Unfortunately I had to purchase a new Kindle device and could no longer access this book. I will come back and review if I read this in the future.

Could not review as requested by accident last year, and was unable to get hold of a copy of the first book.

I was so excited to read this after reading The Sea Witch. It took a while to get into the first book but this one was action packed from the off! Set years after the Sea Witch comes to be we become drawn into the drama above and below the water centered about the sea Kings daughter who after rescuing a Prince from drowning wants to go to the surface and become human to win his love. Sticking to the disney version Alia makes a deal with Evie the sea witch who in exchange for legs takes her voice and gives her a set amount of time to complete her task. After realising what her Alia has done her twin Runa also makes a deal with Evie to go and help Alia but if she fails she will remain human for ever.
The story was jam packed with action and mystery. It was great to have the addition of the sea king and witches drama in this story. Runa was my favourite character she was strong and really proved her love for her family. A great ending to the duology and a must for any little mermaid fans

When the Sea King's daughter becomes human in her quest for love, it may bring war between the sea and the land.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It has been fifty years since Evie became the Sea Witch. The merpeople both fear and respect her magic, without knowing the true girl behind the tentacles.
When Alia, one of the Sea King's daughters, approaches her and catches her attention with the story of a long-harboured love with a human King; Evie agrees to give the mermaid four days on land to win her true love's kiss, or fade into the waves.

It's made more complicated when the truth comes out - that the royal is due to marry in 3 days, and that Alia may have stretched the truth on how well and how long she has known Niklas.
Her twin sister Runa makes a deal with the Sea Witch, to force her sister to kill Nik, the sacrifice turning them both back into mermaids.

This is set in the midst of First World War. Havnestad has gotten away lightly so far, but the seas are filled with mines instead of fish, and they have agreed to build u-boats for the Germans.
They have no idea that war is brewing under the sea, as the power-hungry king turns his eyes to the land magic.

I really enjoyed the first book. It had a few hints of the Hans Christian Anderson version, but was completely its own story.

I thought that Sea Witch Rising was much slower to start with. I think it tries to focus too much on being a re-telling of The Little Mermaid, that it never really gains much traction.
I wasn't a fan of Alia and Nik, our star-crossed pair. They lacked any real sincerity, and Nik's character in particular was quite shallow.

The second half picks up nicely, as it goes off on a tangent and creates something much more original.
I liked Runa's time with the land witches, as the human-hating mermaid starts to see that the world is bigger than she imagined, and there are big battles and little battles being fought every day.
Personally, I thought Runa's storyline was perfectly strong by itself, and the romantic aspect was completely unnecessary. It would have been interesting to see a mermaid find peace on land, without romantic love being involved.

Sadly, Evie's parts in the book weren't as interesting as Runa's. Yes, she's trapped in her lair, and that does limit things a little, but I started glossing over her chapters.

Overall, this was a 3.5 out of 5 for me.

I was hooked on the first book and really enjoyed it. I can't say that I was as hooked this time and I don't know why. The story was interesting and enjoyable. I guess I couldn't see the end point of the story - you just went from one point to the other with no overarching end point. I always thought the books were a duology, but the author seems to have left it open for a third book. I do hope it happens as I didn't think the ending was very final and it was a little rushed

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

I want to start by saying how gorgeous are the Sea witch covers!!?? I absolutely loved the first book Sea Witch, listened via audio. I love anything even slightly related to evil sea queens, and ursula, mermaids, sirens, octopus, give me all the sea goodness! I absolutely adore Sarah Henning and her writing, but for some reason I just couldn't get into Sea Witch Rising like I did the first one. I kept reading and stopping and reading and stopping.  I'm hoping to pick this back up again when I'm feeling in a better headspace, but honestly I would reccomend anything by Sarah, such a wonderful Author.

For me it's  a DNF for now. I'm so sad I couldn't finish this , so I can't give it an accurate rating, but please give this a go if you enjoyed the first Book, it might just not be for me at this time.

I am always thrilled to read about mermaids. This sequel is extremely satisfying in that sense. I love the twin sibling trope so much. I like how the book picked up exactly around where the first book ends.
Loved the setting as well.

unfortunately, this book wasn't for me the first book in this series was amazing but this just seemed to be an unnecessary add on to it, it just didn't match the expectations I had after reading just a breathtaking first book , don't get me wrong the characters were still good but it was just the events that followed and the relationships that just failed to spark that love for me , but for the fact that the characters where still amazing im still going to give this book a fair two stars.

Sea Witch Rising is a solid sequel to The Sea Witch, an origin story for Ursula, the villainess of The Little Mermaid. This sequel is well-written and set 50 years ahead of the first book. This one is more of a Little Mermaid retelling. Highly recommended to readers who enjoy fantasy retellings of classic tales.

Another wonderful read from Sarah Henning, I enjoyed The Sea Witch so much and this its sequel. Told in dual POVs this book is well written, the POVs work so well and really makes a difference to the tale. This is a great retelling, goes straight from the first book and is yet again an epic story, full of romance and also heart break. If you loved the Sea witch you need to pick this up now


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion


https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R74A8XHABBE8I/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8

I was really excited to read this book. I'd heard a lot of hype about it and its prequel, Sea Witch.

I feel like I can't really say much about the book without spoilers for the first book, and I don't do spoilers! I will say that this book follows on directly from the end of the first book. Sea Witch is an origins story, and Sea Witch Rising is a continuation of that but goes forward some time into the future.

