Audiobook Review: Of Sea and Song (Daughters of Eville #3)

Author: Chanda Hahn

Narrator: Jesse Vilinsky

Audiobook Length: 10 hours 40 minutes

Something evil this way comes.
7 Vengeful Sisters
7 Fairytale Kingdoms
7 Daughters of Eville

I killed a man to protect my sisters, and now I am a fugitive. With bounty hunters hot on my trail— willing to take me dead or alive— I’m forced to disguise myself as a cabin boy on the Bella Donna. I should have been safe at sea, but I cannot escape the dangerous feelings evoked by the ship’s handsome captain.

For I am Merisol, one of the adoptive daughters of Lady Eville, and to escape my past and save my friends I will make an uncertain bargain with a shady sea witch. The deal sounds too good to be true. What could possibly go wrong?

Of Sea and Song is the third novel in the Daughters of Eville series, where each of the seven daughters has their own fairy tale retelling story. This story is a Little Mermaid retelling of Merisol (Meri), one of the adoptive daughters of Lady Eville. The novel builds upon the previous novels, even though each daughter has their own standalone tale. While the stories may initially seem separate, the encompassing plot thickens a lot in this story and the reader can put some of the pieces together, especially with Allemar.

Her tale begins as she runs away from home to protect her sisters after an incident in town with the Brunes Guild. She runs into Brennon, who says that he will help her escape. Weary of his intentions, she ends up hiding on a pirate ship disguised as a cabin boy. This story is a different approach than the previous two as Lady Eville did not send Meri off for an arranged marriage. Instead, Meri set off on her own adventure that takes the reader away from the kingdoms of Baist and Candor and enters the world of Isla, which combines the land and sea in its own setting. The initial set-up of the story for Meri begins slowly and then picks up little by little once she is on the ship.

Like her sisters, Meri has some doubts about herself, but it is a lot smaller compared to her sisters. She is more confident in herself than Eden, but less so than Rosalie yet she is comfortable with her water/siren magic, and she has a feistier personality.  On the ship she not only encounters Brennon again, but she meets Vasili. There is a bit of a love triangle that is hinted at, but it wasn’t really fully formed. Brennon did get jealous, but it came across in a more comical way compared to a broody type of way. Their build-up of the romance lacked a little in this story as it felt there was not enough to make it strong compared to the previous two novels. I believe more moments shared between them could have helped me connect more to the romance. There was an effort on the author’s part to explain why the romance was written in a certain way, which I appreciated, but I just needed a little more.

Overall, I love that the stories continue to connect to each other as Rosalie (first novel) and Aura (fourth novel) play some part in the novel. Allemar, the villain, is building up his story as he heads towards the kingdom of Rya and continues to plan for his revenge against the seven kingdoms. Throughout the story Meri learns more about herself and her connection to the undersea and I enjoyed how her tale was a unique take for a fairy tale retelling. This story has some moments where the pacing was a little off, but it was still enjoyable. The audiobook version kept me going and I am very curious how this series will continue with Aura’s story next!