Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters

November 30, 2020
Poetic as myth, but studded with spaceships, gene-modification technology, and alien species, Ogden’s debut delivers an emotionally mature if occasionally labored reimagining of “The Little Mermaid.” Atuale’s husband, Saaravel, is dying of the disease that’s ravaging their community, while Atuale, the Greatclan Lord’s daughter who left the ocean for land, is immune to the sickness. It’s up to her to save her husband and his people, but to do so she must join forces with her former lover, the World-Witch Yanja, as they travel the galaxy looking for a cure. With this slim space opera, Ogden delves deep into Atuale’s psyche, probing her love for both Saaravel and Yanja, her longing for adventure, and her desire for motherhood. Unfortunately, Ogden’s literary flourishes sometimes obscure the action with purple prose (“Light splinters on dissolved particulates with the wisdom of a thousand ancient suns”). Tonally, the novella is mostly a cerebral rumination, but it occasionally slips from pondering to ponderous. Fans of feminist fairy tale retellings and thoughtful speculative fiction will appreciate Atuale’s quest but may find themselves skimming flowery passages to get to the heart of the story.

February 1, 2021

Humanity has spread beyond the stars, finding ways to populate worlds not meant for them through genetic modification. Atuale was the Greatclan Lord's daughter in the water, but she gave it all up for the love of a land-dwelling man--and spurred a long war that incurred losses on both sides. Now her husband and new clan are dying from a mysterious plague, and Atuale must once again beg for help from the World-Witch, Yanja. Yanja knows where to go to find answers, but requires Atuale to come along on an off-world trip that could bring a cure--or cost Atuale everything. Yanja is Atuale's former lover, and knows every secret and hope she had. A painful past and conflicted desire for what exists off-world are only pieces of the barrier in front of Atuale and Yanja. Poetic, emotional prose and a science fiction setting give an original twist to an old fairy tale. VERDICT Ogden (Frozen Fairy Tales) takes "The Little Mermaid" to outer space and imagines the desires beyond love and land. This novella will tug at the heart of every reader.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

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Starred review from December 1, 2020
Ogden's debut is a vivid science fiction novella rooted in Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid." Decades after the World-Witch, Yanja, used gene-eaters to help Atuale morph her body so she could join her beloved Saareval on land, a plague is devastating the land-dwelling community that has struggled to accept a sea-turned-land creature living in their midst. Reluctantly, Atuale returns to the underwater domes of Yanja to negotiate to find a cure. The two of them must leave their planet to see what can be done, amid tension around their shared romantic past and the complicated deals they have struck. This is a dreamy reinterpretation of a tale that will feel both familiar and utterly alien: Ogden inserts the wide vastness of space travel into a magical classic that is, at its core, about curiosity and exploration, about making a difficult choice between two worlds, and about the sacrifices we are willing to make for love. Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters is a short page-turner that feels epic in its world-building craft and the depth of its protagonists. At once a fairy-tale retelling and a lyrical space opera, it straddles many genres to tell one nostalgic yet utterly new story.

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