Book Review: Salty (A Retelling of the Little Mermaid)
Salty (A Retelling of the Little Mermaid) by Holly Hook
4 stars
Category: Teen
Summary: Youngest princess Carlen feels trapped by her odious suitor Edward (Edwart). When her kingdom is threatened by sea storms because of their missing tribute to the underwater kingdom, and the invading forces of neighboring Queen Natalus, her father forces his daughters into marriage, promising Carlen to Edward. She flees the palace, right into the hands of a waiting old woman enchantress, who helps to rescue her from her forced marriage and provide her with a way to meet with the king of the underwater kingdom. The woman turns Carlen into a mermaid, but she also steals away Carlen’s voice.
Comments: I love twists on the classic tales. And I’m a sucker for mermaid stories, especially ones that actually try to bring to life their underwater world and spend the larger percentage of the story underwater. The reverse part of this isn’t the genders, really. It’s that the princess starts out as human this time and turns to mermaid. Yes, Carlen is rather spoiled, but then that is a problem of being a princess, especially a doted on youngest daughter. She is opinionated (which I did like about her, even though it’s definitely not the behavior of a princess since she acts out over meals, and interrupts her father’s meetings) and used to getting her own way (as in if people try to get her to do things a certain way, she’ll eventually sneak around and do it how she wants to, like sneaking outside and not dressing properly). This is aimed at younger readers, since she is very much in her teen years, and so very hung up on the cute mer-guy, and rebellious, determined not to do what others want her to do. All of that is fine and well, where I didn’t connect with the story was that she kept doing rather irrational things without thinking things through. A lot of the things she did, really didn’t make any sort of sense to me. Like going to talk to the king, even though she didn’t have a voice. My largest issue with this was the guy she was crushing on. The mer-guy was very objectified and marginalized. She pretty much only was crushing on him because of how cute he was. He kept running from her, and ditching her, and acting like she was just someone he met along the way, like a total jerk, but she stayed in denial about it each time because of how hung up on him she was (I keep wondering if the problem of Vonek getting marginalized and objectified was because the focus of the story was on Carlen and not focusing on him as well). The ending felt too easy. I mean, it was like the cures to both of her problems were just found and given to her. Done. Also, there was nothing really made of his mis-labeling Carlen as her sister when he started calling her by the right name (which felt awkwardly handled). I did like the magic in this, the evil lady was a lot of fun, the way she was playing all sides, and disguising herself, very Ursula, but with far more political clout. Though I kept wondering if she was the ruler of the more powerful human kingdom with a huge army at her finger tips, why was she bothering with the mer kingdom? And it’s not like one person can rule both on land and in the water at the same time. But I guess it had to turn its focus to the mer kingdom to follow the climactic scenes from the Disney movie. And I loved that Edwart was broadened as a character. Usually the prince’s finance is just there as a complication, but never really broadened and given an actual personality. Each time I read these Disney-style retellings, I keep wishing the other siblings would come into the story more. It’s a handful of characters, potentially all fascinating, yet no one attempts to flesh them out more or give them really anything to do to advance the story and make it feel like she has more of a family support system and less of an only child, but then again, that might have to do with the spoiled, self-centered princess attitude.
4 stars
Category: Teen
Summary: Youngest princess Carlen feels trapped by her odious suitor Edward (Edwart). When her kingdom is threatened by sea storms because of their missing tribute to the underwater kingdom, and the invading forces of neighboring Queen Natalus, her father forces his daughters into marriage, promising Carlen to Edward. She flees the palace, right into the hands of a waiting old woman enchantress, who helps to rescue her from her forced marriage and provide her with a way to meet with the king of the underwater kingdom. The woman turns Carlen into a mermaid, but she also steals away Carlen’s voice.
Comments: I love twists on the classic tales. And I’m a sucker for mermaid stories, especially ones that actually try to bring to life their underwater world and spend the larger percentage of the story underwater. The reverse part of this isn’t the genders, really. It’s that the princess starts out as human this time and turns to mermaid. Yes, Carlen is rather spoiled, but then that is a problem of being a princess, especially a doted on youngest daughter. She is opinionated (which I did like about her, even though it’s definitely not the behavior of a princess since she acts out over meals, and interrupts her father’s meetings) and used to getting her own way (as in if people try to get her to do things a certain way, she’ll eventually sneak around and do it how she wants to, like sneaking outside and not dressing properly). This is aimed at younger readers, since she is very much in her teen years, and so very hung up on the cute mer-guy, and rebellious, determined not to do what others want her to do. All of that is fine and well, where I didn’t connect with the story was that she kept doing rather irrational things without thinking things through. A lot of the things she did, really didn’t make any sort of sense to me. Like going to talk to the king, even though she didn’t have a voice. My largest issue with this was the guy she was crushing on. The mer-guy was very objectified and marginalized. She pretty much only was crushing on him because of how cute he was. He kept running from her, and ditching her, and acting like she was just someone he met along the way, like a total jerk, but she stayed in denial about it each time because of how hung up on him she was (I keep wondering if the problem of Vonek getting marginalized and objectified was because the focus of the story was on Carlen and not focusing on him as well). The ending felt too easy. I mean, it was like the cures to both of her problems were just found and given to her. Done. Also, there was nothing really made of his mis-labeling Carlen as her sister when he started calling her by the right name (which felt awkwardly handled). I did like the magic in this, the evil lady was a lot of fun, the way she was playing all sides, and disguising herself, very Ursula, but with far more political clout. Though I kept wondering if she was the ruler of the more powerful human kingdom with a huge army at her finger tips, why was she bothering with the mer kingdom? And it’s not like one person can rule both on land and in the water at the same time. But I guess it had to turn its focus to the mer kingdom to follow the climactic scenes from the Disney movie. And I loved that Edwart was broadened as a character. Usually the prince’s finance is just there as a complication, but never really broadened and given an actual personality. Each time I read these Disney-style retellings, I keep wishing the other siblings would come into the story more. It’s a handful of characters, potentially all fascinating, yet no one attempts to flesh them out more or give them really anything to do to advance the story and make it feel like she has more of a family support system and less of an only child, but then again, that might have to do with the spoiled, self-centered princess attitude.
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