her best moments, she was kind of awful. For the first part of the book, she constantly complained about being a royal and the limitations that role placed on her. Then when she lost her throne, she did a complete 180. She just had to have it back because it was hers alone. Granted, the people who took it from her were awful, too, but Yemi had no interest in being a leader or helping her people. If anything, she saw them as an enemy to be conquered so that she could have the deference she was due. Honestly, I hated her and kept waiting for the moment she finally realized that she was being an entitled, selfish brat. Instead, she just kept getting worse and worse while pushing away those who loved her the most, which was an interesting arc to follow. Despite loathing her, I still found myself empathizing with her. She’d lost everything and been tossed aside to watch her family’s legacy be erased. I’d probably want vengeance in her shoes, too. I also found it interesting that her journey mirrored Arielle’s in so many ways, albeit much darker.
Don’t go into Year of the Mer expecting a ton of romance. The central relationship of this story between Yemi and Nova never felt very romantic. It seemed like it was born more out of duty than romance. Nova was Yemi’s bodyguard, and most of their relationship consisted of Nova trying to talk Yemi out of doing rash and horrible things. As the story progressed, this dynamic eventually became a bigger and bigger wedge between them. I did like Nova, though. She was tough, loyal, and principled. She had to face some horrible stuff in this novel, but she always did it with a sense of level-headedness that I admired.
Year of the Mer explored some interesting themes, as well. Obviously, generational trauma was front and center, given the story’s emphasis on how Arielle’s actions reverberated down to her child and grandchild. The story also pointed out the tendency of humans to abandon their past for the sake of progress. Old traditions often fall by the wayside as new innovations take center stage. Something about this story made it feel like a warning to discard the past at one’s own peril. Both Ursla and Yemi were also the poster children for absolute power corrupts absolutely.
All in all, I enjoyed my time reading Year of the Mer. Despite the extremely unlikable main character, the story was quite the ride. From coups to underwater kingdoms to unleashed vengeance generations in the making, this book had lots to sink my teeth into. Therefore, I rate it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Year of the Mer took a bit of time to settle into a good rhythm, but it did eventually reel me in with its fascinating world-building, brutal plot, and conniving sea witches. The first third or so of the story was very heavy on the lore and introducing a ton of characters, which did bog things down some. It didn’t help that a lot of the kingdom’s history and the characters’ relationships felt incredibly convoluted and hard to follow at times. I’m still not sure that all of the motivations behind the different wars, betrayals, and coup attempts made sense to me, but I had fun trying to piece the puzzle of it all together and following all of the action. Regardless of whether I understood it all, the history of this kingdom was undeniably a MESS that led back to one person: Arielle.
Year of the Mer was definitely not the Little Mermaid from my childhood. lol. This book was dark, gritty, and full of vengeance. I liked how it dared to show all of the undesirable consequences of Arielle’s actions, including the negative impacts on her own family. Her happily ever after caused so much strife for everyone and played right into a long-term plan by Ursla that destabilized both the human and mer realms, which left them ripe for a takeover.
The central figure of Year of the Mer, Yemi, was so deeply unlikable. Even in her best moments, she was kind of awful. For the first part of the book, she constantly complained about being a royal and the limitations that role placed on her. Then when she lost her throne, she did a complete 180. She just had to have it back because it was hers alone. Granted, the people who took it from her were awful, too, but Yemi had no interest in being a leader or helping her people. If anything, she saw them as an enemy to be conquered so that she could have the deference she was due. Honestly, I hated her and kept waiting for the moment she finally realized that she was being an entitled, selfish brat. Instead, she just kept getting worse and worse while pushing away those who loved her the most, which was an interesting arc to follow. Despite loathing her, I still found myself empathizing with her. She’d lost everything and been tossed aside to watch her family’s legacy be erased. I’d probably want vengeance in her shoes, too. I also found it interesting that her journey mirrored Arielle’s in so many ways, albeit much darker.
Don’t go into Year of the Mer expecting a ton of romance. The central relationship of this story between Yemi and Nova never felt very romantic. It seemed like it was born more out of duty than romance. Nova was Yemi’s bodyguard, and most of their relationship consisted of Nova trying to talk Yemi out of doing rash and horrible things. As the story progressed, this dynamic eventually became a bigger and bigger wedge between them. I did like Nova, though. She was tough, loyal, and principled. She had to face some horrible stuff in this novel, but she always did it with a sense of level-headedness that I admired.
