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sussaann's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I've never loved a book as much as I love this book. It's remarkable and heartbreaking, every time I re-read it I find a new line that makes it hurt better, this time it was "Better I be reduced to miscreant daydreams of the ocean than be alive without them." Khaw has a unique talent for making body horror beautiful and disgusting. Am I throwing up because it's so graphic or because I'm crying so hard? The world may never know...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
trante89's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Interesting, dark, take on a fairy tale. Combining aspects or characters from the little mermaid and Frankenstein into a horror novella. The vocabulary was a bit distracting and can cause the reader to have to pause and look up the words very often with a few pages. It's a only a hundred or so pages but still took roughly a week to finish.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy
ashlynncj7's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
sestep's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Murder
pancre_ass's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
- I liked the contrast between the known mermaid tale and what actually happened
- The writing style is quite pretty and grotesque
- Not a native English speaker but I don’t mind looking up words every page.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, and Medical content
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Torture
Minor: Pregnancy
arodplatypus's review
dark
medium-paced
3.5
I don't know, man. This is a weird little book. The MC being the little mermaid setting the record straight is almost incidental. An arbitrary choice of fairy tale characters. It's kind of like if The Little Mermaid walked into a combination of The Lord of the Flies and The Island of Dr. Moreau. (Sounds like a bad "a guy walks into a bar" joke.) But the story is deliciously dark. Sometimes, it's even lyrically beautiful, but it's also often overwritten. For example, a nose gets broken, and the author writes that the "nasal bone fenestrates." That one made me laugh out loud, which was absolutely not the desired effect. It got to the point that I was rolling my eyes at the grasping ten cent words that were actually taking away from the story.
I did like the parts of the story, though, that challenged the mermaid fairy tale. Challenged the idea that the mermaid made a choice to give up her voice, to give up her sisters, and to marry the prince. I liked the mermaid as a beautiful but monstrous deep ocean creature whose razor-sharp teeth are removed in an attempt to tame her. Ah, what folly, what hubris.
I did like the parts of the story, though, that challenged the mermaid fairy tale. Challenged the idea that the mermaid made a choice to give up her voice, to give up her sisters, and to marry the prince. I liked the mermaid as a beautiful but monstrous deep ocean creature whose razor-sharp teeth are removed in an attempt to tame her. Ah, what folly, what hubris.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Violence
reneebraceysherman's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Miscarriage
foxfic's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A kidnapped and mutilated mermaid gets her revenge on the kingdom that tried to destroy her, and while on the run, builds a relationship with the plague doctor who is her only true ally. Their diverging perspectives are tested when the pair come across a trio of Frankenstein-esque constructs with a village of children in their thrall.
The mermaid is morally gray — she is at her core a monster, and she is unapologetic for her alien perspective towards humanity. This is presented as a strength rather than a flaw. The mermaid is self assured, she can be cruel, she has a long memory, and she’s also unflinchingly loyal.
What could have been a simple revenge story is instead a character study on a pair of unlikely, damaged monstrous companions. It’s at turns gory and filled with poetic prose, which serves very well in illustrating the dual natures of both the mermaid and her plague doctor.
Additionally, I also read the prequel, And In Our Daughters, We Find a Voice. The short story offers more insight into the nature of mermaids, the background of our mermaid’s relationship with her plague doctor, and the kingdom-destroying events which lead up to The Salt Grows Heavy.
It’s free to read online: https://www.thedarkmagazine.com/daughters-find-voice/
The mermaid is morally gray — she is at her core a monster, and she is unapologetic for her alien perspective towards humanity. This is presented as a strength rather than a flaw. The mermaid is self assured, she can be cruel, she has a long memory, and she’s also unflinchingly loyal.
What could have been a simple revenge story is instead a character study on a pair of unlikely, damaged monstrous companions. It’s at turns gory and filled with poetic prose, which serves very well in illustrating the dual natures of both the mermaid and her plague doctor.
Additionally, I also read the prequel, And In Our Daughters, We Find a Voice. The short story offers more insight into the nature of mermaids, the background of our mermaid’s relationship with her plague doctor, and the kingdom-destroying events which lead up to The Salt Grows Heavy.
It’s free to read online: https://www.thedarkmagazine.com/daughters-find-voice/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Cannibalism
Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, and War
madhatteranxiety's review against another edition
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Minor: Misogyny and Violence
nerdatlas5's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Gotta say, I was a little worried about starting this because I found Khaw's other novella, Nothing but Blackened Teeth difficult to follow to a negative degree, but this was a huge improvement. I enjoyed how she played with the way fairytale's betray the bias' of the teller and how she twists them to a much darker form. The horror of it was also well done, especially hearing some of the body horror being described made me pretty squeamish. The characters of the mermaid and plague doctor were done well, and their developing relationship with each other felt so real and full of depth. And for the most part the story did a good job balancing unveiling information to drive the plot while still giving enough to make it understandable. Overall an excellent horror novella.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Torture, and Violence