Publishers Weekly
01/27/2020
This immersive retelling of “The Little Mermaid” follows Sanna, a half-landish mermaid who leaves her flok to seek her human mother. Advised by the ancient, riddle-tongued sea witch Sjældent, Sanna is bound for the castle ruled by ageless and unkind Baroness Thyrla, a witch who steals youth and power from others, even her infant children. When an accidental display of magic convinces the local priest and townsfolk that Sanna is a miracle worker, she finds herself betrothed to Thyrla’s attractive but useless son, but she’s no closer to finding her mother or securing the undefined treasure that Sjældent requires as payment. Juxtaposed against the patriarchal culture wherein Thyrla has amassed and maintained power (one in which rape and infanticide are common), Cokal (The Kingdom of Little Wounds) creates a well-developed matriarchal mermaid mythology in which women couple, bonded by love and respect, and men are largely unnecessary. Through several voices and richly detailed prose, these markedly different worlds overlap and diverge to impart a nuanced exploration of power, family, faith, and love. Ages 14–up. Agent: Stephen Barbara, Inkwell Management. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
Juxtaposed against the patriarchal culture wherein Thyrla has amassed and maintained power (one in which rape and infanticide are common), Cokal (The Kingdom of Little Wounds) creates a well-developed matriarchal mermaid mythology in which women couple, bonded by love and respect, and men are largely unnecessary. Through several voices and richly detailed prose, these markedly different worlds overlap and diverge to impart a nuanced exploration of power, family, faith, and love.
—Publishers Weekly
Thyrla, however, is a villain on par with Maleficent, cool, calculating, and so invested in power that she’s willingly sacrificed nearly her entire family—including children she specifically bore to kill—to keep her hold on the island and her youth. It’s the revelation of her love for her son that makes her the most complicated, if not sympathetic, character here, a far more interesting foil to pure-hearted Sanna...a haunting tale of love, betrayal, and family, on land and in sea.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Lyrical, complex, and occasionally dark, with rich rewards for patient readers. Suggest this to thoughtful readers looking for strong females, unexpected twists, and a relatively happy ending. A good fit for fans of Margo Lanagan’s The Brides of Rollrock Island.
—School Library Journal
Mermaid Moon is an action-packed tale of parental abandonment, familial longing, treachery and dark magic with an appealingly determined heroine.
—BookPage
Mermaid Moon is a beautifully told, immersive novel that layers fairy-tale elements with more modern themes, allowing for a different experience with every reread.
—Shelf Awareness for Readers
This gorgeously designed, lushly written offering from Printz Honor winner Cokal (The Kingdom of Little Wounds, 2013), which builds upon the themes of The Little Mermaid, explores how femininity manifests in Sanna’s matriarchal society and outside of it. Told by a vast chorus of voices, this is a rich and stunning story that dives to startling depths, and literary teens will savor it.
—Booklist Online
School Library Journal - Audio
07/01/2020
Gr 9 Up—Sanna is a half-landish mermaid. When she was born, the witch who delivered her cast a spell to make people, including her mother, forget her birth. Longing to find her mother, and following the ancient riddle of the sea witch Sjeldent, Sanna finds herself at a town and castle run by the ageless Baroness Thryla, a witch who steals youth and power from people. Soon, she is betrothed to the witch's useless son, Peta. Narrators Jess Nahikian and Stina Nielsen do a good job of adding a mystical element to the characters' voices. The pacing matches well with the darker fantasy plot. The slightly monotone intonations in parts of the book, however, may disengage some listeners. VERDICT A good addition to library collections where fantasy, adventure, and strong female protagonists are popular.—Kira Moody, Salt Lake County Lib. Svcs.
School Library Journal
02/01/2020
Gr 9 Up—"This is just a children's tale; would you wreck your ship for it?" Sanna and her marreminde sisters lure passing sailors to their deaths with siren songs, as their mothers did before them. Though Sanna's voice is one of the most beautiful, Sanna's mother was landish, not seavish, a fact so unacceptable that the flok matriarch cast a spell of forgetting over everyone involved. Armed with only a name, Lisabet, Sanna magicks herself legs and walks unsteadily ashore to find the castle and, she hopes, news of her mother. Sanna's magic inspires jealousy in the powerful and unnatural Baroness, who manipulates a betrothal to her son. Meanwhile, floating on the seaskin, Sanna's sea sisters and father desperately wait for a song to indicate Sanna's progress and safety. Cokal's moody and sea-drenched tale weaves touches of Hans Christian Andersen with a dash of Pied Piper, using language that gorgeously sets each scene, including the exceedingly creepy bone vault, with its tiny baby skulls and "the yellow-white ribs known as Mother." Lyrical, complex, and occasionally dark, with rich rewards for patient readers. VERDICT Suggest this to thoughtful readers looking for strong females, unexpected twists, and a relatively happy ending. A good fit for fans of Margo Lanagan's The Brides of Rollrock Island.—Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX
Kirkus Reviews
2019-12-08
Printz Award honoree Cokal (The Kingdom of Little Wounds, 2013, etc.) switches from historical fiction to historical fantasy in this loose reinterpretation of Andersen's "The Little Mermaid."
The Thirty-Seven Dark Islands, remote and Scandinavian, are prosperous and bustling. Ruled by the (uncannily) long-lived Baroness Thyrla, watched over by Our Lady of the Sea, an ostensibly Christian statue, this is a place where little changes until a mysterious girl comes ashore. Half-seavish Sanna has grown up a marreminde but longs to find her landish mother. She studied magic in order to form legs and search the land, directed by her flok's ancient witch. Literary writing stuffed with interesting if ancillary historical detail moves through several perspectives. Sanna, despite her strong magic and the narrative's centering of her quest for her mother, tends toward immense passivity; Thyrla, a wicked witch who has killed her own children to prolong her life, propels most of the plot, such as it is, and more time is spent in characters' heads than with their actions or interactions. Questions of power, vanity, and faith are raised, if not always resolved, making this a book suitable for deep reading although unlikely to have wide appeal. Other options trawl similar territory more effectively, particularly Elana K. Arnold's Damsel (2018) and Margo Lanagan's The Brides of Rollrock Island (2012). All characters are white; the mermaid society is bisexual by default.
Intriguing if flawed. (historical note) (Historical fantasy. 13-18)