Scan barcode
tyler_j's review against another edition
2.0
This is a little mermaid retelling with an F/F romance, but honestly it's one of the strangest romance dynamics i've ever read. I was confused through-out the book, with everything going very fast and not being developed as well as the constant changing of POV with no indication as to who it was. Also no one was named beyond "the little mermaid" and "the sea witch", and i'm not really sure why. It starts off with a rape (not between the F/F romance). Yes the little mermaid gets raped. The sex scene...no one wanted (between the prince and the little mermaid). One of them cries and it was just very uncomfortable to read. The story could be considered to have a happy ending even though a couple characters lives and morale are ruined in order to give the little mermaid what she wants, and the F/F couple....can't touch each other. I just found it over all..odd, confusing, uncomfortable and I couldn't connect with any of the characters with them not being named and how fast it was going.
Really sorry this wasn't for me.
Really sorry this wasn't for me.
pali_zae's review against another edition
3.0
Rating: 3/5 stars.
This was an interesting take on the Little Mermaid's story, however; I feel that there was something missing. Maybe it was in the writing style. Maybe I wanted more from the characters. Maybe I just wanted it to be a little longer but that's just my personal preference since I'm not the biggest fan of short stories in general. I just always want more. The ending also felt a bit lackluster for me. I didn't really like how everything was resolved. Overall, this was a good retelling of the Little Mermaid's story mainly because it offered a new twist to it, but I just didn't love it.
This was an interesting take on the Little Mermaid's story, however; I feel that there was something missing. Maybe it was in the writing style. Maybe I wanted more from the characters. Maybe I just wanted it to be a little longer but that's just my personal preference since I'm not the biggest fan of short stories in general. I just always want more. The ending also felt a bit lackluster for me. I didn't really like how everything was resolved. Overall, this was a good retelling of the Little Mermaid's story mainly because it offered a new twist to it, but I just didn't love it.
bookdeviant's review against another edition
2.0
See more of my reviews on my blog the Book Deviant
I would like to thank the people at Less Than Three Press for allowing me to have an ARC of this book via NetGalley.
When you open up Walking on Knives on Goodreads, you might notice that at the bottom of the summary, it says: "Walking on Knives contains some explicit content and a scene with dubious sexual consent." What may catch your interest there, if you're like me, is the last part. "Dubious sexual consent". And, again, if you're like me, you might think "Well, there's really no such thing as "dubious consent". It's either rape or sex. Consent, or no consent. This isn't a "yes, no, maybe," situation."
So, it goes without saying that Walking on Knives has a rape scene. As a warning, it's literally how the novella opens up. It's thrown at your face, with no introduction or explanation. It's there, it's happening. It's worded a little confusingly, but it's stated just right to let you know that, yes, the little mermaid gets raped in this retelling.
In addition to that, there was also another sex scene that really, truly, can and will be harmful to readers. Neither party wants to have sex, and one cries during the scene. This scene made me very uncomfortable, especially how it ends up morally ruining one character. Both the opening rape scene, as well as this scene, were mostly brushed off as normal events that happened in the story. In fact, this story might even be considered as having a happy ending, despite the ruination of multiple characters lives and morale, just because the little mermaid gets what she wants.
Chhabra's writing was also very simplistic, and, to be frank, immature, and in need of great work. I personally find it very hard to connect with characters when they are never named, and all of the characters went by titles or descriptors. The little mermaid, the strange woman, the sea-witch, the prince, the princess, the king, etc. Chhabra attempted to give Walking on Knives a sense of being a folktale with giving no names, but ultimately failed as I saw no reason to continue reading, if only to write this review.
two stars - Overall?
While I enjoyed the premise and some parts of Walking on Knives, I was extremely put off by some of the scenes. One I didn't mention was where the love interest asked for a kiss as a payment for a gift. Walking on Knives had the potential to be something beautiful and queer, but was ultimately ruined by Chhabra's choices.
Would I Recommend?
I feel as if some may enjoy this more than I have, but there was a reason most of my review included commentary on the "dubious consent" scenes.
Trigger warning for rape/sexual assault, sexual content, and possessive love interest.
I would like to thank the people at Less Than Three Press for allowing me to have an ARC of this book via NetGalley.
When you open up Walking on Knives on Goodreads, you might notice that at the bottom of the summary, it says: "Walking on Knives contains some explicit content and a scene with dubious sexual consent." What may catch your interest there, if you're like me, is the last part. "Dubious sexual consent". And, again, if you're like me, you might think "Well, there's really no such thing as "dubious consent". It's either rape or sex. Consent, or no consent. This isn't a "yes, no, maybe," situation."
