itch.io

(Copying and pasting my goodreads review here because I inhaled this fast paced read) 

I'm so happy to finally have gotten a chance to read this! This. Was. Amazing! It was like some of my favorite steampunk and pirate stories from my youth with a delightfully queer twist. First things first: I *love* the worldbuilding! D.N Bryn's portrayal of sirens is absolutely amazing, with their unique naming system, pod system, and their ability to naturally change sexes. I love how sirens basically have no gender, at least not in a way that us humans can understand, and this flowed so smoothly and naturally into the story. Also, the overall conflict between sirens and humans, and the blockers, was so original and had me hooked the entire time.

Second, I love Perle. I have mild cerebral palsy, and last year, my condition abruptly became worse and became something that impacted my everyday life for the first time. While I'm thankfully a lot better now and have learned to navigate it, I really related to Perle's struggle with adapting to suddenly needing things like aids, and understanding that healing isn't the same as going back to the way things used to be, but that's life, and the only way out is through. Also, Perle wanting to change human and siren society for the better, ending the conflict between the groups and making siren society less ableist, made me really happy.

Anyway, besides Perle's relatability, I just really love them and their perspective. I could read more of their POV for hours.

And that ROMANCE? Omg. Perle, Dejean, and their love confession(s) touched me so deeply.

All in all, I want to crawl into this book and live in it!

Right?? I loved this novella so much

This was INSANE. I loved it! That plot twist about Thatcher had my jaw on the FLOOR, I'm not kidding. This was so eerie and richly imagined!

This was so interesting I loved it! My favorite was 'Sterile.'

Aaaaaa this was so good! I'm absolutely in love with Nightbloom, it's utterly beautiful. And I loved reading about the POV of the alien in Germination. (but if I'm being honest, Nightbloom was my favorite out of the two. It's right up my alley.)

I bought this on Amazon, so I'll copy and paste my review from goodreads here because why not: 

Warning: This review may be a little more incoherent than normal, because I stayed up late into the night, eager to finish reading this story.
Oh, this was wonderful! I love the worldbuilding and how so much of the world was crafted in so little time, especially the fantastical elements like the magic plants and the automatons. (I hope that after Theomer and Heron get together, they do end up letting Heron's ma paint faces on the automatons and possibly name them, and hopefully they're nice names like Rupert and Tiffany and not 'Missing Finger' or 'Dirt In Joints.' Speaking of the magic, I like to think of the overgrown rosebush and Theomer's curse as a metaphor for the trauma of a past toxic relationship holding a person back. Heron had to cut off Tiel to set emself free, and then helped free Theomer both literally and emotionally by loving him *and* freeing him from the curse. It has layers, I like it.
Speaking of Heron, eir personality just jumps off the page, the reader gets a clear understanding of eir perspective, and begins to root for em, from page one. I love em.
I also like Theomer a lot. Watching him grow and wondering about the secrets he was keeping helped move the plot along and kept me intrigued, and I was *not* disappointed about the reveal. I'll never look at a harpsichord the same way again.
On a slightly more personal note, this is the first ever fantasy book/novella I've ever read that features a protagonist with ey/em pronouns, and I love it for that. I always like reading and writing about characters that use neopronouns in general (because neopronouns deserve more love, dammit!) but reading about Heron touched me because I briefly questioned my gender identity and presentation and felt drawn to 'ey/em' pronouns in particular. While I'm happy with my pronouns of she/her, I'm still fond of 'ey/em' and the memories I have of the time when I felt drawn to them.
Anyway I'm gonna stop oversharing and rambling on Itch.io now and get some sleep, and I will definitely revel in the fact that, like the fairytale this story puts an amazing spin on, this book was an excellent bedtime story.

This was so thrilling and intriguing! I loved it!

This was so interesting! Good job!

"SHE NEVER TRULY SEES ME. OH, SHE KNOWS I’M THERE, AND I CAN feel the bond between us—but I might as well be a chair. A useful, comfortable chair."

Oh my god. This hurt so much, in the best way possible, it was very cathartic for me. I can't even pick a favorite because I resonate so much with so many of these. It feels like this zine cut me open, peeled back an invisible layer in me, pulled out my younger self who was traumatized from the pandemic (and so many other things in recent years) and gave her a hug. Thank you for writing this. I may or may not discuss this with my therapist in our next session, haha

This was so interesting and atmospheric I loved it.

"

If a kind man could do such a thing, an unkind man could do much worse. His leg began to ache at the memory." 

I loved these lines!

This was very interesting!

This was so sweet and interesting! I loved reading about the roomba's POV and how it reacted to being "granted more rooms" lol

"Ma always said I was late to everything. My death was the exception." 

I also love this line!

“I like you,” 

“I’m glad someone does,” 

“If needed, I can like you enough for both of us.”

I was so excited to return to the wonderful world of Dirt Stained Hands, Thorn Pierced Skin, and this lovely story did not disappoint! It was so nice to see Heron and Theomer again, and I loved how they all adapted to their new circumstances.  Five stars!