Year of the Mer explored some interesting themes, as well. Obviously, generational trauma was front and center, given the story’s emphasis on how Arielle’s actions reverberated down to her child and grandchild. The story also pointed out the tendency of humans to abandon their past for the sake of progress. Old traditions often fall by the wayside as new innovations take center stage. Something about this story made it feel like a warning to discard the past at one’s own peril. Both Ursla and Yemi were also the poster children for absolute power corrupts absolutely.
All in all, I enjoyed my time reading Year of the Mer. Despite the extremely unlikable main character, the story was quite the ride. From coups to underwater kingdoms to unleashed vengeance generations in the making, this book had lots to sink my teeth into. Therefore, I rate it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
January 23, 2026
The Year of the Mer is based on a fascinating premise - what if we could see the outcome of The Little Mermaid beyond the "happily ever after"? In the land of Ixia, Arielle's granddaughter, Yemaya, is in line to become the next ruler of the realm. Though she occupies a privileged position of power, her life has been more tragic than most. Her cherished father was assassinated years ago by those intolerant of Mer ancestry on the throne, and her mother was severely wounded and poisoned in a similar attack. As the effects of her mother's poisoning progress beyond treatment, Yemi must prepare to ascend the throne at a time of growing unease in her nation. Restless and at their breaking point after decades of bloodshed, there are those in Ixia who believe the only path to future peace is to remove Yemi, and therefore her bloodline, from the throne. When this restlessness boils over into a coup, Yemi is forced to go on the run with Nova, her bodyguard and beloved. As she confronts her Mer heritage and attempts to take back her throne, she meets the feared sea witch Ursla, who is as dangerous as she is powerful. Much like her grandmother before her, Yemi is tempted to make a bargain with the sea witch, once and for all avenging her family and establishing herself as the rightful, unquestioned ruler of Ixia. However, Ursla has been making deals with desperate humans for centuries, and Yemi soon realizes that any deal she makes may cost more than she is willing to pay.
As someone who grew up as part of the prime viewing audience for Disney's The Little Mermaid (and, like the author, also had some *strong* second-hand embarrassment/concerns about the way Ariel behaved), I was immediately drawn in by the premise of this book. The first prologue, detailing the gods of the land, hints at a great expansion of the story's mythology, and I was really excited to see where things would go. The beginning of the book (~35%) was quite slow, describing the history of the kingdom and setting up the conflict to come later on. Though it was perhaps a bit too slow, I enjoyed seeing the time and detail the author spent on establishing Ixia and its current political climate. However, the rest of the book, specifically Yemi's journey through exile to achieve vengeance, did not work for me at all. Yemi, even giving her grace for her tragic past, is a deeply unlikable character. I usually don't mind disagreeable characters, especially if they are flawed and you can understand why they behave how they do. Unfortunately, Yemi doesn't quite meet that mark. She flits around from one location to another, being incredibly rude to everyone she meets and then acting shocked when they are not willing to aid her in her quest. The worldbuilding also becomes a bit under-baked in the back stretches of the book - I really wanted to get more backstory, especially on the Mer kingdoms and their history with Ursla, but the plot moved on from them very quickly. Though you could argue that Yemi gets her comeuppance in the end, it wasn't enough for me to enjoy the story overall. However, the ending of the book is quite shocking and seems to set up an interesting premise for the next installment.
Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
As someone who grew up as part of the prime viewing audience for Disney's The Little Mermaid (and, like the author, also had some *strong* second-hand embarrassment/concerns about the way Ariel behaved), I was immediately drawn in by the premise of this book. The first prologue, detailing the gods of the land, hints at a great expansion of the story's mythology, and I was really excited to see where things would go. The beginning of the book (~35%) was quite slow, describing the history of the kingdom and setting up the conflict to come later on. Though it was perhaps a bit too slow, I enjoyed seeing the time and detail the author spent on establishing Ixia and its current political climate. However, the rest of the book, specifically Yemi's journey through exile to achieve vengeance, did not work for me at all. Yemi, even giving her grace for her tragic past, is a deeply unlikable character. I usually don't mind disagreeable characters, especially if they are flawed and you can understand why they behave how they do. Unfortunately, Yemi doesn't quite meet that mark. She flits around from one location to another, being incredibly rude to everyone she meets and then acting shocked when they are not willing to aid her in her quest. The worldbuilding also becomes a bit under-baked in the back stretches of the book - I really wanted to get more backstory, especially on the Mer kingdoms and their history with Ursla, but the plot moved on from them very quickly. Though you could argue that Yemi gets her comeuppance in the end, it wasn't enough for me to enjoy the story overall. However, the ending of the book is quite shocking and seems to set up an interesting premise for the next installment.
Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
April 16, 2026
Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for this ARC!
