Review: Shallow Waters: A Novel by Anita Kopacz

Shallow Waters: A Novel by Anita Kopacz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC via Edelweiss+, all opinions are my own.  This book was published on August 3, 2021.

I love retellings and stories based on myth and folklore.  This is is based on Yemaya, who is a Nigeria deity of the Ocean, and like many tales of gods and goddesses her tales were passed down via word of mouth so they are all a bit different.  I've read several other stories where Yemaya was present but she is always associated with water and the sea.  Kopacz's tale is no different, but this version of Yemaya spends much of her time on dry land during a very real time in history discovering her powers and trying to protect those around her.  

While I enjoyed this I felt it was a bit underdeveloped.  I felt there were far to many coincidences that led to Yemaya ending up where she needed to be at the right time with all of the right people to help her.  I also felt that the character development could have been a tad stronger.  If you read the author's note this is supposed to be a story of healing, so perhaps that is by design.  I think I was expecting something more along the lines of [book:Kindred|60931] or [book:Beloved|6149], and this is significantly lighter.  While Yemaya is a goddess with power, she uses her power for healing not for violence and retribution.  The author's note explains exactly what you are getting in this book, so I should have checked my expectations at page 1.  She wrote exactly the story she wanted to tell, and I commend her for that.

I do feel that the author did a wonderful job with historical aspect of this book by bringing real people and events into the story.   I did a little bit of reading about Yemaya and the lore associated with her, and several things that were mentioned or that happened in the story make a lot more sense.  For example, there was a heightened importance given to the pregnant women present and watermelon.  Yemaya is not only goddess of the sea, but associated with children and pregnant women and watermelon was mentioned as a common offering in ceremonies associated with Yemaya.  

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