(P.S: Dirt Stained Hands, Thorn Pierced Skin got me into harpsichord music. Seriously. I wanted to listen to music that would evoke the energy of the story after I finished reading it the first time [because I didn't want to forget how the story made me feel] and I started listening to harpsichord music, found it beautiful, and now I listen to harpsichord music all the time! Sometimes I imagine Theomer playing it.)

This was so fun, I loved it! It reminded me of an old storybook and I love it for that. What a cool world. 

This was so good!

Oh, this was so immersive and interesting! It's a story that feels unique yet familiar at the same time, and this short story made me so curious about this world! Finally, the writing is just beautiful!

Oh, this was wonderful! What a unique POV and world, I loved it! I was so excited to read this and it did not disappoint! It was so beautiful and made me feel nostalgic.

Creepy, intriguing, full of great lines and descriptions that draw the characters clearly in your head. This might be weird, but I think my favorite part was the diner scene, it was so eerie. 

"I picked up on the diner's vibes like the beginnings of a gnarly migraine, all dull aches along the orbital bone ready to push further up the cranium at the faintest hint of a too-bright light." 

“Favorite spot,” he said, jabbing a thumb towards a booth nestled between a jukebox and a table overrun by haunted teenage girls." 

I love these lines!

Oh my gosh, I'm touched that you took my comparison so seriously! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the book!

Commenting again because I'm thinking about this story again, I'm honestly kind of nostalgic for it. I remember when I first read it, I had just finished a huge project, so I was excited and relieved and felt that my life was looking up again. Then I walked around a beautiful park thinking about the story, looking at all the flowers and animals, and it was honestly just a lovely moment. I think this story helped create that singularly beautiful moment for me in the real world. Thank you for that. Sorry if this doesn't make any sense lol

I know this is random, but today, even though I was at a very important event I was supposed to be paying attention to, all I could think of was this wonderful story!

This was such a fun, wild ride! I loved the gradual worldbuilding and wish it was longer, there was clearly so much in this world to explore. Great job! 

My favorite lines: 

"Only an uncaring god can have the oldest view. Science and statistics might give us some distance. Get us farther from ego and closer to truth. But the curse of man is that he will never be far enough. He will always be tainted by ego. Models and approximations. Imperfections in perfection."

"Those lovely, deadly eyes."

"Despite everything she was still so damn beautiful."

"As a Woman in STEM (TM) myself, I was already feeling this huge pressure not to be a dumbass in front of my peers."

(in case you couldn't tell I ship Helen/Emmy really hard lol. We can all only hope to find someone who loves enough, whether platonically or romantically, to fight a giant eldritch  string monster for us)

I really enjoyed this novella and will totally be telling all my college friends to buy it, since we all definitely understand Helen's pain lmao. (the pain of being a college student. Not the pain of fighting an interdimensional eldritch being)

I just finished reading this, and oh, it was wonderful! It's as sweet as a dessert dish in book form, but still has enough tension to keep me very invested! It's a difficult balance to pull off, so I commend you for that. I loved all of the characters and I did not see the reveal about Ivan coming. What a wonderful read!

Oh, this is dreamlike and lovely, and manages to craft an atmosphere that I really enjoy but can't really describe. It's a story and feeling that feels both new and old at the same time, and I love it so much! As GamingDama said in another comment, this story naturally lends itself to the readers thinking about the characters in the future, and just in general as well. 

As for the themes of death...man. Okay, so fun fact about me, two years ago I took a course on spirituality/faith and death, taught by a person who had briefly been interested in becoming a mortician and working with the dead/ dead bodies (I don't remember the exact details). It was an amazing experience. I don't mean that in the sense that it was pleasant, but the fact that the feeling of discussing death, grief, trauma and the afterlife with a group of people I had grown to trust, under the guidance of a teacher, is something I feel like more people need to experience. I'm saying all this to say that I genuinely kind of want to talk about this book with the person who taught that class. I thought of her often while reading it. 

All in all, great job!

Oh. My. Gosh. This was so good! It absolutely gripped me from start to finish and I love it! My favorite parts are probably Felix and his character development, along with the corresponding development of his relationships with everyone else- his bonding with Charlie was deeply touching, and him and Jaden are adorable! I liked all of the characters and am having a hard time picking a favorite, I love how they all got their POVs and moments to shine. 

 I was so invested in the cult mystery and- I mean this in the best way possible- I had no idea how it was going to end at any point. The scenes in the creepy church with the doubles and devils and portraits? Chef's kiss. 

While I'm just rambling here, I'm gonna say that I'm already a big fan of cryptidcore creepy stuff, so this novella reminded me things like Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall, Don't Let The Forest In by C.G Drews, and the character of The Beast from the series Over the Garden Wall- I read The Devil's lines in the voice of The Beast's voice actor. I mean all these things as compliments. 

Great job!