Midnight Pearls: A Retelling of "The Little Mermaid" [Mass Market Paperback]

To be fair, the "Once Upon a Time" series have never pretended to be anything other than simple, frivolous, easy-to-read stories based around various fairytales. Though I've read and reviewed a few of them now, I doubt any will get more than a three-star rating from me - though some are certainly more rewarding than others, and no doubt please their target audience.

"Midnight Pearl", based on the story of the Little Mermaid (or more accurately, "The Little Sea-Maid" by Hans Christian Anderson) concerns Pearl, a young woman who was caught in a net by an old fisherman during a storm and taken home to be raised by him and his wife as their own daughter. She has pale skin, silver hair, and abnormally long legs, as well as a large midnight-blue pearl clutched in her tiny fist. Thirteen years later, and now a young woman, Pearl is painfully self-conscious of her unique appearance, but enjoys a secret friendship with Prince James of Aster.

Meanwhile, two latecomers to the story are the mer-siblings Kale and Faye, who come across Pearl and James rowing a boat in the ocean, rescue them from drowning...and instantaneously fall in love with them. Kale recognizes Pearl as Adriana, his betrothed, who went missing when she was just a child. Soon the two siblings have made a deal with the Sea Witch in order to gain legs. With Kale blinded, and Faye rendered mute, the mer-people take to the shore in order to win the love of Pearl and James...for if they can't do this within the week, their lives are forfeit.

It gets more complicated. There's also a plot against the King of Aster to contend with, as well as a love triangle that grows into a love hexagon (including Pearl, James, his cousin Robert, and the two mer-people). As many other reviewers have already mentioned, the resolution to the love story is unsatisfactory. James and Pearl are introduced as life-long friends who are just beginning to feel the first signs of romantic attachment to one another...until two perfect strangers come along who make overtures of love and drag our hero and heroine into two completely unconvincing examples of "love at first sight."

I like unpredictable love stories (one that comes to mind is the Sunfire classic Jessica (Sunfire, No 6) which involves two star-crossed lovers eventually deciding to part ways in order to find more suitable partners), but here is just isn't pulled off. If you're going to have James and Pearl "better as just friends", then at least give us more convincing secondary love-interests. For an example of just how convoluted this gets, here's a typical dream experienced by Pearl:

"She watched as James kissed Faye. A hand touched her shoulder, and she turned around to see Robert staring at her. He bent down to kiss her, and over his shoulder she saw Kale staring at her. She closed her eyes so she would not have to see him and kissed Robert."

There are other things that are also annoying. The plot is often advanced by the characters acting like complete idiots, doing things that are not only stupid, but nonsensical - such as the two mermaids selling their souls away in order to be with the human beings that they've known for all of two seconds. Sure, Arial from The Little Mermaid (Two-Disc Platinum Edition) did a similar thing, but at least the Sea Witch had a *very* convincing persuasion-song that successfully coerced her into it.

As the main character, Pearl is as wet as a leaky tap (no pun intended) who bursts into tears regularly, and in the book's most bizarre moment, ends up accepting a marriage proposal from a perfect stranger who turns up at her house and announces that he's going to marry her. Actually "accepts" is a misnomer, as she doesn't react one way or the other to this event. She doesn't question it. She doesn't fight it. She just gets up on the guy's horse and is whisked away to the palace to prepare for the wedding taking place a week later. Even in a book about magic and mermaids, there needs to be some semblance of realistic human behaviour.

A minor, but rather baffling detail is the mention that the Sea Witch is a "dryad", described as a mermaid with a long serpent's tail. Dryads are Grecian tree spirits...why would they be at the bottom of the ocean?

The "Once Upon a Time" books are guilty pleasures; beautifully designed and quick and easy to read. But "Midnight Pearls" stretches credibility too far, and therefore saps away the enjoyment I might have had as a result. There's no "magic", only McGuffins that push the plot along; no characters, only cardboard cutouts and a wet protagonist; no real resemblance to any telling of the Little Mermaid story, save that...well, there's a mermaid.

Being a fan of the original Anderson fairy tale, The Little Seamaid, and the Disney cartoon, The Little Mermaid, (and also enjoying the occasional young adult novel) I decided to take a chance on Midnight Pearls. Though it's not my favorite retelling, it was a good read. The author put an interesting twist on the story, adding in a little more adventure than other versions of the fairy tale. The beginning of the story especially is fascinating and very well told. The main body of the story and the ending don't have quite the depth of the original, but they are still interesting, and I think they will have more appeal to the young adult audience than the orinal might have had. My only disappointment was in what I thought to be clumsy execution of the story.

SPOILER WARNING

In the book, we're introduced to the two main characters. We learn that they've been friends since childhood and that they meet on a regular basis. It is also hinted that they have started to have feelings for each other. Both discover that their parents expect them to marry soon, and each begins to regard the other as a possible choice for that marriage. The male main character even tries to propose -- though he is interrupted. It's not until that point, around page 60 (almost halfway through the book), that two new characters enter the scene. These two, we realize, are the REAL love interests for the two main characters. This is the clumsy story telling. At this point, I'm already attached to the two main characters as a couple. Everything has hinted that they love each other, that they're meant for each other. So, as a reader, when new love interests suddenly pop up halfway through the story, I view them as intruders and immediately dislike them. I don't sympathize with them or cheer for their success. Their story seemed to come out of nowhere and blindsided me, and the love at first sight that develops with the two new characters is unconvincing in contrast to the two main characters, who seem to have the sort of love that sometimes blossoms from friendship that is also seen in a lot of fairy tales. Even though I know how the story would turn out, I still held out hope that somehow these new characters would go away and the two main characters would end up together. I thought the author could have handled that aspect of the story more gracefully -- perhaps by introducing the two love interests and their part in the plot earlier on in the book so it seemed more natural when they do meet the main characters.

However, aside from that, I did enjoy the story, and I think it will have a strong appeal to young adult readers.

I like the "Once Upon a Time" series and the story of "The Little Mermaid," so I was immediately interested in reading this book. However, negative reviews discouraged me from buying it for some time.

Then I saw it at a bookstore one day and had nothing else to buy, so I decided to try it anyway. And it was much better than the ratings here give it credit for.

I liked the characters and the setting, and the story was interesting. Some things were easy to figure out, but others weren't, and the twists kept me interested. There were a couple of problems, however. For one, the writing style was a bit cliched and overwrought. This didn't affect my enjoyment very much, though.

SPOILER
The thing that did bother me was the way the author handled the romance. She creates a very tender and real relationship between Pearl and James. Then, I assume to make the plot less predictable, she throws in two new characters to be their real romantic interests. The new characters were likable enough, and their romances with Pearl and James were sweet. But they didn't have the tenderness or depth that existed between James and Pearl, and I was a bit disappointed that those two didn't end up together.

But that aside, I did enjoy the book, and I'm not sorry I read it. It's not the best addition to the "Once Upon a Time" series, but it's still worth a look.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 19 reviews  2.9 out of 5 stars