The Little Mermaid acts as a launching point for something beautiful and strange in Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters, the debut novella from prolific short story author Aimee Ogden.
Years ago, Atuale, the daughter of a Sea-Clan lord, turned her back on her people to take a husband on land with the help of technology from Yanja, her former lover, also known as the World-Witch. Now a plague has struck the land-dwellers, and the only way to save her husband is for Atuale to turn again to the World-Witch, whose black-market connections may help to find a cure off-world.
Slim but rich, this novella has its heart in the relationship between Atuale and Yanja. Atuale is a refreshingly uncynical depiction of the fairy tale princess grown up: still brave and longing for adventure, still in love with her husband, disappointed only that they have had no children together. Yet Yanja was the lover of her youth, and those ties remain strong even if they parted when Yanja's assistance in adapting Atuale for life on land led to a war among the sea lords. Yanja makes for a pleasing counterweight: mercenary, acerbic, but perhaps with more loyalty than one might think at first glance. As the two fight against time and bureaucracy, Atuale also examines the decisions she made in the past and what she wants for her future. This novella will leave readers eager for more from Ogden. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library