WARNING: This review contains spoilers, very general or from early in the book, in the penultimate paragraph.

This book was so odd-kind of like Upstairs, Downstairs with mermaids. Which could be really cool, if the plot had lived up to the world-building. Instead, it felt like the author wanted to show off the research she had done on the life of domestic servants in the late 19th century, and leave the supernatural elements as an afterthought. The result is a book that doesn't feel at all driven by the heroine's personal struggles, most of which get resolved without her taking action.

Hannah Albury is a fifteen-year-old orphan in 1899, who is sent into domestic service. Her first position is to be in Kansas, but when Hannah is sent away from the sea, she becomes ill, itching all the time, and with crystals forming on her skin. She then ends up in a position as scullery maid in Boston, in the household of the wealthy Hawley family. Hannah must learn the ins and outs of domestic service while trying to figure out her own nature, dealing with the mental instability of the eldest Hawley daughter, and the attentions of the mysterious artist, Stannish Wheeler, who may know more about Hannah's nature than he's letting on.

Hannah: Daughters of the Sea is clearly designed to be a genre -bending work, straddling the lines between historical and supernatural fiction. I've read many a novel that blends those two genres successfully, and it's a combination that I usually enjoy. The problem with Hannah is the other lines it straddles, such as the line between Children's and Young Adult fiction. Although Hannah is a teenager, and there are romantic scenes throughout the novel, to me this felt like a book written for younger readers than the typical young adult novel. This is partly due to Lasky's reliance on telling rather than showing the reader the details of Hannah's daily life, which leads to the book crossing another line--between fiction and non-fiction. Now I'm not saying any of the characters are real or that the events of the story really happened; it's just that the book read at times like those books shelved in children's non-fiction, with titles like "If You Lived in the Middle Ages" or "I Was a Suffragist." In other words, books that use dramatization to educate kids about history, rather than books focused on telling a story, albeit one set in historical times.

I'd like to close this review by discussing character and conflict as it plays out in Hannah: Daughters of the Sea. I didn't really have an issue with Hannah herself, except that she didn't do much to solve her own problems. Then again, she wasn't given a chance to. For example, when Hannah is too old to stay at her orphanage, the cruel matron Miss Pringle sends her on an Orphan Train to Kansas, claiming Hannah is unsuited for domestic service, the kind of job that would allow her to stay in Boston. In Kansas, since she is away from the sea, Hannah gets ill and ends up having to go back to the orphanage. Logically, she should have to convince Miss Pringle she isn't unsuited for domestic service, so she can take a job in Boston. But surprise! Miss Pringle is gone and has been replaced by the kind Mrs Larkin, who has no problem with Hannah performing domestic service. Hannah gets what she wants without having to do a thing. Likewise, when she is working in the Hawley household, Hannah has some unfortunate encounters with the oldest Hawley daughter, Lila. Lila is an interesting character, at first imperious and controlling, but gradually becoming more unhinged and a threat to Hannah personally and to the household tranquility in general. So Lila has to go. Then she comes back. Lila is sort of an "antagonist in a box;" Lasky gets her out when needed to stir up trouble, then puts her away again. Hannah's social status is far beneath Lila's, and it would be fascinating to see her negotiate this imbalance while standing up for herself, but she doesn't.

Despite its supernatural elements, I'd recommend Hannah: Daughters of the Sea to fans of historical fiction rather than fantasy. The fantasy elements are introduced, and will hopefully be explained in further installments of the series; the historical background, however, is detailed and interesting.* And I do like that domestic service is painted as, not glamorous or exciting, but a job one could live with, and have the prospect of promotion as well. The setting is rich, some of the characters quite likable, but the plot utterly lacking in suspense.

*Please note: I didn't say "accurate;" I know too little about the time period to make that claim!