This book is the sequel to Skin of the sea. I was surprised that I actually liked the first book a bit more than this one, although I still enjoyed the characters in this one and was pleased to be back in their world.

This book is about Simi, who previously traded away everything she held dear for a chance at saving the world. Now she is sworn to serve a new god watching over the land of the dead deep below the sea. But soon signs of demons begin to appear, and she finds out that there are even darker consequences to her trade. The demons are coming into the human world, and she has no choice but to team up with the trickster god and go back to the land to save the world all over again.

I enjoyed this book, Simi was a great main character as always. I do feel like there was something missing in this book that was present in the previous book, and I think it is the characters. Their friendship and relationships were growing in the last book and it was devastating for Simi to have to leave it all behind, but when she came back they were all so focused on the impending war and demons that they didn't really have a chance to connect again, and I missed that. I wish it hadn't taken the whole book for Simi and Kola to tell each other their feelings, but it was a good ending for them and I would've loved an epilogue about Simi's next adventure and coming back to Kola.

This plot was more focused on politics, gods, and war. This is not a bad thing, I still enjoyed it! It was just quite a different vibe from the first book, more death and destruction than before. But it just shows how high the stakes were for this book. Unfortunately, the plot was a little bit predictable. I did guess exactly what would happen including who would die, who would betray them, and what would happen in the end. This isn't necessarily a bad thing unless you like to be surprised, it shows that the author set everything up and wrote the story in a way that we knew what the correct ending should be.

Overall, this is a great series and I really loved the African mythology that the author was inspired by. It's so interesting and different to a lot of other books. This book was easy to read and a good ending for the characters.

I absolutely loved this book. It was written so well and the characters are fantastic. Would definitely recommend.

The cover of this book is just as stunning as the cover of the first.

And with the stunning cover we are given a beautifully woven story to go with it. It continues to build on the world readers were introduced to in book one full of the heritage , beliefs and stories of Africa.

I loved getting to see Semi and the others again. From start to finish it was breath taking and I had to know what would happen next . To know that the characters would be okay.

The frist book was a powerful story this one is just so much more. I can't wait to see what happens next.

After all they say absence makes the heart grow fonder and Semi promised she would find kola again.

Such a beautiful story. - I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I started reading it before I realised it was a sequel but was able to still enjoy it without having read the first book. It is a tale of love, sacrifice and redemption rooted firmly in African myths, legends and spiritual beliefs.

Sadly this series is a DNF for me. I really tried to perservere, especially since I have the privilege of this earc but I am not enjoying the series so I am unable to review it fully. There were definitely a few elements I liked, I particularly thought the premise of the setting and era was clever but all in all I wasn't interested in the characters.

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy Soul of the Deep as much as it’s first instalment!

I’m not sure if it’s just the timing, but I found myself becoming SO distracted whenever I would read this book. It’s honestly taken me months to finish, and I pretty much just lost interest which makes me so sad! The pacing is quite slow and just didn’t hold my attention for very long.

However. Soul of the Deep is filled with more aspects of West African mythology that I loved reading about. We delved more into characters and their relationships with each other, and the stakes really picked up in this 2nd book.

Despite my lack of engagement, I do think this book is wonderful and would be enjoyed by many others!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the E-arc in exchange for an honest review.

The perfect sequel! Words cannot express how much I loved this book! I just don’t want to say goodbye to this world. I really hope there’s another one!

This is young adult fantasy and it's the second in a duology.

In fulfilling the promise that she made at the end of the first book, our female main character is now watching over the Land of the Dead at the bottom of the ocean. Only the god she now serves did not keep up his end of the bargain and as a result terrible things are happening on the surface and everyone she knows is at risk. She has to return to land to work with various friends and allies, to ensure that something truly evil isn't brought back into the world.

This manages to pack a lot of story into a short book. We get battles and monsters both underwater and on land that have to be fought, bringing back characters from the first book and giving an expanded role to people only mentioned previously.

While this is based on West african mythology, it also blends I'm actual history so there are some darker themes to this.

I do like how things wrap up for the main character, and that although there is a romance, it's not everything to her.

Four stars, a satisfying ending to a solid duology

One life. One choice. One sacrifice.
To save those closest to her, Simi sacrificed everything - her freedom, her life as mami wata, and the boy she loves.
Now she serves a new god, watching over the Land of the Dead at the bottom of the ocean. But the tide of change is coming and when Simi discovers demons have entered the human realm bent on destruction, she must break her vow and return to the world above the water.
The fate of the world lies in her hands. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘Soul of the Deep’ was a great sequel building on ‘Skin of the Sea’ and I enjoyed it even more!

The pacing felt more consistent than in Book 1, and I always felt pulled to turn pages and read ‘just another chapter’ (in which I shamelessly lie to myself and end up reading well past my bedtime…). There’s plenty of tense action scenes above and underwater, and I also found the more character-driven scenes very compelling to read too.

Simi’s central dilemma is engaging because it is so relatable – I’m sure we’ve all had moments where our attempts to help seem to ruin everything instead. (Though I’d wager that our attempts usually don’t have apocalypse-scale ramifications.) I also became unexpectedly attached to the supporting character Folasade, another of the Mami Wata. I wasn’t anticipating this as the returning characters were easier to connect to compared to ‘Skin of the Sea’, because I already knew them. Folasade’s story and personality really stuck with me somehow!

Another characterisation thing I appreciated about ‘Soul of the Deep’ was the humanisation of opposing warriors, and the acknowledgement of leaders manipulating everyday people and sending them to die in wars waged between elites and their interests. The plot was also made more exciting as some enemy/ally roles from Book 1 were flipped. Olokun was an intriguing character, and I wish his storyline had a little more resolution!