The second book does go back to some things that happen in the first book. When I first started reading Sea Witch Rising, I hadn't read the first book. After a few pages I realised I had no idea what was going on! So I went back and read the first book. And I am so glad I did because after reading the second book I know what a huge difference it made to my enjoyment of reading it. So I wouldn't really recommend reading this unless you've read Sea Witch first. I would recommend reading that book anyway, because I loved it.

I'm only briefly going to mention The Little Mermaid link with this book. Yes, some of the characters and ideas are similar, but I don't feel it does this book any justice by comparing it to a Disney movie (which I'm not dissing at all, and it's actually one of my favourite films ever believe it or not!). This book has so much more depth of feeling and character than any hour-long cartoon could ever have.

The writing is excellent in this book. The author is very skilled at descriptive writing, especially around weather, the elements, and the sea. The character development is also really good, and by the end of the book I felt connected to the main characters and like I had gotten to know them well. I can always tell if an author has done a good job with the characters if I feel happy or sad with their successes and failures, and I definitely did that with these characters.

I think the only negative really was that I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the first book. Somehow this one lost me a little near the beginning, but by the end I was absolutely there.

I was really happy with the way the book ended. I hope there will be another book, but on the other hand it would be nice to leave the characters where they are. Definitely a good series for any YA fantasy fans.

I admit when this was first announced I was dubious but I didnt need to be. I enjoyed this as much as the first book and it worked really well as a continuation as well as a retelling of the little mermaid too. The characters were compelling and I liked the way it was split between Runa and Evie.

The Sea Witch Rising is a remarkable reimagining of the little mermaid. The supporting characters of Hans Christian Anderson's original tale come to the forefront of this nee book. Henning creates complex characters and different perspectives on every aspect of the original tale. I was impressed with how this book went beyond the origonal narrative, how the little mermaid herself is not as major a character as both the Sea Witch, and her twin, Runa. Runa was such a wonderful character to read. She makes mistakes and is a deeply flawed character and yet loves fiercely and is achingly relatable. I love fairy tale retellings and this was one of the most nail-biting ones I've read. I never knew what was going to happen next. I enjoyed this book immensely.

I’m not normally a fantasy lover, but always have loved the little mermaid and thought this book was a well written story played on TLM!!  I was excited to get the second book to continue on and was pleasantly surprised the author literally carried on!  Well written, amazing characters, and a beautiful land to discover under the sea!  
Will make sure I buzz it up!

The story picks up at the exact moment the last book ended. We get more great characters, and we explore the dynamic between the Sea Witch and the little mermaid as it retold the classic tale. . This story focuses on love, but not the romantic kind, but a sisterly one. Runa and Evie are great characters. Runa and Alia are like two halves to a whole, and Runa will do anything to save her sister. It`s hard not to love Evie as we learn that she has become the witch she is because of all she`s been thtough. We learn that she became chained to her lair by the power hungry Sea King, and the decisions that led her to her confinement.
I loved the added layers of depth that were missing from the original story of the Little Mermaid.  I liked how vulnerable the characters were, while also being strong and brave, loyal and dedicated. There was action, love, betrayal, and heartbreak.  Also, placing the story during the time of WWI was very smart, as we are exposed to the hostilities that took place on both land and sea, raising the stakes for both the mermaids and those on land.

I really enjoyed this! I enjoyed the first book last year, and was looking forward to this. I liked the take on the story originally, and this follows on really nicely - encompassing more of the little mermaid story we know, but still putting its own twist - like Runa, the sea king and the war. I particularly liked how the war played into it, and into the threat to the underwater kingdom.

I ended up really liking Alia, who I thought was initially a little naive, but Runa was the star of the show for me. Her dedication to her sister was so lovely, and how she wanted to do what was right. Her coven was super fun, as was the difference between sea and land magic.

Plus again it challenges who we perceive as the bad and good guys. I did want a little more history into the sea king, to see some of his motivations, but other than that I thought it was perfectly balanced.

I read a majority of this but found the story to be a bit underwhelming and the characters weak. I thought since I generally liked the first one I would also like this but it was underwhelming and not worth the energy i put in pushing through this.

I honestly didn’t know if I would enjoy this. I felt The Sea Witch was the end but damn I guess I was wrong.
This book was intriguing, it twisted the original tale into something new. There was love and loss and a lust for power but not in the way we knew. 
There is more than one side to every story and the villain is never the villain in their own tale.
I love what Henning has done with this book, the twists kept me on my toes and kept me reading.
Just when I thought I had it all figured out it changed! 
I love Evie, I adore her character as flawed as it is and I love Runa.
The two of them in this story made it what it was.

I have to admit I enjoyed this one more than the first in the series. The story overall was more engaging and I do feel we got a wee bit more insight into the merworld and the magic system that was missing from the first book. However, this book still had its faults. 

Like the first book the plot of this one changes into a completely different story for the second half and it is that half that is the most entertaining with most of the action. And again the first half was somewhat boring, even a little run of the mill. Its the little mermaid story mixed with the Frozen, sisters saving sisters storyline, that has no real thrill to it. We can already predict what is going to happen.

The second half is where this book gets interesting. This seems more like the story Henning wanted to tell and I don’t know why this had to be a series as this would have been perfectly fine as a stand alone. In fact the prologue contains a great recap (I wish more books did this) of the first in the series that you could just read this one on its own and be more that satisfied with the series. 

Again its just lacking a bit of the page turning excitement to continue reading to move it up the the star ratings so it is a solid 3 stars, it entertains but doesn’t make it to the top books read list.