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A review by ohmage_resistance
Our Bloody Pearl by D.N. Bryn
adventurous
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
A pirate rescues a siren from an abusive situation and helps them heal.
I can see a lot of other people really liking this one, but it wasn’t quite my thing although I’m glad I read it anyway. It was a bit too much of a romance for me, even if it didn’t follow too many of the stereotypical romance novel plot beats. I did appreciate that there were some more action-y parts in the plot. The emotional healing part of the book did clash a bit with the casualness of the siren eating human body parts and other violent actions for me, but I can see that not bothering other people. The coastal/ocean setting was very lovingly described, so that was pretty fun. I also am not the biggest fan of pirates and mermaids and stuff like that, so given that, I’m a little surprised I liked it as much as I did.
I really liked the disability representation in this book. I think it was handled very thoughtfully, and I liked how being disabled never prevented a character from having adjacency and being able participate in the plot. At the same time, representation of the difficulties of being disabled was never sacrificed for plot connivence. This is just as a small nitpick, but I think it would have been cool to see how a deaf sailer deals with the sirens. We do get to see use of sign language, but there’s no deaf characters.
I can see a lot of other people really liking this one, but it wasn’t quite my thing although I’m glad I read it anyway. It was a bit too much of a romance for me, even if it didn’t follow too many of the stereotypical romance novel plot beats. I did appreciate that there were some more action-y parts in the plot. The emotional healing part of the book did clash a bit with the casualness of the siren eating human body parts and other violent actions for me, but I can see that not bothering other people. The coastal/ocean setting was very lovingly described, so that was pretty fun. I also am not the biggest fan of pirates and mermaids and stuff like that, so given that, I’m a little surprised I liked it as much as I did.
I really liked the disability representation in this book. I think it was handled very thoughtfully, and I liked how being disabled never prevented a character from having adjacency and being able participate in the plot. At the same time, representation of the difficulties of being disabled was never sacrificed for plot connivence. This is just as a small nitpick, but I think it would have been cool to see how a deaf sailer deals with the sirens. We do get to see use of sign language, but there’s no deaf characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Violence and Cannibalism
Minor: Rape
For the Cannibalism tag, it's mostly sirens eating humans/human body parts, not really humans eating humans, but close enough.
Ableism warning includes internalized ableism