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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Horror and gore has never been described in such a beautiful way before.
This is a short read, but a really good one! The prose is amazing, a tapestry of words and sentences painting a hauntingly, beautiful bloody and gory love story. Some sentences felt a bit too wordy at times, but I am nitpicking!
This is a short read, but a really good one! The prose is amazing, a tapestry of words and sentences painting a hauntingly, beautiful bloody and gory love story. Some sentences felt a bit too wordy at times, but I am nitpicking!
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I’m conflicted about this book…
I loved the imagery the author conjured, it really reminded me of elden ring/bloodborne in tone (which i fw deeply). I tend to enjoy fresh takes on fairytales, but I really wasn’t sold on the first person POV. Some of the whimsicality got lost there imo. The descriptions were also extremely verbose at times, and a weird amount of attention was paid to describing tiny details to the point where a lot of big picture things got lost. I found my mental image had noticeable gaps when it came to the setting vs the characters.
Speaking of which, I kind of didn’t care about them? It’s hard to get a reader invested in a set of characters in such a short amount of time, I get it, but I truly feel like I wasn’t given a reason to care about the plague doctor specifically. The mermaid kinda just latched onto the first person who was nice to her ever and they didn’t have any redeeming qualities besides that. Classic nonbinary situationship I fear. (As much as I joke, I did appreciate the nonbinary representation. I thought the fact that they had been stitched together so many times that they lost all sense of gender was a really cool way to write fantasy gnc rep. )
I almost wish this had been illustrated, or even published as a graphic novel. I think more attention paid to the characters and dialogue rather than the sometimes redundant descriptions would’ve made it much stronger. The body horror was the standout element of this story, it was so delightfully visceral. The inner dialogue was a bit too edgy for me at times, which did spoil my immersion a little bit.
Another pet peeve I had was the fact that every time a mystery or an element of intrigue was introduced, it would always get resolved within like five minutes. There was a noticeable lack of suspense or foreshadowing which strikes me as odd, given the amount of work the author obviously put into the prose.
All in all I enjoyed it decently enough for what it was, even if some parts fell flat for me. I’m caught between 2.75 and 3 stars, I can’t quite make up my mind.
I loved the imagery the author conjured, it really reminded me of elden ring/bloodborne in tone (which i fw deeply). I tend to enjoy fresh takes on fairytales, but I really wasn’t sold on the first person POV. Some of the whimsicality got lost there imo. The descriptions were also extremely verbose at times, and a weird amount of attention was paid to describing tiny details to the point where a lot of big picture things got lost. I found my mental image had noticeable gaps when it came to the setting vs the characters.
Speaking of which, I kind of didn’t care about them? It’s hard to get a reader invested in a set of characters in such a short amount of time, I get it, but I truly feel like I wasn’t given a reason to care about the plague doctor specifically. The mermaid kinda just latched onto the first person who was nice to her ever and they didn’t have any redeeming qualities besides that. Classic nonbinary situationship I fear. (As much as I joke, I did appreciate the nonbinary representation.
I almost wish this had been illustrated, or even published as a graphic novel. I think more attention paid to the characters and dialogue rather than the sometimes redundant descriptions would’ve made it much stronger. The body horror was the standout element of this story, it was so delightfully visceral. The inner dialogue was a bit too edgy for me at times, which did spoil my immersion a little bit.
Another pet peeve I had was the fact that every time a mystery or an element of intrigue was introduced, it would always get resolved within like five minutes. There was a noticeable lack of suspense or foreshadowing which strikes me as odd, given the amount of work the author obviously put into the prose.
All in all I enjoyed it decently enough for what it was, even if some parts fell flat for me. I’m caught between 2.75 and 3 stars, I can’t quite make up my mind.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Vomit
although this book is pretty short, concluding just short of a hundred pages, khaw manages to pack this book full of dread and complicated emotions. it's gorey. it's powerful. it demands your attention.
the way it's written can kind of get lost on the reader a little bit because of the wording, but the descriptive world-building makes up for it. you can almost feel the cold on your fingertips as they go through the forest. you can see the drops of blood on the fresh snow.
"'what's the point of revenge if you can't enjoy it?'
I offered no reply and instead watched the smoke, like warnings of what would be."
imbalances of power, ideas of rebirth, bad bitch mermaid/sea creature (?) main character, collapsing of empires
"the powerful have always made meals of the small"
the way it's written can kind of get lost on the reader a little bit because of the wording, but the descriptive world-building makes up for it. you can almost feel the cold on your fingertips as they go through the forest. you can see the drops of blood on the fresh snow.
"'what's the point of revenge if you can't enjoy it?'
I offered no reply and instead watched the smoke, like warnings of what would be."
imbalances of power, ideas of rebirth, bad bitch mermaid/sea creature (?) main character, collapsing of empires
"the powerful have always made meals of the small"
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Frankenstein meets The Little Mermaid in the best, goriest, most beautiful way possible???
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I honestly just did not care about the story at all 30% in so what's the point? Why read a book I don't care about? It's not that it was bad, I just didn't care about anything that was happening.
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
A bit too edgy with descriptions at times, and the end felt a bit hypocritical, but over all a very fun, gory spin on fairytales. Bonus points for nonbinary rep!
at its core it’s an awesome and monstrous body horror, however for me it was mired in a verbosity that i didn’t enjoy
dark
This is the second horror novella I’ve read from this author this year. Both were VERY visceral. This author uses heavy imagery. I’m talking DENSE. I frequently had to reread long, flowery sentences to get a firm grip on what was happening. It makes the reading slow work, I gotta say. This one is about a mermaid who is forcibly captured by a king who yanks out her tongue and teeth and pays the grave consequence for that. Now she’s wandering the countryside with a non-binary plague doctor? Wreaking havoc? Being homicidal? Taking down child-god cults? This writing style isn’t super accessible, so although the concept is really cool, it didn’t really hit for me. It’s very indulgent and lofty. I’ll probably read more from this author simply because the ideas/plot summaries keep piquing my interest, but I suspect I’m going to be left feeling unfulfilled each time.