Carol Severance's Songs of the Sea

Given the fact that Carol Severance is a Hawaii-based writer, it's no surprise that so much of her fantasy fiction focuses on the sea. After narrowly escaping death in a forest fire, the human heroine of Reefsong is equipped with webbed hands and gills by the company that saved her life. Now all she has to do is learn how to breathe underwater.

But she does it, and her skill liberates her to find a secret that could end starvation on our planet. Her corporate sponsors have ideas of their own about exploiting her discovery, and things turn extremely ugly.

Once you've undergone your sea change with Reefsong you'll be ready for Severance's wildly imaginative Island Warrior Trilogy.

- Richard Curtis