The Flying Mermaid

by Eule Grey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This novella is part of a series but can be read as a standalone. Despite that, I feel like I might not appreciate this story as well without having a better understanding of the world. The entire book is told as if the main character, Luce, is writing a letter to another person, in this case, a person of authority. I feel like because of this there wasn’t a great deal of world-building for me to have a really good grasp of the larger story in the background. It also doesn’t allow for a decent chance to really get to know characters beyond the main protagonist since she is the one writing the story. The letter is written about events that happened ten years prior, so Luce recounts what it was like for her during the war as a thirteen year old. It was an interesting way to tell the story, though it does keep the scope of knowledge narrow.

All My Thoughts

May contain spoilers.

I will completely admit initially I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. The entire book is a letter written by twenty-three-year-old Luce to someone in a position of authority. She is writing about her time ten years ago living during a war. Because the book is essentially from her perspective at thirteen, the scope of the story feels pretty narrow. Everything we learn is what is relevant to her. We don’t get very much explanation about what is going on in the large world around her. This particular novella can also be read as a standalone, but I feel like I might have had a better understanding of everything if I had read the previous book.

Because of the book being from Luce’s perspective, we do get a very naive and innocent view of things. She doesn’t really seem to understand that there actually is a war, other than a few run ins with soldiers that come across as more inconvenient to her. I did find this aspect interesting, though again because of this I also don’t really have a strong sense of what is going on. We really don’t get to get to know the other characters very well either because of this. We only see them the way a child would.

I wasn’t entirely sure about certain things as I was reading either and to be honest I couldn’t tell if it was because of the child-like perspective or the fact that I know nothing about the world it takes place in. The use of sea themed terms like the mermaid names and calling things mermaids didn’t really connect with me and I found myself sort of glossing over those bits and moving on. I really couldn’t get a clear image in my head of what I was supposed to be seeing.

Overall

The actually writing itself is solid and really sticks to the character perspective that makes it intriguing. I do however feel like I went into this blind with no understanding of the world it is based in and think it may work better if read after the first book despite being able to be read as a stand alone.

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Book provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.