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breezer's review against another edition
4.0
This was so strange but I kinda loved it?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, and Miscarriage
queenlucythevaliant's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Thanks to the publisher for this audio arc!
By outfitting this adult Little Mermaid retelling with Full Gory Horror*** regalia (not that you’d be reading anything by Cassandra Khaw if you didn’t like horror, but JEEZ twtwtw***), she has masterfully landed on a story that is (in atmosphere) both closer to the original fairytale AND more relatable to contemporary readers.
The narrator chosen for this audiobook was perfect and added to the overall eeriness.
While I am not used to reading horror, this book hit the nail on the head for me thematically. I find the discussion of “how much can one physically change while still remaining the same person” incredibly compelling (re: Becky Chambers’ ‘Monk and Robot’ series).
I also loved that the main character isn’t intended to be entirely likeable; it was a strong choice for such an age-old story, and I think it worked.
This was bold and brutal (did I mention this book is GORY?! Like, eating-peoples’-eyeballs-and-describing-how-they-taste gory), and I loved it. Consider me equal parts unsettled and intrigued.
Well played, Mz. Khaw.
4.5
By outfitting this adult Little Mermaid retelling with Full Gory Horror*** regalia (not that you’d be reading anything by Cassandra Khaw if you didn’t like horror, but JEEZ twtwtw***), she has masterfully landed on a story that is (in atmosphere) both closer to the original fairytale AND more relatable to contemporary readers.
The narrator chosen for this audiobook was perfect and added to the overall eeriness.
While I am not used to reading horror, this book hit the nail on the head for me thematically. I find the discussion of “how much can one physically change while still remaining the same person” incredibly compelling (re: Becky Chambers’ ‘Monk and Robot’ series).
I also loved that the main character isn’t intended to be entirely likeable; it was a strong choice for such an age-old story, and I think it worked.
This was bold and brutal (did I mention this book is GORY?! Like, eating-peoples’-eyeballs-and-describing-how-they-taste gory), and I loved it. Consider me equal parts unsettled and intrigued.
Well played, Mz. Khaw.
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, and Cannibalism
macknificent's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
These characters had a wild ass story to share, too bad Khaw's obsession with ten-dollar words gets in the way of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Gaslighting
gondorgirl's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
displacedcactus's review against another edition
dark
emotional
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
This was an incredibly weird book. The writing is beautiful and lyrical, while describing some truly horrific things. I enjoyed reading it, devoured it in a single day, but was also cognizant of the fact that I didn't dare read it before bed, or I'd have nightmares. You need a strong stomach for this one. I'm surprised I even got through it. I feel like it had to be a novella because the lush language and gore probably would have been too much in a longer project.
Make sure to check out the content warnings if you're not a hardened horror reader!
Make sure to check out the content warnings if you're not a hardened horror reader!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Cannibalism
emimli's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
2.0
I wanted to love this, but ultimately it fell flat for me.
My biggest gripe with this book is that the ending seemed very rushed and didn’t fit with the overall atmosphere of the story. It also felt very unearned. I’m not a fan of deus-ex-machina style endings where the central conflict is solved using a completely new, previously unmentioned plot/world/character element, which is unfortunately exactly what happens here.
Additionally, from a technical standpoint, Khaw’s writing style is pretty unbearable. Her prose reads like she just discovered the synonym tool in Microsoft Word. It’s overwrought to the point of being nonsensical at times.
The love story at the centre of this book was my favourite part, but even that needed to be built up much more.The two MCs go from being vaguely horny for each other to expressing their undying love within mere hours. Nevermind that, as far as the reader knows, the MCs barely ever interacted prior to the events of the story, and now they’re too busy fighting for their lives against immortal sadists to have any real meaningful conversations. Am I supposed to believe these people are desperately in love when they barely even know each other? We needed a slower burn.
Overall, there are some cool ideas in here, but the execution was sorely lacking.
My biggest gripe with this book is that the ending seemed very rushed and didn’t fit with the overall atmosphere of the story. It also felt very unearned. I’m not a fan of deus-ex-machina style endings where the central conflict is solved using a completely new, previously unmentioned plot/world/character element, which is unfortunately exactly what happens here.
Additionally, from a technical standpoint, Khaw’s writing style is pretty unbearable. Her prose reads like she just discovered the synonym tool in Microsoft Word. It’s overwrought to the point of being nonsensical at times.
The love story at the centre of this book was my favourite part, but even that needed to be built up much more.
Overall, there are some cool ideas in here, but the execution was sorely lacking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
autumnleafgirl's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Release Date: May 2, 2023
Genre: Fantasy Horror
Themes: Upside down fairytales, blood and guts, ethereal in a good way
"I am a mother of monsters, better than any of my young."
