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zmeiat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
The vibes and visuals were top notch, but the pretentious writing was a slog to get through. How many complicated and uncommonly used words can be used in one sentence?! I for one had to read close to my computer so that i could have the dictionary ready.
Not to mention that there were many cool concepts in the story that were not explored enough. The mermaids daughters, for example - with their sinister presence only appear at the start of the book and peace out for the rest of it. We should also have gotten much more backstory of the protagonists and the world itself needed more context and structure.
Point is, and terribly sorry to say, this was to short of a book. Honestly still good, but the issues were to glaring.
Not to mention that there were many cool concepts in the story that were not explored enough. The mermaids daughters, for example - with their sinister presence only appear at the start of the book and peace out for the rest of it. We should also have gotten much more backstory of the protagonists and the world itself needed more context and structure.
Point is, and terribly sorry to say, this was to short of a book. Honestly still good, but the issues were to glaring.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Death, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Confinement
allyareads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.75
I'm currently on a horror kick and this book has me obsessed. I haven't stopped thinking about it and already desperately want to reread it. I feel like it may be a story you get something different with each read.
Please I implore you, take your time when reading this. The atmosphere, characters and actually all of the writing is handled with so much deliberate care. Even the most violent or gory scenes (i.e. most of the book) are written so beautifully and delicately. No doubt heavy on the purple prose, but I found once I was in I was in (I also read an Ebook version and we love a quick hold-down thesaurus check).
I’ve always hated the story of the Little Mermaid and this does a fantastic job of exploring the dark suspicions, the various myths and the cyclical nature of storytelling. Getting to hear the story from the monster/victim in their own truth was perfect.
I’m livid it was so short, even with the original short story attached. It may be controversial but I think I might have enjoyed reading the short story before.
But as someone who works as a bookseller, I know it will be divisive. I can tell some people will love this wholeheartedly and others are going to fucking hate it. So I can't recommend this to everyone.
If you don’t like books heavy on vibes, body horror and with big pretentious words, this ain’t your book.
Recommend to fans of tv series Hannibal, the dark elves from the Magicians, dark fairy tale retellings and the people who cheer on the monsters.
If anyone has any simliar books,GIMME! I would love some suggestions please.
Please I implore you, take your time when reading this. The atmosphere, characters and actually all of the writing is handled with so much deliberate care. Even the most violent or gory scenes (i.e. most of the book) are written so beautifully and delicately. No doubt heavy on the purple prose, but I found once I was in I was in (I also read an Ebook version and we love a quick hold-down thesaurus check).
I’ve always hated the story of the Little Mermaid and this does a fantastic job of exploring the dark suspicions, the various myths and the cyclical nature of storytelling. Getting to hear the story from the monster/victim in their own truth was perfect.
I’m livid it was so short, even with the original short story attached. It may be controversial but I think I might have enjoyed reading the short story before.
But as someone who works as a bookseller, I know it will be divisive. I can tell some people will love this wholeheartedly and others are going to fucking hate it. So I can't recommend this to everyone.
If you don’t like books heavy on vibes, body horror and with big pretentious words, this ain’t your book.
Recommend to fans of tv series Hannibal, the dark elves from the Magicians, dark fairy tale retellings and the people who cheer on the monsters.
If anyone has any simliar books,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Body horror, Medical content, Murder, Cannibalism, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Torture, Toxic relationship, Confinement, and Pregnancy
Minor: Rape
serinalovesreading's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Body horror
ctara2123's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Child death, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, Torture, Body horror, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Grief
pryingblackbird's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Cannibalism, Blood, and Gore
carolinamoon's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
Quite possibly the darkest, most gruesome fairy tale inspired story you'll ever read. This was sharp, potent, elite horror writing. And, a love story... there once was a plague doctor of no discernable gender traveling with a mermaid princess through the taiga...
Highly recommend to shake you awake out of your reading slump whether or not you typically read horror. This was simply a well written story with delicious vocabulary words as well as acrid sentences. A terrifying pleasure to read.
(Content warning: harm to children)
Highly recommend to shake you awake out of your reading slump whether or not you typically read horror. This was simply a well written story with delicious vocabulary words as well as acrid sentences. A terrifying pleasure to read.
(Content warning: harm to children)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Gore
crisscrossedshelves's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Child death, Body horror, and Child abuse
ceruleanseas's review
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This is a stunning fantasy horror novella. Khaw reimagines a version of The Little Mermaid where the prince wasn't so sweet and spins a tale, not about revenge, but about the aftermath. The mermaid (for lack of a better description or a name) leaves her husband's kingdom in ruins, accompanied by a plague doctor who is more than they seem. I adored the elegant and imaginative prose, and appreciated the complex motivation of characters who are unapologetic about their natures.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Physical abuse, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Torture, Grief, Self harm, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, and Medical content
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Confinement, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Rape
archiebb's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Definitely a gorier book than I usually read. I liked the fairy tale feel of this read. I saw someone critique the use of the big words and academic kind of sound which could definitely be a turn off to be aware of. I didn't mind it and it kind of fit the fairy tale feel for me.
My biggest grievance with this book involves a spoiler.
This felt like watching Superman vs Some Other Superhero (or really a common thing in Marvel movies) where everyone is seemingly invincible and there's no sense of what someone can't recover from.
E.g., her being completely taken apart on the doc table but she is able to eat him entirely and then he still comes back and captures her and then she burns them all to ash. But then she can still salvage the bezoar that makes her plague doctor come back 400 years later. Like at that point I really didn't care.
Wouldn't re-read tbh!
My biggest grievance with this book involves a spoiler.
E.g., her being completely taken apart on the doc table but she is able to eat him entirely and then he still comes back and captures her and then she burns them all to ash. But then she can still salvage the bezoar that makes her plague doctor come back 400 years later. Like at that point I really didn't care.
Wouldn't re-read tbh!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Cannibalism, Child abuse, and Torture
emzhay's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
This is a captivating and wonderfully grotesque fairytale, but the vocabulary distracts from the atmosphere and emotional beats. So many times I was pulled out of a scene because I had to look up a word that was used. I understand what the author was going for, but sometimes it seemed like they wanted to pick the most obscure synonym from a thesaurus.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Gore, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, and Death
Minor: Miscarriage