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A review by mnboyer
The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan
2.0
First and foremost: I picked this up from the local library on a whim. I'm on a "mermaid/selkie" kick right now and I'm trying to read through several different mermaid-type novels. I picked this title up because it appeared on a random search, fit my current genre interests, and it had a unique cover that drew me in.
1) Covers can be deceiving. What you end up getting in the pages is not like any of the covers. Nothing this romantic, not a traditional fairy tale, etc. I actually think the cover did the book a service because it drew me in just like a siren song.
2) At the end of the first chapter, I had to stop and wonder if I'd understood the setting/world in which this story takes place. Unfortunately, I felt like that throughout the novel. While I would never argue that an author needs to spoon-feed a reader when creating their world, I do believe that they have to at least leave some food out on the table for us. Unfortunately here, I was never properly set in the world. I think this distracted from the overall story because I was never "connected" to the world in a way that made me care about most of the novel.
3) The dark and evil witch motif both works here (we need someone to turn seals into women, right?) and fails to work (her motives are selfish at first, she remains underdeveloped as a character, her motives suddenly do not make sense, etc.). Again, I don't need a completely straightforward story to read a novel, but I do need a little more than was provided here.
4) Negative representations of the women from the sea. They lack any agency (until an incident towards the end of the novel, and even then they need some help from their sons). They lack any depth of character, again probably because they're more props than characters, and they are pretty dead in terms of warmth. This all ruins the "romance" that was promised on the back cover.
5) There is no romance. Ever. Even the encounter with the soon-to-be-villain and her sea-lover is not 'romantic' in the traditional sense.
6) Shifting timelines and character perspectives was not necessary, does not add to the story, and does not ground the reader. Again, it just kind of jars you and serves no real function.
Overall: I wanted to enjoy this book because of its themes. In the end, we all learn that men shouldn't think with their "little head" and should instead value women for who they are inside, not for outward beauty. Okay, a good moral, but one that could have been delivered better. None of the characters are exceptional, likable, developed, etc., and in the end even the world remained confusing. All in all there are some good elements here, some great ideas, but slapped together they just did not work to create a story that I really enjoyed.
1) Covers can be deceiving. What you end up getting in the pages is not like any of the covers. Nothing this romantic, not a traditional fairy tale, etc. I actually think the cover did the book a service because it drew me in just like a siren song.
2) At the end of the first chapter, I had to stop and wonder if I'd understood the setting/world in which this story takes place. Unfortunately, I felt like that throughout the novel. While I would never argue that an author needs to spoon-feed a reader when creating their world, I do believe that they have to at least leave some food out on the table for us. Unfortunately here, I was never properly set in the world. I think this distracted from the overall story because I was never "connected" to the world in a way that made me care about most of the novel.
3) The dark and evil witch motif both works here (we need someone to turn seals into women, right?) and fails to work (her motives are selfish at first, she remains underdeveloped as a character, her motives suddenly do not make sense, etc.). Again, I don't need a completely straightforward story to read a novel, but I do need a little more than was provided here.
4) Negative representations of the women from the sea. They lack any agency (until an incident towards the end of the novel, and even then they need some help from their sons). They lack any depth of character, again probably because they're more props than characters, and they are pretty dead in terms of warmth. This all ruins the "romance" that was promised on the back cover.
5) There is no romance. Ever. Even the encounter with the soon-to-be-villain and her sea-lover is not 'romantic' in the traditional sense.
6) Shifting timelines and character perspectives was not necessary, does not add to the story, and does not ground the reader. Again, it just kind of jars you and serves no real function.
Overall: I wanted to enjoy this book because of its themes. In the end, we all learn that men shouldn't think with their "little head" and should instead value women for who they are inside, not for outward beauty. Okay, a good moral, but one that could have been delivered better. None of the characters are exceptional, likable, developed, etc., and in the end even the world remained confusing. All in all there are some good elements here, some great ideas, but slapped together they just did not work to create a story that I really enjoyed.