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prismatical's review
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
spacescape's review against another edition
3.0
Clockmaker's Requiem: great concept, lovely description, quick and clear image of characters. I almost want a bit more background on the fantastical world because it's so neat. The premise: magical clocks of old were "alive" and had faces. Time was subjective. Once a young clockmaker invents "standard time" the townspeople clamor for non-alive/ no-face clocks that dictate peoples' lives instead of the old clocks which were similar to cute pets that could bring people forward or backward in time as needed. Lovely, sad story. 4 stars.
Something in the Mermaid Way: written before trigger warnings, but definitely could use three trigger warnings: one for rape/ sexual assault, another for infanticide/ abortion, and another for animal cruelty?. Certainly more disturbing of a concept than I expected--especially the nonchalance with which such topics were written. Moderately-well written. Got caught up on detangling some language. Needed to be longer to really understand the characters' motivations. Premise: sailors visit a coastline where families make "mermaids" (family lore says they are descended from mermaids) from half fishes and half monkeys (real, dead ones). When these "mermaids" are no longer enticing to the sailors, the families find a new way to make the mermaids more interesting--by adding different features. In short, the disturbing part (spoiler alert) comes when a woman uses her aborted(?) fetus to be the mermaid top instead of a monkey, thus making the mermaid more beautiful and "realistic." Creepy and disturbing...like I said.
Something in the Mermaid Way: written before trigger warnings, but definitely could use three trigger warnings: one for rape/ sexual assault, another for infanticide/ abortion, and another for animal cruelty?. Certainly more disturbing of a concept than I expected--especially the nonchalance with which such topics were written. Moderately-well written. Got caught up on detangling some language. Needed to be longer to really understand the characters' motivations. Premise: sailors visit a coastline where families make "mermaids" (family lore says they are descended from mermaids) from half fishes and half monkeys (real, dead ones). When these "mermaids" are no longer enticing to the sailors, the families find a new way to make the mermaids more interesting--by adding different features. In short, the disturbing part (spoiler alert) comes when a woman uses her aborted(?) fetus to be the mermaid top instead of a monkey, thus making the mermaid more beautiful and "realistic." Creepy and disturbing...like I said.
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