Sing Our Bones Eternal -- A Darkly Poetic Mermaid Folktale

 

Cover Image courtesy of
author

Sing Our Bones eternal is a richly drawn fantasy where seafaring Bluebeards hunt mermaids to sacrifice to their god, a magical tree named Kilda who will grant favor for those sacrifices. Senga is the primary character, the daughter of one such hunter, and a hunter herself, although she’s going through a major identity crisis, believing that bewitching may have occurred to transform her from mermaid to human.

Abilene, a mermaid captured by Senga's family for the purpose of sacrifice, spends time with Senga while in captivity, and she is more than willing to convince Senga of the awful truth.

The author has a highly picturesque style of writing. The world these characters inhabit is drawn in splashy poetic—and often horrific detail. There’s no doubt that a lot of heart went into the telling of this story. It's a darkly detailed romantic fantasy that doesn’t shy away from themes of abuse, loss, sacrifice and sexual awakening, dressed in a folkloric world of mermaids and satyrs and werewolves.

But it can sometimes be hard to follow because of the rich style of writing. The story unfolds from multiple points of view that had me pausing to ratchet back, trying to remember who was who and what their connections were to the other characters in the story, and because of it, I often felt a bit disconnected from those characters. But for the right audience—that being dark romantic fantasy—this story is sure to entertain.

This is not the kind of story I normally choose, so take that into consideration when I rate this a four. It’s ultimately not my kind of story, but it’s well written on multiple levels, and I recognize that quality. I want to thank the author for providing this ARC.

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