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Our Bloody Pearl These Treacherous Tides Book 1 eBook D N Bryn

Download As PDF : Our Bloody Pearl These Treacherous Tides Book 1 eBook D N Bryn

Our Bloody Pearl These Treacherous Tides Book 1 eBook D N Bryn

I didn't know if I would like this book when I bought it, and I discovered that I definitely did not like it. It wasn't odious, just really tedious - so I'll give it three stars.

I was under the impression from the opening chapter that this would be an action-packed seafaring story about a mermaid-like creature and some pirates. I also anticipated a bit of romance from the headlines of reviews here on Amazon. But really, neither happened. This book was a book about very little, despite the word count. The main character's 1st person POV is strangely detached from the action, a bit too focused inward on muscular sensation and not much else. I get that Perle is supposed to be a non-human character, but their perspective is too human-like to leave an impression and too alien to feel real or relatable. I rarely say this, but I think this book would have benefited from multiple POV's. Supposedly, a human falls for Perle and dedicates his time, money and safety to make them happy, but though the book explained this I didn't FEEL it.

The writing across as sterile and detached. A lot of attention was paid to physical sensations and less on what actually transpired in the story. I didn't experience the friendships and relationships that the MC formed even though I was told by the MC that they felt these things.

Really, this is more of a hurt/comfort fic-style book than an adventure book or a romance book. Main character is rescued from an abusive situation which has rendered them disabled, and the surrounding cast tries to make the main character's quality of life better. That's the meat of this story and I didn't care for it. I probably won't be coming back for a sequel.


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Our Bloody Pearl These Treacherous Tides Book 1 eBook D N Bryn Reviews

A fast-paced, imaginative and compelling steampunk swashbuckler. There's enough worldbuilding and story arcs for a series to develop, and the blending of genres is deft and unique. Even better, it's a character-driven story, with a cast we immediately like and enjoy seeing grow. All these ingredients combine to make a wonderful debut novel.

The heart of "Our Bloody Pearl" is the relationship between the protagonist, a captive siren crippled by the machinations of the villain Kian, and their rescuer, the compassionate and somewhat bumbling Dejean. In fact, one of the most interesting subversions of genre tropes is that, except for the initial rescue, Dejean tends to occupy what would traditionally be the damsel-in-distress role of the story. Although Pearle comes to be dependent on this human and his friends for their livelihood, it is they who tend to be the hero. The slow buildup of their relationship with Dejean, from using sign language to communicate to grudging trust to something more, is compelling and intelligent, and much of the novel rightly focuses on this. Perle themselves is a fascinating character, with enough insight into siren culture to make sense and a delicate balance between wanting to trust humans and falling back on their brutal, survivalist nature, as well as an exploration of a disabled character.

The supporting cast, including Dejean's eccentric sister Murielle and pragmatic first mate Simone, are a diverse and entertaining bunch, with naturalistic POC and LGBT representation, and even if the story being told entirely from Perle's POV means we don't actually see as much of them, it's something that can be addressed in future books. Where it falters somewhat is with the villains Kian, who doesn't actually appear until over three-quarters of the way into the book (and at just under 230 pages that's a brief appearance), is underwhelming, considering how much the rest of the story spends mythologizing her, and some last-minute twists fail to give her dimension beyond being the catalyst for the story. Likewise her second-in-command, Theirn, is hastily sketched, though to be fair he has a moral complexity that the others lack - the only character who isn't outright "good" or "bad."

In exploring Perle and Dejean's life together, the novel touches upon themes such as bridging the gap between opposing cultures/species, the uneasy relationship between nature and machines, and the perpetual cycle of violence and its consequences. All of these it explores thoughtfully and with nuance, particularly in the way Perle comes to rely upon Murielle's inventions to swim in the sea again. It helps that the actual plot is straightforward and almost episodic in nature, driven by the characters and their actions rather than the other way around. When it shifts to battling Kian, it becomes more of a conventional action-adventure story, but continues to explore these themes, which makes the climactic battle a bit more meaningful - even if, again, the villain herself isn't as compelling.

