Book Review: Our Bloody Pearl, D.N. Bryn
Fantasy: Our Bloody Pearl, D.N. Bryn
Blog Tour March 11, 2022
Oddly enough, mermaids and sirens feature in two of the ten winners of the BBNYA this year. In Our Bloody Pearl, author D.N. Bryn offers a twist on the usual “mermaid/merman rescues drowning human” plot that is the usual basis for these fantasies.
Sirens and humans have been fighting for many years. Although human technology does give them an advantage, the sirens’ song has pulled many humans into the depths to be eaten by these voracious hunters. For a long time there has been a balance, with both sides suffering many losses.
Captain Kian has found a way to give humans a new advantage, though. She has invented a technology that makes humans immune to the siren songs. This negates the one advantage the sirens had. She is cruel and vicious and driven by hate, and she is taking it out on one siren in particular.
We first meet Perle when they are a captive of Kian’s. Kept in a tub with barely enough water to cover their scales, they are chained with a heavy weight pinning their tail. Fed scraps and trapped in fetid water, Perle is beaten and electrocuted at the whims of Kian.
Kian is a pirate…but she is not the only pirate on the sea. Her ship is captured and boarded, most of the sailors being killed and only a few escaping with Kian. DeJean and his crew find Perle–but they are different. Despite their hate for humans, DeJean treats Perle with dignity and care. Gaining their freedom is a very different story though. Kian is still out there, and she wants to reclaim her prize. And Perle is injured. The weight on their tail has crushed their spine and their tail is paralyzed. A siren who can’t swim is as good as dead.
D.N. Bryn takes this unlikely pairing and shows what is possible. Sirens and humans may be enemies, but sometimes even enemies can become something else. The reasons for their hatred are built on generations of bloodshed with a foundation of diametrically different views of the world. Before things can change, that foundation has to be replaced with a new one. But when two parties are so different, is that even possible?
I read this book in the second week of the war in Ukraine. That is coloring my approach to the book. Russia and Ukraine obviously have a long and complicated history and presently they view the world from very different perspectives. Reading Our Bloody Pearl makes me wonder whether a solution can be found that ends the war and returns Russian troops to their country and restores Ukrainian sovereignty over its own land. That remains to be seen, but the basic principle that a foundation must be reconstructed is as true in real life conflict as it is in a creative fantasy. Unfortunately at this stage peace in Ukraine seems more fantastical than a story about a siren.
Regardless of the realities that intrude, Our Bloody Pearl is a wonderful book. Written entirely from Perle’s point of view, Bryn creatively imagines the perspective of a non-human toward our own species. The result is both illuminating and hopeful.
Our thanks to The Write Reads Blog Tours for our copy of Our Bloody Pearl, provided so we could participate in the blog tour for the BBNYA winners. The opinions here are solely those of Scintilla. For other perspectives, check out the other bloggers on this tour.
Book Review: Our Bloody Pearl, D.N. Bryn
Lovely, well thought out analysis of the book. I’m up next week. I can’t wait to read it.
Great review!