#Nesha Reads Skin of the Sea

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1-23-2022: Skin of the Sea, by Natasha Bowen, read by Yetide Badaki.

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BFCD Reviews by Nesha: Skin of the Sea

Usually, I don’t do these for books, because I generally liveblog a book while I’m listening to it, but with Skin of the Sea, much like with Wings of Ebony, I wasn’t really able to do it that way. I started, but eventually couldn’t post my thoughts in the process. For one thing, I couldn’t figure out if I was enjoying the story, and for another thing, there was heavy content material that I had to try to prepare myself to sort through.

Now that the book is behind me, I think I will process everything I remember from it. Spoilers ahead, so only read if you’ve read the book or don’t care about spoilers. Also highly recommended that if you don’t know me or don’t like me not to read, because all of this is just my opinion and only like... loved ones care about that and know how I am.

This book had so much that I loved so deeply, but I didn’t love this book. I loved the world building and I love stories with Orishas. I appreciated all of the African lore and African history in the story and I’m overall grateful for having heard this story because, its like she hoped for in her afterthoughts - I want to learn more about all the things that were written about.

As for the story itself, while well-written, STILL wasn’t written for me, and it had less to do with the structure or style and more to do with the emotional area. I don’t like for a story to make me this sad, and it did. It regularly and almost the entire way through made me sad. I don’t like that. I got depression. Lol. I don’t need more to upset me.

Like, I detached myself from slave narratives years ago, and a lot of the fantasy books by Black authors still at least touch on it, because it was such a portion of our history that it still affects us and for me... that is more than enough. This story was set around the time when they started snatching up the ancestors, and while the story wasn’t ABOUT that, there was enough focus on it at the beginning to start me off on the wrong foot. So, I had a rough and slow start, because I had to keep preparing myself to try.

Then, the pacing was slow in parts and while Simidele is SUCH a relatable and (to me) a likable character, it felt like at no point in the story did she have some type of light. Everything that she was doing was setting her up for this huge sacrifice and sacrifice makes me sad. I don’t want to see Black girls, human nor mermaid sacrifice anything at all, ever. But, if I gotta, I at least want them to gain something for self. 

For even the world, Idc idc... I don’t want Black girls saving everything. BUT - IF IF HAVE TO, because, I AM reading a story with a Black female protagonist, like... GIVE her something for herself. 

Certainly, I know that it isn’t the ending of The Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid was the first fairy tale to ever make me depressed, so I get it, that it is a reimagining of that story and so the Black girl wasn’t going to have a happy ending. I just felt so beaten down already by all of the hardships of the journey and her having like... not even a little bit of joy, unless you count the pining for somebody she knew she couldn’t have as a positive (I don’t). And the fact that it’s much longer than the original The Little Mermaid makes it more hurtful. 

I’m not even huge on romantic love for a story. It wasn’t because she didn’t get her romance. That don’t hardly matter to me at any rate, and the overall story was SO MUCH MORE important than some dude, which... I know there’s a lot of cute lil’ interpretations of The Little Mermaid that try to reinvent her to be this role model who wanted to step out of her father’s control... but like... that’s simply a new spin. The Little Mermaid initially was about this mermaid who was willing to die to be with this man, and even the Disney one relied heavily on the idea of her tie to the world being related to a man!

SO. Compared to actual Little Mermaid canon-wise... Simidele at least doesn’t straight up kill herself because she couldn’t be with a man, and she didn’t get some kind of deal at the end that let her BE with the man either. They chose a more strong Black woman route and she made a big decision to try to fix a mistake that she made (and I appreciated that her mistake wasn’t something tied to being thirsty)...

But. It. Was. Just. Still. So. Sad...

Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have been as sad IF she had just died at the end, despite that being one of the things from my childhood that made me cry over a book. So... I believe that this is a super good book. It was well written and you can tell Sis knows her shit, but SISTER, t’was not for Nesha. I would give this book all the stars for whatever categories, but I personally didn’t enjoy how sad I was the entire time and how even though the world was safe, I still felt like it wasn’t a happy ending. 

She was a tragic hero, and I was heartbroken.

If you are here and can stand sad things, I think it's an interesting take on The Little Mermaid, a beautiful world depicted in Africa with Black characters, and a lovely selection of characters, mythological creatures and figures from West African cultures. Very beautiful world.

I will support the author and reblog things about the book. I just... it hurt for me.

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

That being said, I am only 2+ chapters deep into Skin of the Sea and it is already heartbreaking.

Yetide Badaki has a voice that can say anything to me and I will enjoy it.

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Nesha Reads 2022: My Not-So Organized Liveblogging of Books.

This Poison Heart | This Wicked Fate

Raybearer | Redemptor 

Skin of the Sea

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin | A Psalm of Storms and Silence

The Tea Dragon Society Series: The Tea Dragon Society | The Tea Dragon Festival | The Tea Dragon Tapestry 

Orishas, Goddesses, and Voodoo Queens

The Dreamer Trilogy (Not Black books, but features a prominent Black female character.) I don’t believe that this is the case for the other books by this author. The reason I’m pointing it out here and didn’t for the Tea Dragon Society is that this series is hella long and I wanted MY audience to realize that this trilogy’s representation may not necessarily reflect the remainder of the author’s work and is the only portion of it that I intend to feature in this Black femmecentric space. Call Down the Hawk | Mister Impossible | Greywaren (Releases October 2022. Potentially will not be read until next year)

Iron Widow (This is not a Black story)

Akata Woman (Third installment in The Nsibidi Scripts) 

Bayou Magic *Didn’t liveblog. Very short read and cute story, though

Pinned 

The School for Good and Evil  (Not Black books, but features a prominent female character who will be played by a multiracial girl with some Black ancestry.)

Maya and the Rising Dark Series: I read the first book last year, then reread it this year, along with the sequels. Maya and the Rising Dark (Re-read) | Maya and the Return of the Godlings | Maya and the Lord of Shadows

Blood Like Fate (Sequel to Blood Like Magic)

I am currently not reading anything because of the two job, one off day thing happening, but lemme gon’ head and post this since we’re coming to the end of the year. :)

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I have to change the tags for the series name.

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Yes. I think 3 chapters is enough for one sitting. I will not be powering through this. I've got 12 days before it's due and it might take me that entire time to complete it.

Yetide Badaki has a voice that can say anything to me and I will enjoy it.