Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Pages: 336 Genre: Fairytale Retelling, YA fantasy
I was sold by the promise of it being a fairy tale, the wicked deep and witches. I saw Witches and Wicked Deep and instantly requested the e-ARC. **Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the e-ARC** On St. Walpurga's Eve a young, innocent boy has to be lured into the tower to die in order to save the island. Lina Kirk's secret love Thomas is selected, but Lina doesn't want this to happen. She volunteers to go in his place. Once there, Lina meets the queen Eva. Eva saw her sister die to save the boy she loved, and wants to do everything that is possible to save the city. The two start to fall for each other. I think that the world building was fantastic. It was so dark and visually beautiful. The whole description of the magical castle was great. The sea serpent was so interesting and I'm hoping it shows up in a sequel. I did have some questions about the world building, but it is the first in a series, thus I feel like it'll be answered in later books. The writing is also beautiful. It draws you in and just paints everything so clear. If you like books with beautiful writing I highly recommend this to you. I think this novel could've been a bit longer, because we would've got some more questions answered and some more development of Eva's sister. Overall, though I thought this book was great. Eva was interesting but I wish we got more backstory. Lina was fantastic though. She had a good heart and had a great arc. Disclaimer: I have no idea what this story was based off of, but I'm going to be looking it up now. 4/5 stars. I recommend this to fans of beautiful writing, fairy tale settings and witches. I think if you like House of Salt and Sorrows, you should pick it up. They both are dark, fairytale retellings and you can feel like you are right in the story, experiencing the story with them.