What drew me to this book, was, of course, a goddess — African goddess Oya of storms from West Africa.
Check out the below image of her I found along with some great info at this site.
In my fantasy series project, FISH, goddesses play an essential and active role in the world. I actually loosely based my merfolk on the African mermaid, Jengu.
Goddess Oya. This image is pretty much how she was described in the book.
Beautiful and powerful, isn’t she?