So, it goes without saying that Walking on Knives has a rape scene. As a warning, it's literally how the novella opens up. It's thrown at your face, with no introduction or explanation. It's there, it's happening. It's worded a little confusingly, but it's stated just right to let you know that, yes, the little mermaid gets raped in this retelling.
In addition to that, there was also another sex scene that really, truly, can and will be harmful to readers. Neither party wants to have sex, and one cries during the scene. This scene made me very uncomfortable, especially how it ends up morally ruining one character. Both the opening rape scene, as well as this scene, were mostly brushed off as normal events that happened in the story. In fact, this story might even be considered as having a happy ending, despite the ruination of multiple characters lives and morale, just because the little mermaid gets what she wants.
Chhabra's writing was also very simplistic, and, to be frank, immature, and in need of great work. I personally find it very hard to connect with characters when they are never named, and all of the characters went by titles or descriptors. The little mermaid, the strange woman, the sea-witch, the prince, the princess, the king, etc. Chhabra attempted to give Walking on Knives a sense of being a folktale with giving no names, but ultimately failed as I saw no reason to continue reading, if only to write this review.
two stars - Overall?
While I enjoyed the premise and some parts of Walking on Knives, I was extremely put off by some of the scenes. One I didn't mention was where the love interest asked for a kiss as a payment for a gift. Walking on Knives had the potential to be something beautiful and queer, but was ultimately ruined by Chhabra's choices.
Would I Recommend?
I feel as if some may enjoy this more than I have, but there was a reason most of my review included commentary on the "dubious consent" scenes.
Trigger warning for rape/sexual assault, sexual content, and possessive love interest.
thingslucyreads's review against another edition
4.0
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was an odd one, and it came out nothing like I expected. I think I, like a lot of reviewers, have spent too much time with the Disney version. This particularly reminded me of a short film adapted from the Hans Christian Andersen version that I used to love as a child, which is not markedly different from the Disney film except in tone, and with a different ending and with fewer singing animals. Having the aesthetic of that film in my head as I read this really added to the experience.
I was unsure about it at the beginning but by the end I really liked it. This is a retelling of The Little Mermaid as bleak and dark - although no more than the Hans Christian Andersen version, really -
as it is beautiful and hopeful. In addition to her voice, the little mermaid sells her body to the sea witch in exchange for legs, and every step she takes with them causes her pain. She does it anyway. There was a lot of discussion about souls that all the other versions of this that I've consumed have left out, and it was only now that I'm realising how odd that is, since gaining a soul is one of the little mermaid's ultimate goals.
This is not a retelling for everyone, but it is an interesting take on the story, and different enough that I was kept guessing. The end had me on the edge of my seat because I didn't know if everything was going to work out or not. If you like your fairytales dark and gritty instead of shiny and sweet, I definitely recommend this one.
Rounded up to 4 stars for goodreads, but maybe more like a 3.75.
Trigger warnings for the fact that she does sell her body for legs, leading to a vague but very dubious sex scene at the very beginning of the book; and later when the sea witch's sister asks for a kiss in return for easing the little mermaid's pain and the little mermaid recoils, the sister is a like "she has no right to scorn me" which was a bit iffy; and they also hunt and kill a deer at one point.
This was an odd one, and it came out nothing like I expected. I think I, like a lot of reviewers, have spent too much time with the Disney version. This particularly reminded me of a short film adapted from the Hans Christian Andersen version that I used to love as a child, which is not markedly different from the Disney film except in tone, and with a different ending and with fewer singing animals. Having the aesthetic of that film in my head as I read this really added to the experience.
I was unsure about it at the beginning but by the end I really liked it. This is a retelling of The Little Mermaid as bleak and dark - although no more than the Hans Christian Andersen version, really -
as it is beautiful and hopeful. In addition to her voice, the little mermaid sells her body to the sea witch in exchange for legs, and every step she takes with them causes her pain. She does it anyway. There was a lot of discussion about souls that all the other versions of this that I've consumed have left out, and it was only now that I'm realising how odd that is, since gaining a soul is one of the little mermaid's ultimate goals.
This is not a retelling for everyone, but it is an interesting take on the story, and different enough that I was kept guessing. The end had me on the edge of my seat because I didn't know if everything was going to work out or not. If you like your fairytales dark and gritty instead of shiny and sweet, I definitely recommend this one.
Rounded up to 4 stars for goodreads, but maybe more like a 3.75.
