metallicbranch's review
adventurous
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Ok, so on the one hand, this is not my kind of book. Dark though it may be on one level, it's also kind of treacly towards its characters, who are all pretty, talented, and successful. On the other hand, my 16-year-old self would have lost her shit over lesbian mermaid opera singers. So despite the fact that this felt like total fluff to me now, I decided to enjoy it for the sake of the former 16-year-old queer kid who wrote a whole chamber pop album about missing the ocean.
That said, I can't pretend that I think this is a good book. The writing isn't strong enough to stand on its own. The plot felt weirdly uneven and indefensible at times. And frankly Kathleen's self-absorption and lack of basic life skills completely ruined my ability to soak up the sapphic fairy tale at the center, because how the hell could Harry stand being in a relationship with this helpless overgrown child? I guess she's just that beautiful, talented and magical... At the end of the day, this is the part that failed to win me over-- that everyone in the book falls over themselves for the protagonist whose primary positive aspects aren't accessible through the medium of this author's writing.
Oh, and the sea witches' sections just dragged. Exposition dump in first-person plural. Yay.
That said, I can't pretend that I think this is a good book. The writing isn't strong enough to stand on its own. The plot felt weirdly uneven and indefensible at times
Spoiler
(seriously, you go to Ireland to find out aout your family, you meet your Irish grandmother's lover, now a nun, and after a 15 minute chat in a pub you're like, bye forever old lady?! wtf!)Oh, and the sea witches' sections just dragged. Exposition dump in first-person plural. Yay.
spiderwitch's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
jessica_flower's review against another edition
3.0
TW: multiple suicides, intergenerational trauma, chronic pain, chronic illness, psychiatric hospitalization, mentioned sexual assault, miscommunication in relationships
Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, this is a dark, angsty and sapphic retelling of The Little Mermaid. This is a retelling where the little mermaid, before she chose to take her own life instead of killing the prince, had a human daughter. Her daughter and the rest of the female descendants of the family inherited the curse of stabbing pain in their legs and the pain of having their tongue cut out from the original curse of the sea witch. Until the last surviving daughter, with the help of her girlfriend, tries to end the curse once and for all. If you’re at all sensitive to stories of chronic pain, I suggest you skip this one.
I liked the story enough to finish it, though the characters sometimes fell flat and I couldn’t stop myself from getting exasperated at how some things could’ve been resolved better if they’d just talked to each other with more honesty. But then where would the angst be?
Even though this retelling was angsty, it ended on a happy note, so I don’t understand why the author chose to include a short story after the end of the novel (or at least in this edition), a story that only served to make my mood drop and turn sour.
Read on if you want to know my thoughts on it. If not, I don’t blame you.
This short story, “The Mermaid at the Opera”, is about the original mermaid (called “Fand” in this version) who gave up her life below to live on land and her relationship with Hans Christian Andersen, who made her his muse for the fairy tale that he would later publish and profit from as “The Little Mermaid”. The story, and their relationship, was written entirely from Andersen’s point of view.
Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, this is a dark, angsty and sapphic retelling of The Little Mermaid. This is a retelling where the little mermaid, before she chose to take her own life instead of killing the prince, had a human daughter. Her daughter and the rest of the female descendants of the family inherited the curse of stabbing pain in their legs and the pain of having their tongue cut out from the original curse of the sea witch. Until the last surviving daughter, with the help of her girlfriend, tries to end the curse once and for all. If you’re at all sensitive to stories of chronic pain, I suggest you skip this one.
I liked the story enough to finish it, though the characters sometimes fell flat and I couldn’t stop myself from getting exasperated at how some things could’ve been resolved better if they’d just talked to each other with more honesty. But then where would the angst be?
Even though this retelling was angsty, it ended on a happy note, so I don’t understand why the author chose to include a short story after the end of the novel (or at least in this edition), a story that only served to make my mood drop and turn sour.
Read on if you want to know my thoughts on it. If not, I don’t blame you.
This short story, “The Mermaid at the Opera”, is about the original mermaid (called “Fand” in this version) who gave up her life below to live on land and her relationship with Hans Christian Andersen, who made her his muse for the fairy tale that he would later publish and profit from as “The Little Mermaid”. The story, and their relationship, was written entirely from Andersen’s point of view.
becandbooks's review
5.0
This is now one of my favourite fairy tale retellings. It is modern and romantic and fantastical and such a wonderful tribute to the original telling of The Little Mermaid. I can not tell you how wonderful I thought it was! Oh, and it's also one of the most gorgeous F/F stories I have read.
The story follows Kathleen who suffers some various unexplained symptoms including a stabbing pain in her feet, an obsession with the sea, and the sensation that her tongue is being cut out. She also has an astounding singing voice which has made her into an up and coming opera star. Sound familiar?
Her girlfriend Harry (who is completely gorgeous btw), has constant concerns about Kathleen's unexplainable problems. In an attempt to uncover the cause of the symptoms, Harry helps Kathleen to track her family history and understand the curse of her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.
The complex feel of this story and how it knits and intertwines itself with the original Hans Christian Andersen fairytale was truly magical. Rarely do I feel completely satisfied with a retelling but this was just so well done that I can not wait to reread it.
I just cannot get over Claycomb's ability to instil the magic and fantasy from Hans Christian Andersen's original tale in her own modern storytelling.
"We felt the spell catch, a tug on the line we had flung across the ocean like the jerk a fisherman feels - she heard us, at least. Now we wait and wonder how to do what must be done."
The story follows Kathleen who suffers some various unexplained symptoms including a stabbing pain in her feet, an obsession with the sea, and the sensation that her tongue is being cut out. She also has an astounding singing voice which has made her into an up and coming opera star. Sound familiar?
Her girlfriend Harry (who is completely gorgeous btw), has constant concerns about Kathleen's unexplainable problems. In an attempt to uncover the cause of the symptoms, Harry helps Kathleen to track her family history and understand the curse of her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.
The complex feel of this story and how it knits and intertwines itself with the original Hans Christian Andersen fairytale was truly magical. Rarely do I feel completely satisfied with a retelling but this was just so well done that I can not wait to reread it.
I just cannot get over Claycomb's ability to instil the magic and fantasy from Hans Christian Andersen's original tale in her own modern storytelling.
m4tr1m0ny's review against another edition
4.0
way better than I thought it would be! don't be put off by the cover! it falls into none of the traps that I find fairy tale retellings often do: it's creative in its modernity rather than just transposed directly into modern day, it keeps the essentials of the original story, and I felt like the main characters were a lot better written than I expected. Kathleen isn't just a generic Ariel doppelganger but rather fully formed, as are her family and girlfriend. I didn't give it 5 stars because the faithfulness to the original fairy tale did end up making it a little bit corny, but the skill of the author really saved it for the most part. on the whole though I enjoyed myself and I thought the relationship between Kathleen and Harry was very beautiful and believable.
Spoiler
I also felt like the Selkies weren't very fully formed and would have perhaps been better either left out or made the main fantastical element ie. Kathleen and her foremothers being Selkies rather than mermaids.donlankat's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
yanderbae's review
3.0
I feel conflicted on reviewing this book. Parts of the beginning felt breathtaking and ethereal and I would gasp in excitement to devour another sentence, another page. But then towards the middle it seemed to really slow down. I pushed through but by the end I have to say I just don’t love it. The ending fell a little flat for me, it didn’t have the gravitas I expected from earlier moments in the book, and the writing of the opera got too heavy and extensive for me, someone with no operatic knowledge. I did enjoy the short story at the end though.