The story begins with our unnamed mermaid narrator basking in the destruction of her husband's kingdom and the consumption of everyone within it. Emboldened by her escape, trapped in her mute human form, and accompanied by an enigmatic plague doctor, she sets out to begin a new chapter of her immortal life.
When they stumble upon a village of vicious children who serve dubious "saints," however, the pair gets mixed up in a gorey tale of macabre magic, attempted rebellion, and the horrific line between creation and destruction, forcing the main character to break the rules that have kept her a prisoner of her own world for so long.
It should be more than clear that this isn't "The Little Mermaid" story most of us know, or even the pessimistic myth from which it originated. Instead, Khaw has built a grim and beautiful mythology that's equal parts poetry and viscera. It's a world of fierce monsters and wanna-be gods. It's grisly and violent, but their command of language is on full display here, and even the most jarring scenes drip with a lusciousness that seems almost unfair for such bloody happenings.
My only complaint around this book - if it can even be called a complaint - is that I wish there was more of it. This novella was a quick read for me at about 90 pages in the ebook version. Khaw does an immense amount with such small real estate, but I would have been more than thrilled to be carried further along on the protagonist's journey through this terrifying, gorgeous world. Which I guess is a long way of saying yes, it really is that good.
For fans of: Admittedly this is my first book by Khaw, so I can't describe where it ranks amongst their prolific work (something I'll be changing in the very near future), but I would happily recommend this book to horror fantasy fans looking for something that feels similar to but is more bloody than Leigh Bardugo's "The Language of Thorns" story collection. Fans of the more supernatural elements of Christopher Buehlman's "Between Two Fires" will appreciate the lushly decrepit world that Khaw has created. I even think that particularly strong-stomached fans of female characters reclaiming their narratives - such as Madeline Miller's "Circe" - may also find themselves satisfied by how Khaw marries mythology and pure rage into a gem of a novella... If they can live with a little eyeball eating.
The verdict: This book is a horror fantasy fan's favorite dessert - it's deliciously rich, complex in all the right ways, and mournfully over before you're ready for it to be. I was intrigued, disgusted, in love, filled with righteous fury, and heartbroken over and over again in 90 pages - an unexpected triumph that few authors could pull off with such grace as Khaw.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for sending an ARC in exchange for my honest review!
Genre: Fantasy Horror
Themes: Upside down fairytales, blood and guts, ethereal in a good way
"I am a mother of monsters, better than any of my young."
The story begins with our unnamed mermaid narrator basking in the destruction of her husband's kingdom and the consumption of everyone within it. Emboldened by her escape, trapped in her mute human form, and accompanied by an enigmatic plague doctor, she sets out to begin a new chapter of her immortal life.
When they stumble upon a village of vicious children who serve dubious "saints," however, the pair gets mixed up in a gorey tale of macabre magic, attempted rebellion, and the horrific line between creation and destruction, forcing the main character to break the rules that have kept her a prisoner of her own world for so long.
It should be more than clear that this isn't "The Little Mermaid" story most of us know, or even the pessimistic myth from which it originated. Instead, Khaw has built a grim and beautiful mythology that's equal parts poetry and viscera. It's a world of fierce monsters and wanna-be gods. It's grisly and violent, but their command of language is on full display here, and even the most jarring scenes drip with a lusciousness that seems almost unfair for such bloody happenings.
My only complaint around this book - if it can even be called a complaint - is that I wish there was more of it. This novella was a quick read for me at about 90 pages in the ebook version. Khaw does an immense amount with such small real estate, but I would have been more than thrilled to be carried further along on the protagonist's journey through this terrifying, gorgeous world. Which I guess is a long way of saying yes, it really is that good.
For fans of: Admittedly this is my first book by Khaw, so I can't describe where it ranks amongst their prolific work (something I'll be changing in the very near future), but I would happily recommend this book to horror fantasy fans looking for something that feels similar to but is more bloody than Leigh Bardugo's "The Language of Thorns" story collection. Fans of the more supernatural elements of Christopher Buehlman's "Between Two Fires" will appreciate the lushly decrepit world that Khaw has created. I even think that particularly strong-stomached fans of female characters reclaiming their narratives - such as Madeline Miller's "Circe" - may also find themselves satisfied by how Khaw marries mythology and pure rage into a gem of a novella... If they can live with a little eyeball eating.
The verdict: This book is a horror fantasy fan's favorite dessert - it's deliciously rich, complex in all the right ways, and mournfully over before you're ready for it to be. I was intrigued, disgusted, in love, filled with righteous fury, and heartbroken over and over again in 90 pages - an unexpected triumph that few authors could pull off with such grace as Khaw.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for sending an ARC in exchange for my honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
danaslitlist's review against another edition
fast-paced
1.0
A thesaurus word vomit and body horror do not a book make.