Trigger warnings for the fact that she does sell her body for legs, leading to a vague but very dubious sex scene at the very beginning of the book; and later when the sea witch's sister asks for a kiss in return for easing the little mermaid's pain and the little mermaid recoils, the sister is a like "she has no right to scorn me" which was a bit iffy; and they also hunt and kill a deer at one point.
wordwoonders's review against another edition
1.0
I received an eArc of this book from the publishers through Netgalley in exchange of an honest review
Full review originally posted on my blog: Word Wonders
CW: Rape, dubious consent.
So. I think this is my first one starred book in a long time, I just… didn’t find anything redeemable about it. Every aspect was lacking. The plot, the world, the characters. I couldn’t find anything to hold on to and the only reason I finished it is how short it is. Don’t get me wrong, the premise is interesting and it even starts off promising but it falls flat pretty early on.
The writing is very flowery, too flowery, in my opinion, combined with all the rest, it just makes the story unnecessarily heavy and hard to read. For how short it is, I shouldn’t have been exhausted by reading it, but I really was tired when I finished it. Some word combinations and metaphors didn’t make sense so it was all around not the kind of writing I enjoy. The story had me very excited at first, that’s why I requested the book, “a dark little mermaid retelling where the mermaid falls for a witch instead of the prince”? YES PLEASE. But no.
The plot was confusing and all over the place, what made it even hard to grasp and focus on is how many POVs there were, and for something so short, it doesn’t work, especially since the voices aren’t distinct, they all read the same so it takes a couple paragraphs to know who is narrating. Also, the romance??? What was that? The witch loved her when I can count the times they interacted on one hand and the only meaningful conversation out of those is when she confessed her feelings. And the mermaid herself was pinning over the prince one moment and running off with the witch the next. None of it is developped enough to be believable.
Also, can we talk about the opening scene? That angered me like no other. It’s a rape scene that’s not handled well. First of all, if that’s what’s called “dubious consent” in the blurb, I disagree, it’s non-consensual, it’s rape and very graphic at that. The little mermaid is raped by the sea witch (the love interest’s sister) as part of the bargain and we never know any details about said bargain. What I can call dubious consent though, is a scene towards the end where both parties don’t really wanna have sex but do it anyway. All in all. This is a huge no from me.
Full review originally posted on my blog: Word Wonders
CW: Rape, dubious consent.
So. I think this is my first one starred book in a long time, I just… didn’t find anything redeemable about it. Every aspect was lacking. The plot, the world, the characters. I couldn’t find anything to hold on to and the only reason I finished it is how short it is. Don’t get me wrong, the premise is interesting and it even starts off promising but it falls flat pretty early on.
The writing is very flowery, too flowery, in my opinion, combined with all the rest, it just makes the story unnecessarily heavy and hard to read. For how short it is, I shouldn’t have been exhausted by reading it, but I really was tired when I finished it. Some word combinations and metaphors didn’t make sense so it was all around not the kind of writing I enjoy. The story had me very excited at first, that’s why I requested the book, “a dark little mermaid retelling where the mermaid falls for a witch instead of the prince”? YES PLEASE. But no.
The plot was confusing and all over the place, what made it even hard to grasp and focus on is how many POVs there were, and for something so short, it doesn’t work, especially since the voices aren’t distinct, they all read the same so it takes a couple paragraphs to know who is narrating. Also, the romance??? What was that? The witch loved her when I can count the times they interacted on one hand and the only meaningful conversation out of those is when she confessed her feelings. And the mermaid herself was pinning over the prince one moment and running off with the witch the next. None of it is developped enough to be believable.
Also, can we talk about the opening scene? That angered me like no other. It’s a rape scene that’s not handled well. First of all, if that’s what’s called “dubious consent” in the blurb, I disagree, it’s non-consensual, it’s rape and very graphic at that. The little mermaid is raped by the sea witch (the love interest’s sister) as part of the bargain and we never know any details about said bargain. What I can call dubious consent though, is a scene towards the end where both parties don’t really wanna have sex but do it anyway. All in all. This is a huge no from me.
roshnara's review against another edition
1.0
The Little Mermaid is one of my favourite fairy tales. Not the watered down kid friendly version that Disney has popularized, but the original, dark tale where the prince chooses another woman, and the little mermaid dissolves into sea foam. So when I came across this book, which is a retelling with an original twist, in the form of a new character, I was intrigued.
