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shereadstales's review
3.0
Full Disclosure: I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for sharing my honest review. Said honest review is what follows.
“Walking on Knives”, a re imagining of The Little Mermaid, is a short story, clocking in at just under 12,000 words (about 30 pages). In Chhabra’s retelling, the sea witch has a sister, who is never given a name but becomes infatuated with the mermaid and intervenes in an attempt to save her from becoming sea foam when the prince decides to marry another.
I may not be totally objective here, because I absolutely love anything to do with mermaids and sea folklore. So keeping that in mind, I’d recommend this short story. I definitely enjoyed it, but I’m not going to lie, I would have enjoyed it a lot more had it been longer. I feel like thirty pages isn’t enough for rich characterization and the exposition such a dramatic story deserves. However, I think Chhabra did a good job with the characters as far as she goes, and I kind of liked that none of the characters had names, only titles, even though I might have gotten a little confused once or twice when trying to figure out the switching observational point-of-views. I found myself rooting for the sea witch’s sister and disliking the sea witch as much as I love-hate Ursula in the Disney version, and I was disappointed to come to the end so quickly.
If you’ve got a half hour to forty-five minutes, and you like re-tellings of classic folklore, give it a whirl. One sitting is more than enough, and it’s a nice break in between longer works. If, like me, you are sad to see it end, might I suggest The Mermaid’s Daughter by Ann Claycomb? It’s about the little mermaid’s family and the curse that continues down through her line. It would make a good follow up, and also has lady loves.
“Walking on Knives”, a re imagining of The Little Mermaid, is a short story, clocking in at just under 12,000 words (about 30 pages). In Chhabra’s retelling, the sea witch has a sister, who is never given a name but becomes infatuated with the mermaid and intervenes in an attempt to save her from becoming sea foam when the prince decides to marry another.
I may not be totally objective here, because I absolutely love anything to do with mermaids and sea folklore. So keeping that in mind, I’d recommend this short story. I definitely enjoyed it, but I’m not going to lie, I would have enjoyed it a lot more had it been longer. I feel like thirty pages isn’t enough for rich characterization and the exposition such a dramatic story deserves. However, I think Chhabra did a good job with the characters as far as she goes, and I kind of liked that none of the characters had names, only titles, even though I might have gotten a little confused once or twice when trying to figure out the switching observational point-of-views. I found myself rooting for the sea witch’s sister and disliking the sea witch as much as I love-hate Ursula in the Disney version, and I was disappointed to come to the end so quickly.
If you’ve got a half hour to forty-five minutes, and you like re-tellings of classic folklore, give it a whirl. One sitting is more than enough, and it’s a nice break in between longer works. If, like me, you are sad to see it end, might I suggest The Mermaid’s Daughter by Ann Claycomb? It’s about the little mermaid’s family and the curse that continues down through her line. It would make a good follow up, and also has lady loves.
justabookeater's review
3.0
A copy was provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
I wanted to love this a lot more than I actually did. It started out strong but the story got a bit mixed up in the middle and it was all around difficult for me to feel attached to any of the characters. I did enjoy that it was a retelling of the Little Mermaid with an f/f pairing and the dark side of the story as its focal point.
Of course, its a novelette so I couldn't have asked for more but I still wanted to know more; especially the backstory behind the sea witch and her sister. I felt like there was a lot missing that we didn't get to explore which is a bummer.
I did enjoy the ending though, even if it was bit confusing.
I wanted to love this a lot more than I actually did. It started out strong but the story got a bit mixed up in the middle and it was all around difficult for me to feel attached to any of the characters. I did enjoy that it was a retelling of the Little Mermaid with an f/f pairing and the dark side of the story as its focal point.
Of course, its a novelette so I couldn't have asked for more but I still wanted to know more; especially the backstory behind the sea witch and her sister. I felt like there was a lot missing that we didn't get to explore which is a bummer.
I did enjoy the ending though, even if it was bit confusing.
jorammii's review
1.0
I wanted to like this short fiction because it's a f/f retelling of the little mermaid but I found myself more confused than not. I think the story line could have been really fleshed out and turned into a full-length novel, but as is, it was too difficult to follow and we got almost no character development.
megan7b386's review
3.0
I received this free from the publisher via NetGalley
Walking on Knives is a retelling of The Little Mermaid. It isn’t anything like the Disney version – it was dark, cruel and brutal at times. I do feel like readers need to be aware that there were some scenes with dubious sexual consent, so proceed with caution.
Walking on Knives ended strongly, but it did lose its way in the middle a bit and I felt the plot was confusing and messy at times. However, it was an original take on a classic fairytale. I also liked the fact that it was a f/f retelling of The Little Mermaid.
Because Walking on Knives was a novelette, I feel like it did lack some backstory that I would have liked to see, such as that relationship between the Sea Witch and her sister. I would have loved some more exploration of the characters, but it is supposed to be a novelette.
A short read that I would recommend, but I also recommend proceeding with caution.
Walking on Knives is a retelling of The Little Mermaid. It isn’t anything like the Disney version – it was dark, cruel and brutal at times. I do feel like readers need to be aware that there were some scenes with dubious sexual consent, so proceed with caution.
Walking on Knives ended strongly, but it did lose its way in the middle a bit and I felt the plot was confusing and messy at times. However, it was an original take on a classic fairytale. I also liked the fact that it was a f/f retelling of The Little Mermaid.
Because Walking on Knives was a novelette, I feel like it did lack some backstory that I would have liked to see, such as that relationship between the Sea Witch and her sister. I would have loved some more exploration of the characters, but it is supposed to be a novelette.