Ultimately, that's what elevates this novel it's emphasis on character and how it uses that to subvert expectations of the genre to deliver something fresh. There were a few places where it could have developed more, but it has sequels to do that. A worthy investment of time and emotion, as I'm sure the follow-ups will be.
I read a lot of angsty fantasy, and I'm pleased to say this was just the palate cleanser I needed from all the tragedy and sad I've been experiencing in my fiction encounters.

Which isn't to say that this book doesn't have its emotional moments because I mean, it DOES. Off the top of my head, there were definitely some scenes in here that just wrecked me (in a good way). But if, like me, you've had a hankering for something overall more feel-good and fluffy, look no further. This is the sort of book you carry to the beach and read to the sound of the waves. The sort of book you hang out with while lying out on your porch with a glass of ice-cold lemonade. The sort of book you take into the bathroom and try to read in the shower because by God, you want those watery sounds because you want to be fully immersed in this setting.

I went through a huge mermaid phase when I was younger, and as the headline says, I think I would have appreciated this book a lot as a teen reader. It's happy, it's heartwarming, it's an easy read while still being clearly thoughtfully written. So, what I liked

WRITING

1. It's first person present tense from the perspective of Perle the siren. I just really like the immediacy of present tense. (Not so much a fan of first person, but it definitely works here.) Also the epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter are downright poetic and great for setting the mood of the chapters.
2. Really apt sensory descriptions of the sea and ships and sea/sea creature similes. As I mentioned before, I really wanted to just immerse myself in this setting and get lost in the lovely depictions of the waves and the sun and the salt.

CHARACTERS

1. Perle is wonderfully sarcastic and skeptical narrator while not being overly edgy or contrived. I loved their snarky comments on the differences between humans and sirens (usually discussing how humans are inferior in some way). Seeing their growth over the course of the book was intensely satisfying; I LOVED how they started out basically hating humans but changed so much by the end ("my Dejean," anyone??? Yup, that wrecked me). Like seriously, this book is great just for how much the main character develops over the course of the story -- and how believable it is by the end!
2a. DEJEAN IS SUCH A FAVE. WOW. He is absolutely my favorite part of this book, I lived for his scenes and interactions with every character. He's the sort of love interest I wish wish wish I saw more of in books -- not a tortured, broody "alpha male," but a gentle soul who, yeah, has some past demons but doesn't dwell on them and doesn't let that make him a cold-hearted jerk. HE IS EVERYTHING. So much so that I'm going to have separate subpoints to gush about him.
2b. Really liked that even though he's the love interest for Perle, he's not described as extraordinarily attractive and isn't overtly sexualized. It's just a pet peeve of mine when authors write very attractive characters as if that's supposed to be what makes them likable to the reader or other characters. Ew, no thank you. Dejean's personality is what made me fall in love with him and I'm very happy that Bryn treated all the characters like this.
2c. He actually shows emotions and it's the best thing ever because the narrative never frames this as something unusual or noteworthy. Like the whole men not showing emotions thing...no, he's just allowed to be a sweet, feeling character who's a dude. He's not cold and closed off to show how ~strong~ he is despite his past (personally, I think it takes MORE courage to be open and kind when you've been through sh*t and sh*t people) and I love it. Ugh.
2d. His banter with Perle is tons of fun to read. AND THE ROMANCE, D*MN. The way it progresses over time with tiny hints here and there of things becoming...something more. Yes, yes please. I'm here for that. (ALSO HERE FOR THAT ACE REP YAY.)
3. I also really liked Murielle, Dejean's adopted (?) sister. Her bubbly rambling and genuinely good heart just really appealed to me. The "sexy bed" oopsie, anyone??? And the whole keeping secrets thing in general, like Dejean's "no talking to intelligent life" aka the librarian and man she's just so cute.
4. Kian (the antagonist) is genuinely frightening. We don't get much of her actual appearance, most of it is through Perle's thoughts and memories of her, but (to me) Perle comes across as generally a brave, take-no-sh*t character. And her being scared of Kian just made Kian that much more frightening. Yikes. I really like a genuinely scary female antagonist, especially when it's clear that her main weapon is NOT her sexuality and ability to seduce -- and I think Bryn does this very well. (Seriously, can that trope just die??? Please?)

