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mar's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Death and Gore
frantic_vampire's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This was a really fun read! I honestly don’t know why I waited so long to read it. I loved Perle and Dejean so much! I loved getting to see the queerplatonic relationship that developed between them over the course of the book. They made this beautiful connection that led to them making a pod based on trust and a willingness to help those that need a place to recover or rest or that need a home. They just kind of started collecting people little by little. I also loved just how queer this whole book was! It was really nice. Our Bloody Pearl is getting a four out of five stars from me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Body horror, Confinement, Torture, Trafficking, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Ableism
puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Confinement, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Sexual violence
beforeviolets's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This book was essentially How To Train Your Dragon but from the POV of Toothless.
But also if there was a romance between Toothless and Hiccup.
And also if Toothless ate people and... was a siren.
Through the perspective of a nonbinary siren, this book takes us through the mental and physical journey of gaining a disability and learning to live with it.
Our main character, Perle, travels the path of mourning a life once loved in order to adjust to a completely new way of living. They find themself relying on those they would once consider enemies and having to redefine their understanding of freedom, independence, and strength. Over the course of this book, they learn to not only accept, but thrive, in their new reality, and through this are able to pave the way to a future that is better than one they could’ve ever imagined before their disability.
The characters were enjoyable, I thought the pacing was fairly well done, and I think the length was just perfect for the story that needed to be told. I will say, the high intensity moments were quite a bit repetitive, and after the third time the LI got knocked unconscious, the "is he alive??" moment we were meant to have as an audience lost its power. It just needed a bit of variety. I also felt that the romance element could've been a bit more cathartic towards the end, as I felt there was quite a bit of build and then just a brief little discussion about it in the final moments. But I did love the clarification of the quality of their relationship.
It's a really sweet story of healing, second chances, and creating support systems one can call family.
CW/TW: gore, blood, violence, injury detail, death, murder, imprisonment, gun violence, drowning, medical content, PTSD, paraplegia, emesis, physical abuse, sexual abuse (mention, past)
But also if there was a romance between Toothless and Hiccup.
And also if Toothless ate people and... was a siren.
Through the perspective of a nonbinary siren, this book takes us through the mental and physical journey of gaining a disability and learning to live with it.
Our main character, Perle, travels the path of mourning a life once loved in order to adjust to a completely new way of living. They find themself relying on those they would once consider enemies and having to redefine their understanding of freedom, independence, and strength. Over the course of this book, they learn to not only accept, but thrive, in their new reality, and through this are able to pave the way to a future that is better than one they could’ve ever imagined before their disability.
The characters were enjoyable, I thought the pacing was fairly well done, and I think the length was just perfect for the story that needed to be told. I will say, the high intensity moments were quite a bit repetitive, and after the third time the LI got knocked unconscious, the "is he alive??" moment we were meant to have as an audience lost its power. It just needed a bit of variety. I also felt that the romance element could've been a bit more cathartic towards the end, as I felt there was quite a bit of build and then just a brief little discussion about it in the final moments. But I did love the clarification of the quality of their relationship.
It's a really sweet story of healing, second chances, and creating support systems one can call family.
CW/TW: gore, blood, violence, injury detail, death, murder, imprisonment, gun violence, drowning, medical content, PTSD, paraplegia, emesis, physical abuse, sexual abuse (mention, past)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Murder, Physical abuse, Medical content, and Death
Minor: Sexual assault and Vomit
cheye13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Confinement, Torture, and Death
Moderate: Ableism, Murder, and Gore
Minor: Death of parent and Trafficking
It's hard to align this story with typical warnings, as the sirens aren't human, but aren't fully animal. The majority of the content warnings apply to the treatment of sirens, mostly predictable from the synopsis.amysreading_nook's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
TW: blood, near-drowning, violence, implied torture (not explicit)
REP: f/f relationship, non-binary/genderfluid character (uses they/them pronouns and changes gender), character uses mobility aid on fin/tail, use of sign language to communicate
4/67 TBR
I really wanted to love this one but there was just something about it that I couldn't quite connect with. The characters were good and diverse but I felt underdeveloped to an extent. We see them in quite a limited zone - mostly just one room - and whilst the relationships are established I never felt quite sucked in by them. Perle is a brilliant character and I really enjoyed their wit and humour but I never quite grasped where they changed their mind on humans and how it happened quite quickly. They've spent a period of time being tortured but they seem to trust other humans quite quickly. I feel this could have been better if it was more character focused rather than plot focused. I just couldn't quite picture what was happening or what Perle even looked like so I just felt disconnected from the story. This is definitely more of a personal issue than the book itself and I would recommend picking this one up if you love pirates and mermaids, it just wasn't a complete winner for me.
REP: f/f relationship, non-binary/genderfluid character (uses they/them pronouns and changes gender), character uses mobility aid on fin/tail, use of sign language to communicate
4/67 TBR
I really wanted to love this one but there was just something about it that I couldn't quite connect with. The characters were good and diverse but I felt underdeveloped to an extent. We see them in quite a limited zone - mostly just one room - and whilst the relationships are established I never felt quite sucked in by them. Perle is a brilliant character and I really enjoyed their wit and humour but I never quite grasped where they changed their mind on humans and how it happened quite quickly. They've spent a period of time being tortured but they seem to trust other humans quite quickly. I feel this could have been better if it was more character focused rather than plot focused. I just couldn't quite picture what was happening or what Perle even looked like so I just felt disconnected from the story. This is definitely more of a personal issue than the book itself and I would recommend picking this one up if you love pirates and mermaids, it just wasn't a complete winner for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood and Violence
Minor: Torture
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