brilliant!! ^-^

pros:
- excellent writing, simple but gripping, powerful and visual. It's so easy to just get swept up and immersed in it, just like the sea
- Yetu is a relatable figure, even as she struggles with herself over what to do. The situation is fictional but the pain between self and community, between past and present, desire and duty, are all relatable difficulties
- there is a clear arc, even as there are diversions and back-and-forth parts in the middle. Yetu grows hugely, as does her mother, and Oori, too, and their whole community
- the idea and worldbuilding are fascinating and the details of 'mud womb' and their traditions add a lot of depth
- i loved the dips into previous "historians", who were clearly of very different temperaments to Yetu. it never became too confusing about what time we were in, roughly, nor where we were headed
- whilst it dealt with very heavy topics and Yetu was struggling, there was never an overwhelming heaviness that made it suffocating to read
- the we pronouns used in it were a great way to emphasise the community and togetherness of the wajinru

cons:
- only con was for me personally, that i could've done without the fairly graphic description of birth, though it didn't go on long enough to be too bad. Also wasn't too interested in wajinru genitals tbh, but i appreciate that it showed Oori and Yetu's growing relationship and her curiosity.

overall, fantastic. I'd like to read it again when i've forgotten it a bit. it's a powerful must-read