The idea is interesting - the sea witch's sister falls in love with the mermaid and tries to save her from her inevitable doom. The execution of this idea was poor, at best. The major events in this story (and the issues I had with them) are, in order:
1) The mermaid barters her voice for the ability to walk on land, with the added torture that each step would feel like walking on knives. This much is in line with the original story. What the author has added here, is that in addition to the loss of her voice, and the pain that will accompany each step, as an additional price for the conversion, she has sex with the sea witch. This is not a bad addition, but the way that it is written - painful, uncomfortable and horrifying - makes it read like rape, which was alarming. Also, this addition to the story is not addressed afterwards, which makes it a dangerous loose thread to leave lying around.
2) The mermaid gains legs, gets discovered and rescued by the prince and goes about the business of charming him. This part is also much like the original, without many frills attached.
3) Enter the sea witch's sister, who has fallen in love with the mermaid. She tries to make her life a little less miserable by offering her a pair of enchanted shoes that allow her to walk without pain. The price? A kiss. The problem I had with this part of the story was that there was no explanation for why the lady fell for the mermaid, without which, the insta-love was a little difficult to root for. Also, the kiss for alleviating torture thing seemed a bit horrible and exploitative, which is a bad characteristic in someone you are supposed to root for.
4) Enter the other princess, the prince falls in love, and the marriage. The addition to this part of the story is that the prince discovers what the little mermaid has to do(i.e. kill him), and agrees to save her life by marrying her, and then marrying the other princess the next day for show. How wrong is that! And the consummation of the mermaid and the prince's marriage is another extremely uncomfortable addition to the tale that could easily have been avoided, or at least written well, so that readers don't get squeamish at the wrongness of it all.
5) Finally, the mermaid and the sister get together, though they are unable to touch each other because of the curse put on the sister by the sea witch. This is the happy ending that is supposed to satisfy the reader, but it is too difficult to believe in, because we have been given no reason to understand either character's affection for the other.
Seriously, just don't touch the classics. They are classics for a reason, after all.
I would not recommend this to anyone.
The idea is interesting - the sea witch's sister falls in love with the mermaid and tries to save her from her inevitable doom. The execution of this idea was poor, at best. The major events in this story (and the issues I had with them) are, in order:
1) The mermaid barters her voice for the ability to walk on land, with the added torture that each step would feel like walking on knives. This much is in line with the original story. What the author has added here, is that in addition to the loss of her voice, and the pain that will accompany each step, as an additional price for the conversion, she has sex with the sea witch. This is not a bad addition, but the way that it is written - painful, uncomfortable and horrifying - makes it read like rape, which was alarming. Also, this addition to the story is not addressed afterwards, which makes it a dangerous loose thread to leave lying around.
2) The mermaid gains legs, gets discovered and rescued by the prince and goes about the business of charming him. This part is also much like the original, without many frills attached.
3) Enter the sea witch's sister, who has fallen in love with the mermaid. She tries to make her life a little less miserable by offering her a pair of enchanted shoes that allow her to walk without pain. The price? A kiss. The problem I had with this part of the story was that there was no explanation for why the lady fell for the mermaid, without which, the insta-love was a little difficult to root for. Also, the kiss for alleviating torture thing seemed a bit horrible and exploitative, which is a bad characteristic in someone you are supposed to root for.
4) Enter the other princess, the prince falls in love, and the marriage. The addition to this part of the story is that the prince discovers what the little mermaid has to do(i.e. kill him), and agrees to save her life by marrying her, and then marrying the other princess the next day for show. How wrong is that! And the consummation of the mermaid and the prince's marriage is another extremely uncomfortable addition to the tale that could easily have been avoided, or at least written well, so that readers don't get squeamish at the wrongness of it all.
5) Finally, the mermaid and the sister get together, though they are unable to touch each other because of the curse put on the sister by the sea witch. This is the happy ending that is supposed to satisfy the reader, but it is too difficult to believe in, because we have been given no reason to understand either character's affection for the other.
Seriously, just don't touch the classics. They are classics for a reason, after all.
I would not recommend this to anyone.
palizae's review against another edition
3.0
Rating: 3/5 stars.
This was an interesting take on the Little Mermaid's story, however; I feel that there was something missing. Maybe it was in the writing style. Maybe I wanted more from the characters. Maybe I just wanted it to be a little longer but that's just my personal preference since I'm not the biggest fan of short stories in general. I just always want more. The ending also felt a bit lackluster for me. I didn't really like how everything was resolved. Overall, this was a good retelling of the Little Mermaid's story mainly because it offered a new twist to it, but I just didn't love it.
