by Sonia Faruqi
rating: ☆
published: 2nd October 2018
spoilers? a few
Goodreads
Galley provided by publisher
CWs: sexual assault
I had - if not high, then at least some - hopes for this book. The synopsis sounded intriguing, and I thought there was some good potential for enemies to lovers. A bit like To Kill a Kingdom, maybe. And the cover was lovely, so there was that too.
Unfortunately, it didn't work out - to say the least.
To start off with, the writing was fairly poor. I know that's something completely subjective and everything, but on the first page, there was mention of "Algae Appreciation Day" and "Horrid Humans Day", and it felt kind of... childish? For lack of a better word. So that kind of put me off the writing from the start. It wasn't flat out awful - I have read a lot worse - but it felt kind of clunky, especially when it came to the speech. You know how you can find some writing styles easier to read than others, like they read more naturally? This one is one of those that doesn't read particularly easily. So I struggled a bit with that.
Also concerning the writing, the author had a tendency to skip fairly rapidly between Izar and Coralline's point of view. Now, I get the value of minor cliffhangers, sure, but when there's one every few pages, but you just know you only need to read another couple of paragraphs before you find out what happens next? They don't really work. And, they kind of stopped me from getting properly into either Coralline's or Izar's story. I would be just about getting used to one, and then it'd change.
If the writing was what made me less keen on the book, the worldbuilding is what made me rate it 1 star instead of two. Firstly, the mermaid world is a direct mirror of a human world. Down to the misogyny and rape culture. Because why would you extend your imagination to come up with something new when you can just do that! There's a whole government system, there are police, detectives, houses, tables, corsets - none of this is a particularly interesting world. What are the chances, if you have two different species, with minimal contact, that they would develop into matching societies? Pretty fricking low, you'd have to guess. And yet. In this book, we're supposed to believe that merpeople hide away from humans but still have a mirroring society. But what is worse about this, is that we can't even escape tired old tropes like a sexual assault scene and some lovely misogyny in this merpeople society. Starting with the misogyny, what we get is this conversation between Coralline and her fiance:
"You've never left Urchin Grove before. You're delicate - like the algae after which you were named-" "I'm not delicate." "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it in an offensive way. What I mean is that you're fragile, feminine. You don't know how to wield a dagger-"
On top of this, Coralline is expected by her mother, and society, to just marry well, learn how to cook, provide babies. Sound familiar? (Along similar lines as this, when Izar gets turned into a merman, one of the first things he comments on is that... it's emasculating not to have hair on his chest? Because yes. Yes, that is What Makes You A Man. Please, spare me.)
Then we get to the rape culture. Let me set the scene. Coralline and Izar have just been to visit someone to help them on their quest, but he is killed while they're there, and Coralline seen clutching the dagger. So, they find the furthest away hotel they can, which is kind of a seedy place. And while they're getting rooms, Izar overhears these two mermen talking about how they would "like a piece of" Coralline, such that they ask for the room next door to where she'll be staying. Now, he doesn't tell Coralline this. Oh no. He rationalises it as he's using her to get what he wants, he doesn't really care about her. So, the next morning, the brothers break into Coralline's room and try to rape and kill her. And Izar has to save her. Because what is a fantasy story without an attempted rape scene so the hero can save the girl, huh? A lot goddamn better than this, I'm telling you. And that's the point where I just got angry and hateread the rest of the book.
In addition to all this mess, there was a particular idea that got propounded a few times that I really hated. It was centered around two characters (including the one who ends up murdered). Basically, his wife is dying, so he goes and finds the magical elixir to save her life. And apparently, according to Coralline, this means she's indebted for life to him. Because she ends up falling out of love with him, and leaving him for another man, and Coralline calls this selfish. It feels a lot like the author's pushing the idea that she doesn't have a right to decide she doesn't love him. Which is just stupid.
A few final points. First off, there's so much girl hating going on. There's not one single intimate and kind female relationship. Coralline has no friends besides her shark, her mother is absolutely horrible, Rosette is supposedly competing for Coralline's fiance's attention so is also terrible and spends her time spreading malicious rumours about Coralline, her fiance's mother hates her and her mother, her mother hates the apothecary, the list goes on. And it's so tedious. What is the point in writing this into your book? Personally, it's a guaranteed way to lose me as a reader.
Lastly, to top off the misogyny, a woman gets fridged in the last part. Because we didn't have enough of it yet.
So yeah. This book? Not worth it.
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