??????
It’s been weeks now and I still don’t know what to make of this one. A very dark and weird take on The Little Mermaid story, with a cheeky little nod to Hans Christian Andersen even; mostly this was an exercise in imagery and I didn’t connect to the characters, but I can’t deny it has style.
The mermaid here was essentially stolen from the sea, forced to marry a prince, had her tongue cut out, and then gave birth to daughters who then ate their father and basically the entire kingdom, so it’s a post-apocalyptic hellscape now. She’s wandering around the desolated landscape with a person in a Plague Doctor costume, not sure doing what? And they run into these kids, and then more weird shit happens, and I have no idea what any of it means.
I did enjoy listening to this, just for the weird factor alone, but ultimately it meant nothing to me, and I don’t think I will be reading any more from this author. If you like beautiful prose more than a clear story arc, you might like this one more than I did.
[2.5 stars, rounded up]
Chipping Away at Mt. TBR, Spooky Season Edition — Book 8/31
