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

1.0

I wanted to like this book especially as I had heard a lot of good things about it, however, the more I read it, the more I couldn't shake a feeling of unease as a disabled reader.

While it was pointed out several times that sirens were not animals, I couldn't stop thinking about what it meant that the disabled character was a siren not a human. Pearle can't communicate like a human, her voice is different, and she has to learn to communicate with the humans in a type of sign language. Perhaps the author meant this as a comment on how the voices of disabled people are silenced, and if so it is poorly done. Instead, it felt more like disabled were being compared to an exotic creature/animal rather than people that exist in the real world.

Unlike humans, sirens need their tail to survive as they can't live out of water. Whereas when a human becomes paralysed their life is not at risk in the same way. Whether it was meant or not, by making the disabled character a siren rather than a human there is the suggestion that becoming disabled ruins someone's life. It left a sour taste in my mouth.

The final nail in the coffin for me was reading the reviews and finding that the saviour storyline becomes a love story.