This was an interesting take on the Little Mermaid's story, however; I feel that there was something missing. Maybe it was in the writing style. Maybe I wanted more from the characters. Maybe I just wanted it to be a little longer but that's just my personal preference since I'm not the biggest fan of short stories in general. I just always want more. The ending also felt a bit lackluster for me. I didn't really like how everything was resolved. Overall, this was a good retelling of the Little Mermaid's story mainly because it offered a new twist to it, but I just didn't love it.
anna's review against another edition
2.0
This book was provided by the publisher via Net galley.
TW: Rape
I loved the premise of this story, but unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations. I like how the original story was twisted into something new. The different magical elements introduced were interesting and I'm always up for LGBT+ versions of old tales. However, the execution wasn't great.
First of all, this story opens up with a rape scene. The circumstances are subtle and not clear at first, but there is obviously a lack of consent/desire. There is also another scene where neither party wants to have sex and it's just jarring and awful and feels completely unnecessary to describe. It was already made clear that the circumstances are horrible. Probably due to length of the novella (novellete?), there is just not enough emphasis or exploration on how wrong both these events are.
And then the romances in the book feel very empty and not very romantic. It all comes off as stalkerish. While I don't expect a lot of depth in character from a work this short, there's just a lack of anything that would give me a sense of the character's personalities. Descriptions are vague. The characters don't even have names. It made it difficult to care about any of them.
There is an important message about love that has substance, but it gets lost in everything else. It ultimately feels like a story with a lot of potential, but it doesn't live up to how good the premise is.
TW: Rape
I loved the premise of this story, but unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations. I like how the original story was twisted into something new. The different magical elements introduced were interesting and I'm always up for LGBT+ versions of old tales. However, the execution wasn't great.
First of all, this story opens up with a rape scene. The circumstances are subtle and not clear at first, but there is obviously a lack of consent/desire. There is also another scene where neither party wants to have sex and it's just jarring and awful and feels completely unnecessary to describe. It was already made clear that the circumstances are horrible. Probably due to length of the novella (novellete?), there is just not enough emphasis or exploration on how wrong both these events are.
And then the romances in the book feel very empty and not very romantic. It all comes off as stalkerish. While I don't expect a lot of depth in character from a work this short, there's just a lack of anything that would give me a sense of the character's personalities. Descriptions are vague. The characters don't even have names. It made it difficult to care about any of them.
There is an important message about love that has substance, but it gets lost in everything else. It ultimately feels like a story with a lot of potential, but it doesn't live up to how good the premise is.
gigiglorious's review against another edition
2.0
I was pretty excited for this as it’s a debut novella and had heard some good things about it. Ultimately it fell very flat though. I love fairytale retellings but authors need to go beyond the source material. And while the premise of the witch’s sister falling in love with the little mermaid sounded interesting I don’t think it was really well done as none of the characters grabbed me.
Also weirdly, no one had a name, they were just all referred to by titles or their relationships with each other. Which is fine in some cases but the writing was clunky in some parts, making it difficult to figure out who was talking. I also felt that the romance was weird and unnatural, as no body actually really spoke with each other or formed a relationship and suddenly it’s a happy ending because the little mermaid realized who loved her after all.
Overall Walking on Knives was an interesting premise but ultimately fell flat for me due to clunky writing in some spots and unbelievable character relationships and romance.
Also weirdly, no one had a name, they were just all referred to by titles or their relationships with each other. Which is fine in some cases but the writing was clunky in some parts, making it difficult to figure out who was talking. I also felt that the romance was weird and unnatural, as no body actually really spoke with each other or formed a relationship and suddenly it’s a happy ending because the little mermaid realized who loved her after all.
Overall Walking on Knives was an interesting premise but ultimately fell flat for me due to clunky writing in some spots and unbelievable character relationships and romance.
candidceillie's review
2.0
TW: rape, warned for before story starts, as well as questionably consensual sex near the end.
This novella was interesting. It is a f/f twist on the little mermaid, with two sea witches, which was neat. There was some great writing shown, but I think this story suffered because of how short it was.
One thing that bothered me was the way sex and physical touch was used as a bargaining piece in this novel, without any other option or discussion of the bargain. I really wish it had been explored more than the passing conversation that happened with the sea witch’s sister.
This novella was interesting. It is a f/f twist on the little mermaid, with two sea witches, which was neat. There was some great writing shown, but I think this story suffered because of how short it was.
One thing that bothered me was the way sex and physical touch was used as a bargaining piece in this novel, without any other option or discussion of the bargain. I really wish it had been explored more than the passing conversation that happened with the sea witch’s sister.