When I say that I made it an hour and some minutes in (roughly 50% of the book) without knowing what the hell was happening, who anyone was, or what this world looked like I wish I was exaggerating. I lost count of how many times I audibly asked “WHAT IS HAPPENING” because I quite literally don’t know what is happening on page. No, seriously. I don’t know what happened in this book other than a mermaid eating people and a Plague Doctor wanting to save kids who don’t want to be saved.
Which for a novella is honestly shocking and telling. Part of this stems from lack of clear motives or thought behind anything these characters are doing while the other part comes from the extreme lack of anything about the characters themselves.
Some of the questions I have for this book (“some” being the keyword because I’m sure there’s more).
How does the magic work? Who is this cult? Where did the plague doctor come from? Why are they with the mermaid? How come the mermaid is okay with leaving her children? Where are they? Is this a made up world or is supposed to be in our world? Who is the authority figure? If the mermaid married a prince is she a princess? What is she the princess of?
I understand the authors intention of spreading out the “backstory” (that’s being generous) of the unnamed main character much later in the book but it was detrimental to the story. Why? Because, it leaves the readers without any understanding, without a name to call her, without an idea of what direction we’re going. And because this is such a short book that’s all information that the readers should have much earlier or at least had breadcrumbs to follow.
This is supposed to be a little mermaid retelling, that’s one of the reasons I requested an ARC, but when I got approved and started listening I had completely forgotten that’s what this was. And continued to read the rest of the novella without realizing once what this was supposed to be. “Retelling” translates to “eh it has a prince and a mermaid, and she lost her voice but that’s not the focus on the book and in fact takes a backseat to whatever is going on with the Plague Doctor and a cult.”
The prose was also very difficult to follow or lose yourself in. This is a book that says so so so little with so so so many words. We are given a display of pretentious descriptions and dialogue, which always leaves me feeling rude to say, but in this case it needs to be said. I would like to consider myself a pretty well read person and I’m not afraid or ashamed to admit that I will google words if I don’t know them. However when you use 50 SAT words in a row for no other reason than to sound smart or fancy, it’s exhausting. I shouldn’t have to stop reading a 2 hour book every few minutes to go look up words. Especially when it’s not necessary, it’s just a style choice.
I’m not squeamish when it comes to body horror and so that element of the book didn’t bother me. But it sadly fell short on delivering any real horror due to the repetitive nature of events. How many times can she say “marrow”, “bezoar”, vivisection”, “viscera”, and “calcium”? Too many times that’s the answer.
The idea of man eating mermaid monster is great, I’m just going to need more than the same descriptions for how she picked apart bodies and ate the tendons and flesh.
I saw a lot of reviews saying that this is a haunting or vivid or unsettling. I wish I had any of those feelings for this book. It was flat, overdone, and lacking any meaning besides the utterly shoehorned “men fear the voices of things they don’t understand.” Which is a great statement just wish it had any relevance to the rest of the book.
Perhaps this novella would’ve been better off as a longer book so we could explore the present while also getting more flashbacks over time in order to help us not feel so disjointed or confused. But then I would’ve had to sit through a longer version of this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, and Misogyny
erynlasbelin's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Genocide, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury
amandadevoursbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This book was provided to Me by NetGalley and torNightFire for free in advance of publication for me to provide an honest review. Thank you Net Galley and tor!
This is a travelogue following not your Disney princess mermaid who has a taste for human flesh and a plague doctor who is non-binary. During their journey of a cross a kid being hunted by a group of other kids, the surviving kids take them to a village to meet the three adults that the kids called the saints. The saints harvest the organs from the victim and use it to extend their lives. The victim is then resuscitated. The plague doctor does not want this to continue and wants to expose the saints for what they are: monstrous humans.
This book examines what it means to be monstrous. At its heart, it's also a love story. I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the tiaga setting. Cassandra Khaw's writing is so brutal and gory and honest I could read it all the time.
This is a travelogue following not your Disney princess mermaid who has a taste for human flesh and a plague doctor who is non-binary. During their journey of a cross a kid being hunted by a group of other kids, the surviving kids take them to a village to meet the three adults that the kids called the saints. The saints harvest the organs from the victim and use it to extend their lives. The victim is then resuscitated. The plague doctor does not want this to continue and wants to expose the saints for what they are: monstrous humans.
This book examines what it means to be monstrous. At its heart, it's also a love story. I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the tiaga setting. Cassandra Khaw's writing is so brutal and gory and honest I could read it all the time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail