Review of Mermaids Never Drown
Mermaids Never Drown, edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker (Feiwel and Friends, 2023), is a wonderful collection of stories of a variety of creatures in the seas, including but not limited to mermaids. The stories range from humorous to dark, but frequently include fraught relationships between mothers and daughters, often as a part of generational differences.
All of the stories in this anthology were fantastic, but a number of them stuck with me long after reading. Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s “Shark Week” had the kind of snarky teenage narrator that I adore, making the story hilarious, but it was also heartwarming by the end. Darcie Little Badger’s “The Deepwater Vandal” imagines a world in which monstrous creatures of the sea are created by their emotions, and what happens when one such creature’s human daughter tries to bring her father back. “Storm Song” by Rebecca Coffindaffer and “Six Thousand Miles” by Julie C. Dao, which begin and end the book, respectively, are both wonderful stories of being true to yourself in spite of pressures from society and family. “The Nightingale’s Lament” by Kerri Maniscalco had a lovely interplay between two points of view, culminating in surprises for them both. And finally, June Hur’s “Jinju’s Pearls,” set in historical Korea, is a gorgeously written tale of a young woman sifting through lies from those around her to discover the truth.
Though I haven’t mentioned every story in the book, all of them were wonderful in their own particular ways. Some end triumphantly, while others end in tragedy, but each one explores sea creatures and their worlds and interactions with one another and humanity. If you’re a merfolk fan, check out Mermaids Never Drown!
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