The Mermaid by Christina Henry
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I have loved Disney’s The Little Mermaid ever since I was a young girl. I loved Henry’s Lost Boys, the first book of hers I have read and I couldn’t wait for her latest one that I thought would take a similar dark and eerie perspective on a classic fairy tale. Little did I know that The Mermaid was less horror and more romance than I had hoped and sadly left me wanting for so much more.
The characters were too far removed to make any connections with as a reader. As complex as they at first appeared, their development soon became stagnant and the story itself turned into a boring narration.
The plot felt forced and not thought out enough. Explanation of the characters’ motivations were given, but they seemed superficial and questionable.
The writing came across as forced and strained. I didn’t recognize the author’s style from her previous work. The tone of the narration was supposed to be melancholic and sad, but after about half a book of melancholic, drawn out and repeated descriptions one’s attention starts to dwindle. Instead of focusing on writing the story, it appeared the author tried too hard to sound literary; overly drawn out metaphors that were supposed to describe moods, settings and situations got lost in the already present melancholy the author created.
Overall, I’m disappointed in this book, which turned out to be more of a romance story than a dark retelling of certain historical events of persons. The ending was also highly dissatisfying. Personally, I would give this one a pass and maybe try a different story of the author’s.
