A Song Below Water was a powerful read, and I’m not saying it because of its mythological inspiration, but because of the topics it deals with.  When I first read the synopsis I thought it was going to be about the struggles of being a siren while being Black, but it turned out to be a book about being Black whilst being a siren.

A Song Below Water is all about voices, the voices we shut down, the ones we listen to, the voices that want to be heard, the ones tired from screaming and no one listening to them. It’s also about mental health and struggling with it in a world that doesn’t care, and it’s about sorority, found family and being vulnerable with someone while also being super strong and fighting for a change. The sirens in this book are not willing to stay quiet anymore, and they are fighting to be heard, no matter how many people might get uncomfortable.

This is the kind of book you should let take you by surprise. The pace is a little slow but it gets better and I think it resembles how the main characters develop, how their voices evolve in the book and find their strength. To me, this story reflects perfectly the magic our world has and the fantasy of living in it. It might make you uncomfortable while reading it, or the conversations it has, but I think that’s the goal. To make us listen to the voices we’ve been purposely ignoring and shutting down. It’s a book that demands us to do better, and also reminds us that we are not alone.