Thoughts on The Curse of the Sea Witches: A Little Mermaid Graphic Novel

I’ve been in the mood for fantasy stories and mermaids lately, so I was happy to get The Curse of the Sea Witches: A Little Mermaid Graphic Novel. It is written by Rhonda Cleary, and the artwork is done by Valentina Brancati, Andrea Greppi, Lorenzo Fornaciari, and Marco Leoni. The Little Mermaid is one of my favorite fairytales, so I was eager to see what adventure was in store for Ariel in this graphic novel.

In the graphic novel, Princess Ariel joins Prince Eric to Greenland, where the Royal Trading Company is working with the locals to build a port for trade. But when Ariel discovers that the construction is disturbing the Arctic mermaids that live there, and that a conflict between the Arctic mermaids and the humans is brewing, she becomes determined to convince the mermaids and humans to work together to come up with a solution to this issue.

One thing I will say is that I love the art style, and the artwork is beautiful.

I also like how the graphic novel depicts Ariel’s adventurous and curious side. While in the Arctic, she is always exploring and asking questions about the place. I also like that she wants to help the people and mermaids in the arctic, because it shows how much she cares for others.

Another thing I love about this graphic novel is that we learn that Ariel has taken up sketching as a new hobby. I think that really works for her character and it’s also a neat fun fact about her. I like seeing her short diary entries along with her beautiful sketches on a few pages.

With that said, there is a downside to these diary entries. There are times when Ariel asks someone a question or is having a conversation with someone, but the very next page cuts to her diary entry, which explains what was said and done after that conversation. There are scenes that build up to an important turning point in the story, but they end up being explained by Ariel in a diary entry rather than shown through the comic’s art.

The placement of the diary entries took me out of the story sometimes. I would rather be shown new developments in a conversation rather than told, which is a bit ironic given that this is a graphic novel. I feel like this problem persists even to the resolution of the story, and I think the diary entries could have been handled differently.

As for the story, I did enjoy reading the brief conflict between the mermaids and humans, and I was eager to see how Ariel would help resolve it. I also enjoyed seeing Ariel having conflict with both the mermaid queen and the man overseeing the construction as she tries to get them to work together. It raised the stakes and it made me even more curious about what would happen next.

However, there are a couple of things in the story that don’t quite make sense to me. At one point in the story, Ariel meets a couple of Arctic mermaids, and at first, they seem afraid of her. I was expecting Ariel to quickly tell them that she used to be a mermaid too, but she doesn’t. She is still able to befriend the mermaids rather quickly, but she doesn’t tell them that she used to be a mermaid until later. This is a little bit strange because I would think that if you were trying to approach mermaids who are wary of humans, you would quickly want to establish that you are, or were, a mermaid yourself upon first meeting them.

Also, an incident occurs where the humans anger the mermaid queen of the Arctic, and Ariel learns from her mermaid friend that the queen intends to take revenge against the humans. However, it doesn’t seem like Ariel warns anyone, or even Eric, about the threat right away. She doesn’t warn anyone to stay away from the port, which causes problems later. I also found this a little odd, given that everyone near the ocean is a potential target for the Arctic Mermaid Queen’s wrath. You would think Ariel would tell Eric about the Arctic Mermaid Queen being ready to get revenge, but there’s no evidence that she does.

Now, as for the quality of the graphic novel I got, it could be better. A couple of pages fell out as I was looking through it while writing my review. Needless to say, I am a bit disappointed. I’ll probably have better luck if I get a hardcover copy.

Overall, though I do wish there was a bit more to this short graphic novel, I did enjoy it. If you’re a fan of The Little Mermaid, then I would definitely recommend it.