A short read that I would recommend, but I also recommend proceeding with caution.
jamesflint's review
2.0
Galley provided by publisher
Rep: bi mc, lesbian mc
The main problem with this was that it was too short. This isn't the kind of story that can be condensed into 25 pages, as was attempted here. There needs to be time to develop the characters and relationships (especially when you're trying to convince readers that a character who is in love with someone, falls in love with someone else), and there just wasn't enough for that here.
In addition, the writing felt like it was at times pushing for purple-prose territory and failing, but failing in such a way that it wasn't particularly easy to read or compelling. The novella also opens with a rape scene, which felt totally unnecessary. All it was was a plot device to make it so that the little mermaid fears, or is at least wary of, the sea witch's sister because she shares a resemblance. There are much better ways to have that come about, and honestly it was not a scene I wanted to be reading at all, let alone as the opening scene in the novella.
Rep: bi mc, lesbian mc
The main problem with this was that it was too short. This isn't the kind of story that can be condensed into 25 pages, as was attempted here. There needs to be time to develop the characters and relationships (especially when you're trying to convince readers that a character who is in love with someone, falls in love with someone else), and there just wasn't enough for that here.
In addition, the writing felt like it was at times pushing for purple-prose territory and failing, but failing in such a way that it wasn't particularly easy to read or compelling. The novella also opens with a rape scene, which felt totally unnecessary. All it was was a plot device to make it so that the little mermaid fears, or is at least wary of, the sea witch's sister because she shares a resemblance. There are much better ways to have that come about, and honestly it was not a scene I wanted to be reading at all, let alone as the opening scene in the novella.
dbguide2's review
2.0
I went into this thinking, ‘F/F The Little Mermaid retelling? Perfect! I’ll love it!’ and then…I didn’t love it so much. The plot didn’t have much meat on it and barely built up to anything – like when the climax came up I was like ‘Is this it?’
It was the whole thing of the summary sounding good and then the story turned out to be less than good. All the characters had their motivations and plans, but they had no fire to do so and when the characters have no interest in their motivations and/or plans, neither do I. And that’s where I begin to force myself to finish books.
There were also some parts where something happened and it just didn’t make sense, like SPOILER*when the little mermaid kills a deer, how did she know how to kill the deer? I’m pretty sure sea animals have different anatomy to land animals.
And another thing, maybe a bit of a spoiler – I didn’t find the romance between the sea-witch’s sister and the little mermaid to be believable. What, the sea-witch just sees the little mermaid and likes the way she looks and decides to add a clause to her (the sea-witch’s) deal? And the little mermaid only realised she also ‘loved’ the sister in like the last few hours… Yeah, sorry, not that believable to me.
There was this really weird quote so here you go:
The Prince moored his pleasure craft and walked up the pier to the so-called beach…
- Me: His what now?
And this quote really made me laugh:
The prince had not realised he was holding his breath.
- It’s the quote!!!
It was the whole thing of the summary sounding good and then the story turned out to be less than good. All the characters had their motivations and plans, but they had no fire to do so and when the characters have no interest in their motivations and/or plans, neither do I. And that’s where I begin to force myself to finish books.
There were also some parts where something happened and it just didn’t make sense, like SPOILER*when the little mermaid kills a deer, how did she know how to kill the deer? I’m pretty sure sea animals have different anatomy to land animals.
And another thing, maybe a bit of a spoiler – I didn’t find the romance between the sea-witch’s sister and the little mermaid to be believable. What, the sea-witch just sees the little mermaid and likes the way she looks and decides to add a clause to her (the sea-witch’s) deal? And the little mermaid only realised she also ‘loved’ the sister in like the last few hours… Yeah, sorry, not that believable to me.
There was this really weird quote so here you go:
The Prince moored his pleasure craft and walked up the pier to the so-called beach…
- Me: His what now?
And this quote really made me laugh:
The prince had not realised he was holding his breath.
- It’s the quote!!!
wordwoonders's review
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.
silviasilviareadsbooks's review
2.0
I received an ARC via netgalley but all opinions are my own.
(book #3 in my pride month challenge)
Um. I'm not sure what to think of this short book. In some ways I recognize it was beautiful and the writing is very unique and...not necessarily lyrical, but not very linear either. While that's something I like sometimes, I didn't particularly love it here. We just didn't click, and that was my main issue with it.
The plot is basically your little mermaid retelling with a FF romance, but it's honestly one of the weirdest types of romance dynamics I've ever read. Which is actually good, but I was so confused at times that I'm not even sure exactly what I read. Was it instalove (at least from one side)? I think so, but I wouldn't bet on it because it's entirely possible I missed something while reading (I won't judge you if you think that's my own fault and not the author's).
There were also some things I didn't entirely appreciate like religion being suddenly thrown in there en passant without it actually affecting the plot or the character development *shrugs* I don't really know where that came from.
Basically the whole book left me confused af if you can't tell.3 stars because I know this is a case of "it's not you, it's me" but more like 2,5 Nah you know what, I thought about it and I need to round it down.
(book #3 in my pride month challenge)
Um. I'm not sure what to think of this short book. In some ways I recognize it was beautiful and the writing is very unique and...not necessarily lyrical, but not very linear either. While that's something I like sometimes, I didn't particularly love it here. We just didn't click, and that was my main issue with it.
The plot is basically your little mermaid retelling with a FF romance, but it's honestly one of the weirdest types of romance dynamics I've ever read. Which is actually good, but I was so confused at times that I'm not even sure exactly what I read. Was it instalove (at least from one side)? I think so, but I wouldn't bet on it because it's entirely possible I missed something while reading (I won't judge you if you think that's my own fault and not the author's).
There were also some things I didn't entirely appreciate like religion being suddenly thrown in there en passant without it actually affecting the plot or the character development *shrugs* I don't really know where that came from.
Basically the whole book left me confused af if you can't tell.
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