I wanted to love this book, but did not. The concept and fact that it was a retelling with primarily queer and/or BIPOC characters really drew me in. But I really disliked this book and found it incredibly challenging to get through. I almost DNF'd multiple times, and I wish I did.
The main issue I took was with the main character, Yemi. We are mostly in her POV throughout the book, and she was so entitled and unlikable. I have read characters before who are purposefully unlikable that sort of teaches you about why someone would make their decisions, and the book is still good despite the character. This was not that. Yemi is fighting for a throne to be the monarch over humans, but constantly expresses how much she hates humanity and men. The only reason she has for being interested in getting her throne back is vengeance for her parents/family, but even then it feels weak. Towards the end of the book, she finally starts to explore the Mer side of her, and it would have been far more interesting if that played a role in her earlier journey and dealing with the god/monster side of her while trying to rule humanity. But I found no redeeming qualities in Yemi, and could not see why we were supposed to be rooting for her. And if we were NOT supposed to be rooting for her, that was not clear.
Another issue I took was the pacing and writing of this book. Up until the last 10-15% of the book, it felt like almost nothing was happening, but it was taking forever to get there. I don't know if it was that there was so much long and flowery language that it just took up space on the page, but I was reading and reading with nothing happening. During this part of the book, the world building was not interesting enough to grab my attention or make me care. Once the plot did pick up, it still suffered from the same thing. Plot points were happening, but it took a long time to get through them all. I hope that there was another edit before this book hit shelves.
Connected to that, and part of why I think the pacing and over-explaining of everything was happening, was that the author did a lot of telling, not showing. This to me was most evident in Yemi and Nova's relationship. I have no idea why the two of them were together. They told us in their separate POV's that they loved each other, but there were few tender scenes, or instances of seeing why Nova put up with Yemi when she wanted a normal life. And the scenes that were present often had an overcurrent of the rest of the plot. Telling me that two characters are in love is not enough for me to believe it. I got the sense that these two characters were in love once, but had just gotten into habit.
The last 15% of the book picked up so much, and the Epilogue was the most interesting part of this story. I wish that was brought into more of the book (or at least the battle within characters between Mer and Human). But even though I liked the Epilogue, I can't fathom having to read the sequel to this book and put myself through that again. Since the book is the first in a duology, I think it suffered from having a plot that could stand alone by itself, and from trying to maybe drag a story that should have been one book into two books.
I wanted to love this book, but did not. The concept and fact that it was a retelling with primarily queer and/or BIPOC characters really drew me in. But I really disliked this book and found it incredibly challenging to get through. I almost DNF'd multiple times, and I wish I did.
The main issue I took was with the main character, Yemi. We are mostly in her POV throughout the book, and she was so entitled and unlikable. I have read characters before who are purposefully unlikable that sort of teaches you about why someone would make their decisions, and the book is still good despite the character. This was not that. Yemi is fighting for a throne to be the monarch over humans, but constantly expresses how much she hates humanity and men. The only reason she has for being interested in getting her throne back is vengeance for her parents/family, but even then it feels weak. Towards the end of the book, she finally starts to explore the Mer side of her, and it would have been far more interesting if that played a role in her earlier journey and dealing with the god/monster side of her while trying to rule humanity. But I found no redeeming qualities in Yemi, and could not see why we were supposed to be rooting for her. And if we were NOT supposed to be rooting for her, that was not clear.
Another issue I took was the pacing and writing of this book. Up until the last 10-15% of the book, it felt like almost nothing was happening, but it was taking forever to get there. I don't know if it was that there was so much long and flowery language that it just took up space on the page, but I was reading and reading with nothing happening. During this part of the book, the world building was not interesting enough to grab my attention or make me care. Once the plot did pick up, it still suffered from the same thing. Plot points were happening, but it took a long time to get through them all. I hope that there was another edit before this book hit shelves.
Connected to that, and part of why I think the pacing and over-explaining of everything was happening, was that the author did a lot of telling, not showing. This to me was most evident in Yemi and Nova's relationship. I have no idea why the two of them were together. They told us in their separate POV's that they loved each other, but there were few tender scenes, or instances of seeing why Nova put up with Yemi when she wanted a normal life. And the scenes that were present often had an overcurrent of the rest of the plot. Telling me that two characters are in love is not enough for me to believe it. I got the sense that these two characters were in love once, but had just gotten into habit.
The last 15% of the book picked up so much, and the Epilogue was the most interesting part of this story. I wish that was brought into more of the book (or at least the battle within characters between Mer and Human). But even though I liked the Epilogue, I can't fathom having to read the sequel to this book and put myself through that again. Since the book is the first in a duology, I think it suffered from having a plot that could stand alone by itself, and from trying to maybe drag a story that should have been one book into two books.
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