TL;DR Review: Fans of Circe and A Song for Achilles will be instantly enchanted by the beautiful prose and Greek-coded flavor of this myth retelling.
Synopsis:
A desperate queen makes a deal with the gods to save her land in this spellbinding romantasy debut from Sarah K. L. Wilson.
Queen Coralys rules the Kingdom of the Five Isles, but when disaster strikes, killing her husband and destroying half her nation, she pleads with the gods for salvation. And they do save her, turning back the terrible winds and tide and snatching her islands from the brink of destruction.
But the gods have a wicked sense of justice and they demand an exchange for their help: Coralys must marry the first man to set foot on her pier. Coralys expects the fleet of a neighboring country to come to rescue her people, led by its prince, a loyal ally. What she gets instead is a fisherman so sunburnt and stinking that her court can barely keep their breakfast down.
Coralys marries the fisherman just as she promised the gods, and sets out with him in his unkempt dinghy, with nothing but hopes of revenge against the gods to keep her from despair. But what she does not know is that the fisherman is actually the god of the sea. And he stepped on her dock for a reason.
His own kingdom besieged, his body terribly wounded, and his place as a god threatened, the fisherman has plans to turn the tides set against him and finally offer a place of refuge for his people. But working the magic he needs will require the help of the one woman bent on his destruction.
Full Review:
I’ve read (and loved) many Sarah KL Wilson books before, but I was utterly unprepared for the work of art I discovered in the pages of this story.
The Trident and the Pearl is a retelling of the Fisher King myth, one I was unfamiliar with, so had the joy of discovering for the first time. But rather than cleaving to an Arthurian style, we’re treated to a story that feels like it’s taken from Greek mythology.
Coralys is queen of an island kingdom very evocative of ancient Crete. When her home is threatened by the storm to end all storms, she makes a pledge to the gods (very Greek-flavored gods, including clear Hermes, Ares, and Dionysis analogues) that she will marry the first man to come ashore if they will save her.
The man who comes ashore is nothing more than a humble fisherman, one who bears a grievous wound in his leg. Though she must give up her crown and leave the only home she has known, Coralys is a queen of honor and goes through with her promise.
The wedding ceremony is one of the first chances for the worldbuilding in this book to shine through, and boy does it SHINE. There’s so much tradition and culture written into a few simple chapters, and we’re given such fascinating insight into the world on these islands—as well as an excellent understanding of who Coralys is.
As she’s sailing away to her new husband’s home (surprise, a fishing shack!), we’re treated to a bit of feminine rage as she vows to seek revenge against the gods themselves for killing her husband, destroying her home, and now shackling her to a new husband who seems to despise her, all because of that one wild storm.
From the beginning, this story felt instantly familiar to me, but it wasn’t until a few chapters in that I realized why: the lush prose, rich worldbuilding, deeply developed characters, and Greek myth flavor is reminiscent of Madeline Miller. The more I read, the more I felt the Circe vibes on every page—from the morality of the world to the mythic powers at work. It’s a testament to the author’s skill that she can write something that evokes one of the tentpoles of the genre, but stands out as being entirely its own masterpiece.
By the end, I was swearing and raging (and yes, kind of falling in love) right along with Queen Coralys. And boy was I delighted when I reached the last page and discovered there would be MORE!
This book was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and it absolutely held up. High steam but no spice, an agonizingly slow-burn romance that heats up to blistering temperatures, a brilliant take on Greek and Arthurian myth, and riveting insights into the strength and power of a true queen.
Whether you read romantasy or not, The Trident and The Pearl needs to be on your TBR, take it from me.
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