A review by ashleighbeanxo
Our Bloody Pearl by D.N. Bryn

2.0

Our Bloody Pearl follows a siren who has been captured by Captain Kian of a pirate ship, who travels the sea capturing sirens and selling them. Captain Kian has also created a device to block out siren's songs, and our main character was the first siren to be captured. Living in a tub of water, the siren was paralysed by a huge weight on their tail and due to dehydration, they can no longer sing.

At the start of the book, another pirate crew attacks Captain Kian's ship and overruns it, forcing Captain Kian to flee and leave the siren trapped on the ship. But all is not lost, as the new Captain, a man named Dejean seems different to Kian, and takes to the siren, naming them Perle. The two become friendly and develop a way to communicate with each other. Dejean vows to help Perle regain the use of their tail, but when news of Captain Kian returning for her captive reaches Dejean and Perle, they decide to take the Captain down once and for all..

I had high hopes for this book. We've got a main character who doesn't identify as male or female, a pirate crew with queer women, and I heard this book was full of gory body horror. While I loved the representation and diversity in this book, unfortunately I didn't feel the characters were fully fleshed out enough or me. I feel like this book could have been longer and we could have explored the characters more. For example, Simone and Murielle were just there in the background, and I wanted to know them more. I wanted to explore their relationship more and find out more about their role in the crew.


Unfortunately, this book just didn't work for me.