Skin of the Sea Books in Order

The Skin of the Sea series begins with Simidele, usually called Simi, one of the Mami Wata, mermaids created to collect the souls of those who die at sea and guide them home. Natasha Bowen builds the books from West African mythology and history, so the story feels magical, but it is also rooted in a very specific cultural and spiritual world.

Simi's duty is clear until she breaks the rules for the first time. When she saves a living boy who has been thrown overboard from a slave ship, she sets off a chain of consequences that reaches far beyond one rescue. From that moment on, the series becomes a story about mercy, obedience, and what happens when a girl decides that the law of the gods may not be the same thing as justice.

The ocean is only the beginning.

These books move through coastal waters, sacred places, forests, kingdoms, and later even the realm of the dead. Along the way Simi encounters gods, tricksters, monsters, and people whose lives have been shaped by power and violence. Bowen never ignores the historical shadow behind the story, but she also makes room for beauty, community, and the richness of African belief systems, which gives the series a fuller emotional range than a simple quest fantasy.

What holds everything together is Simi herself. She is dutiful, lonely, curious, and often caught between what she has been taught and what she feels is right. Her relationships, especially with the other Mami Wata and the boy she rescues, give the series much of its warmth and tension. Even at its biggest and most mythic, the story stays close to questions of identity, freedom, love, and belonging.

This is mermaid fantasy with real weight.

By the time Soul of the Deep opens, the cost of Simi's earlier choices has only grown. The second book widens the struggle from one dangerous journey to a larger threat that reaches across worlds, while keeping the same mix of romance, spiritual conflict, and high-stakes adventure. If you like YA fantasy that blends folklore, old gods, dangerous bargains, and a heroine carrying more than anyone should, this series has a lot to dig into.