There were plenty of plot twists; while I guessed one big one, I wasn’t completely correct, and I hadn’t considered the twist that sparked the main plot of ‘Soul of the Deep’ – though this could also be down to me not being very familiar with this belief system. It was fascinating to learn more about this mythology, e.g. the ajogun and the Mokele-mbembe. ‘Soul of the Deep’ is atmospheric right from the beginning, and I liked that, similarly to Book 1, that we got to travel to different locations (and revisit some too!).

The only aspect that felt repetitive was the constant rehashing of how Simi and Kola couldn’t be together, especially because I felt like the reasoning had already been established in Book 1. I did like how it resolved, though! Very fitting for Simi and I’m excited for her. (Kind of hoping for a Book 3…)

I also loved the Acknowledgements! They were surprisingly comforting to read in my current state of intense job-seeking. It was a lovely note on which to end this book, and I’m definitely interested in reading more from Bowen.

What a sequel to a novel that I loved, I am often approach second installments with a little trepidation but this one did not disappoint. The story and narrative continuedbseamlessly from the first novel and I impatiently look forward to the third installment! Thank you.

Now she serves a new god, watching over the Land of the Dead at the bottom of the ocean. But the tide of change is coming and when Simi discovers demons have entered the human realm bent on destruction, she must break her vow and return to the world above the water.

Let's get the formalities out of the way before I tell you how I made a slight error when requesting this book!

So thank you to Natasha Bowen, Penguin Random House Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of Soul of the Deep in exchange for an honest review.

I originally requested this book because I was so taken away by the design on the cover and the intrigue around Simi being a black mermaid, seeing as the typical mermaid that springs to mind from popular culture is Ariel of the Little Mermaid fame.

I started to read and got about two chapters in when I got the sense I was missing something...

That something was my stupidity at not realising this was the sequel to Natasha's first book Skin of the Sea (Doh).

At that point, I kind of got the gist of the story so I carried on reading and boy am I glad I did.

Natasha had a wonderful way of bringing Simi's world to life I could envision the sensation of swimming through the sea and being in the forest.

The world created was vast and bright and as someone who loves world-building in books, this really got my imagination going.

Coupled with wonderful, rich African history the story is fraught with love, mythical creatures, battles, friendships, and betrayals.

I will be looking to purchase the first book so I can do a re-read to get the whole sense of the story, but it is a yes from me and a solid 4 stars.

A plot-driven sequel to Skin of the Sea, Simidele has made her choices and must now honour her agreement with Olokun and help him harvest the souls of the dead lost in the ocean. But she is being lied to and her agreement is not as she believes. Friends and enemies must find common ground to prevent a worldwide catastrophe.
I love the mixture of African myths and fantasy, it's a great sequel to SotS but there was so much going on that I got a bit lost in the constant action.

I love this! I loved the first book and this have ne everything the first book gave me just with a little but more in terms.of what is at stake here. I would recommend this book to people that enjoy fantasy.

I liked this exactly as much as I liked the first book. Which is to say, I liked the writing and the rich world building, I could see someone else – someone actually in the YA target audience for instance – loving the story. This is a great concept but maybe just not really for me.

I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I'd read the first in the series. Although the author does make reference to previous events it's still a little difficult to catch up. That said, it is an enjoyable YA fantasy

Soul of the Deep is the sequel to Skin of the Sea and Bowen spins another magical tale of West African mythology with mermaids, danger and the burden of carrying the fate of a world in your hands.

3.5 stars
The story takes place above water, a war is about to break out when rumours of demons entering the land and causing destruction spread. The first few chapters take place underwater, Simidele serves Olokun, watching over the Land of the Dead, but misses the world above water. Being kept underwater feels like a prison until a familiar face finds her and everything changes.

Light is shed on lies and Simi quickly realises the deceit that has kept her bound to Olokun. With the threat of the demons, Simi does everything in her power to right the wrongs and restore order.
I enjoyed being back in Simi's world and seeing how she handles new dangers. I loved her in the first book and even more in the second. At times I felt the pace was slow and I hoped for more of the story to take place underwater, but I was surprised by plot twists and certain characters. The writing is detailed and the tension builds after each chapter. The stakes are higher in this story, there are some swoony moments as well as character development, love and loss and a satisfying ending.
For fans of The Gilded Ones, Witches Steeped in Gold and Children of Blood and Bone.
- Mermaids
- Threat to the world
- Deceit/Betrayal
- West African Mythology
- Creatures
- Romance
- YA Fantasy
*Ages: 14+

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for the gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored this book! I loved learning about a mythology I’d never seen before, and the author did it so beautifully! It was fast paced, yet the details were written so well you still felt like you were in the scenes. I can’t wait to read anything else this author has to offer!

Ok if you liked Skin of the Sea, I think you will be satisfied with its sequel.
Once again, Bowen and her way with prose is amazing. Her descriptions are so vivid and immersive.
Ofc the star of book for me is Simi In book one she’s just as fierce and determined as ever. But this time Bowen really does give Simi the chance to be more vulnerable Which adds a new dynamic to her character which was pleasing to see.
With Simi and the wider cast of characters in Soul of the Deep, the overall story feels more balanced.

My only qualm might would have to be the length. If the book was slightly longer I feel that the ending wouldn’t of felt so hurried. Bearing in mind the story is left very open-ended it would of been nice to see how the events of the final act had a wider impact on the other characters and the world building alongside Simi’s resolution as well

TLDR: 3.75 stars ⭐️
Loved Simi
Lovely prose
Wish it was longer