PLOT(ish)

1. There's a few scenes where characters are essentially just...talking, and I thought at first I might be bored by such scenes but I actually quite liked them?? Especially with the slight communication difficulties with Perle and Dejean, it just ends up being a fun romp with sometimes genuinely funny misinterpretations.
2a. I really liked how disability was handled in this book and how the "healed by the power of twu wuv" trope was handily avoided. Sometimes it feels like authors aren't brave enough to actually stick their characters with permanently debilitating conditions and it was really refreshing to see it done here. (I mean, I’m not rooting for anyone to get mangled or anything, but when ALL physical impediments are just wiped away all the time in fiction, it’s just like….hmm.)
2b. Perle's character growth as a result of events related to this was very satisfying to read. I like when authors remember that these things have far-reaching consequences and don't just throw in one "wow I feel pretty bad about this" scene and then no character growth afterwards.
3. Dejean and Perle’s discussion on gender is one of my favorite parts of the book. It’s fun but still thought-provoking, and Perle’s puzzlement over why gender seems to matter so much to humans is just great to read.

Just some parts I really liked (vague to avoid spoilers) Pearl in the giant clamshell. Sparkling eyes and the pearl (wrecked). "My Dejean" (wrecked x2). Every time Perle "coos," my heart just melts. "My sleep-fear" (wrecked x3). "Dejean will come. Someday." (wrecked x4, glad it didn't turn out the way I thought it might)

Some things I wish I'd seen more of

1a. Like I said, Kian is a fascinating and scary villain. But I wish we'd gotten more development on her part. Her motive for hunting the sirens didn't seem very clear to me in the beginning, and I wasn't entirely satisfied with what we got in the end. Since she was portrayed as such a powerful character in the story, I wish we could have learned about her motive earlier, and maybe had more of her as a direct antagonistic force rather than a background fear.
1b. Perhaps for the reasons above, I didn't find Kian as believable a character as the protagonists. Sometimes her cruelty just seemed like cruelty for cruelty's sake? When I understood her motive, it sort of made it more believable in retrospect, but I still found it one of the weaker points of the story.
2. I didn't really find Simone (Dejean's first mate) to have that much presence as a character, but maybe that's because most of her scenes also had Dejean and I was too busy making moon eyes at him.
3. The steampunky vibe felt quite slight to where I honestly didn't notice it enough that I'd necessarily have called it steampunk without it being pointed out. The inventions were neat to read about, though, and I will confess that I'm not a big reader of steampunk in general, so maybe that's just my unfamiliarity with the genre.

tl;dr Read this book for Perle's character arc, DEJEAN ONE OF MY FAVE LOVE INTERESTS OF ALL TIME (all stars for him), a quietly immersive setting, and lots of fun banter. It's just a fun book in general, okay?
I didn't know if I would like this book when I bought it, and I discovered that I definitely did not like it. It wasn't odious, just really tedious - so I'll give it three stars.

I was under the impression from the opening chapter that this would be an action-packed seafaring story about a mermaid-like creature and some pirates. I also anticipated a bit of romance from the headlines of reviews here on . But really, neither happened. This book was a book about very little, despite the word count. The main character's 1st person POV is strangely detached from the action, a bit too focused inward on muscular sensation and not much else. I get that Perle is supposed to be a non-human character, but their perspective is too human-like to leave an impression and too alien to feel real or relatable. I rarely say this, but I think this book would have benefited from multiple POV's. Supposedly, a human falls for Perle and dedicates his time, money and safety to make them happy, but though the book explained this I didn't FEEL it.

The writing across as sterile and detached. A lot of attention was paid to physical sensations and less on what actually transpired in the story. I didn't experience the friendships and relationships that the MC formed even though I was told by the MC that they felt these things.

Really, this is more of a hurt/comfort fic-style book than an adventure book or a romance book. Main character is rescued from an abusive situation which has rendered them disabled, and the surrounding cast tries to make the main character's quality of life better. That's the meat of this story and I didn't care for it. I probably won't be coming back for a sequel.