This story is so rich with West African history that I am in awe.

This book follows Simi who is a Mama Wati or mermaid whose job is to collect the souls of the dead. However, she makes a mistake when a living boy is thrown of a slave ship and saves his life. Now she must ask for forgiveness from the supreme creator, though there is something out there who is determined to see her fail and makes her journey a lot more difficult.

First off while I am black, West African history and culture is not my history meaning that I came into this not knowing anything about anything. Bowen has a way of writing that makes you understand while still quickly emerging into the story so here I learnt a lot.

The character was loveable and complicated and overall fun. I loved Kola and Simi didn't annoy me too much which was brilliant. The side characters as well even with the length of the book had their distinct personalities which I loved.
 
The plot itself was brilliant and interesting. My only fault is that I wish it was longer. While I'm all here for fast-paced books this felt a little rushed once you got past halfway. I just wish I had longer to learn about the world and characters and also see more of the character that I wanted to.

This also meant that the ending felt a little rushed, the plot twist at the very end made sense but it still like there could have been more around it I would have loved to see the aftermath of everything.

Overall this could have easily been split into a duology which I would have happily read and I'm kind of upset that it wasn't. Although it was fun and short and I enjoyed it a lot.