A Song Below Water: A Novel by Bethany C. MorrowSeries: A Song Below Water #1
Publication Date: June 2, 2020
Pages: 288
Add on: Goodreads
Rating: ★★★★
Source: From the Publisher
Genre: Fiction / Young Adult / Fantasy / Contemporary
Publisher: Tor Teen / Macmillan
Legacies meets Nic Stone’s Dear Martin in Morrow’s YA fantasy debut: best friends discover their magical identities against today’s challenges facing young black girls
Tavia is already at odds with the world, forced to keep her siren identity under wraps in a society that wants to keep her kind under lock and key. Nevermind she's also stuck in Portland, Oregon, a city with only a handful of black folk and even fewer of those with magical powers. At least she has her bestie Effie by her side as they tackle high school drama, family secrets, and unrequited crushes.But everything changes in the aftermath of a siren murder trial that rocks the nation; the girls’ favorite Internet fashion icon reveals she's also a siren, and the news rips through their community. Tensions escalate when Effie starts being haunted by demons from her past, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical voice during a police stop. No secret seems safe anymore— soon Portland won’t be either.
REVIEW
Bethany C. Morrow’s A Song Below Water drops readers into a version of Portland, Oregon, where myth blends with reality and silence can be deadly. The story centers on Tavia, a Black teenager hiding her identity as a siren, and her best friend Effie, who’s grappling with a mysterious past and the growing suspicion that she’s not quite human either. In this world, sirens, always Black women, are feared and suppressed, forced to keep their true selves under wraps in a city that’s quick to turn on anything it doesn’t understand.
When the murder of a Black woman with possible siren powers rocks Portland, the city erupts with suspicion and protest. Tavia and Effie are swept into the chaos, each forced to confront whether they can keep hiding who they are. Their journey isn’t just about surviving in a society that targets them; it’s about claiming their voices and their power, even when the cost is high.
Morrow’s characters are deeply drawn. Tavia is cautious and always watching her back, while Effie is warm but burdened by secrets she barely understands. Their friendship is the novel’s core: not sisters by blood, but bound tighter than family. Around them, a cast of magical and ordinary people, gargoyles perched on rooftops, mermaids at Renaissance Faires—creates a world that’s both fantastical and sharply real.
Themes of identity, voice, and power pulse through every page. Morrow uses the siren myth, women whose voices can move the world, but who are punished for using them, as a potent metaphor for the Black female experience in America. The novel explores the costs of secrecy and silence, and how community and solidarity can become both refuge and weapon.
The writing is lush and lyrical, favouring emotion and sensory detail over fast-paced action. Morrow leans into folklore and oral tradition, creating passages that feel dreamy and immersive. This style can be slow or even confusing as the story layers in magic and secrets, but it pays off in a reading experience that’s both intimate and powerful.
A Song Below Water earns praise for its timely themes and its honest look at the realities of being Black and female in America. The friendship at its center, inventive use of myth, and depth of its characters stand out. Some will find the plot dense and the world-building tricky to navigate, but most will admit the novel’s impact is hard to shake.
In the end, Morrow’s novel is both a fantasy and a mirror; a story about magic and monsters that never loses sight of real-world struggles. It’s a celebration of finding your voice, and what it takes to keep it.
Rating: 4 out of 5