I’ve been on kind a dark fantasy / horror kick recently, and boy does this book fit the bill! Anyone looking for a tightly woven, compelling horror needs to look no further!

I really haven’t read a lot of books set on the sea, and I gotta say it was fantastic (another good one was “The Deep” by Nick Cutter, but less sea-like than this book). The characterization was well done and I could really feel the building dread. Horror fans, be sure to check this out!

MAIDEN – by T.C. Parker & Ward Nerdlo

‘The Pepper Kay can feel it in her boards, in her bolts and berth. It’s coming off the ocean, rolling in on churning waves: an oppressive feeling of doom.’

‘The sea is full of mysteries; the Pepper Kay included. But she will take hers to her grave.’

That. Was. Awesome!!

Parker and Nerdlo’s collaboration is *chefs kiss* perfection—MAIDEN is a correlation of intense scenes with in-depth characterization—those you will love and one, in particular, you will love to hate.

If you are a fan of nautical horror, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading MAIDEN!

Thank you, NetGalley and Hold My Beer Publishing, for providing me with an eBook of MAIDEN at the request of an honest review.

Loved this horror at sea book! The authors did a great job with having both likable characters and characters that were downright despicable. Loved the way the merpeople were described as they weren’t your usual run of the mill pretty merpeople. I adored both Charlie and Jordan so much. Really great book but mind the content warnings as it is a pretty intense book.

This was a great story, the only reason I didn’t give it five stars were the content warnings. Some of them were hard to get by but were necessary to tell the story and it’s vile antagonist.

“But what of her crew? Well, their future is uncertain—because this is the nature of men.”

The Parker Kay is God’s ship and he only has 3 commandments “One: thou shalt do whatever the fuck I say. I will accept no backtalk. You respect that, and I’ll respect you. “Two: thou shalt give me every ounce of your willpower. Quitting is not an option. As long as you are here, you’ll bust a gut to get the job done, and get it done to my satisfaction. “Three: thou shalt work together. Even if you come to hate each other more than Zeus hates fidelity, you will work as if you’re happily married to the best fuck in existence. “Do I make myself clear?” The only problem is God can’t (or maybe doesn’t want to) foresee how bad this trip will go. The elements, God’s right hand man: Nash, and something lurking in the water are all competing to make this the worst fishing trip ever. It’s just a matter of who, or what messes it up the worst. Nash is terrible and disgusting in every way and a villain you love to hate, but due to a mix of guilt, misguided loyalty, and necessity God hires him on to the ship anyway. Something he’ll regret for the rest of his life. The Pepper Kay herself gets a few POV chapters and they were poetic, and beautifully written. They were what pulled me in at first. Each POV was distinctly different making each character completely individual. I got this one for the beautiful cover (how I choose a lot of my books) but it turned into a really great read. I wish it were longer to let the story run its course a little more so the ending didn’t feel so rushed, a longer book would have also given the several POVs a little more room to breath, but other then that I really enjoyed it!

*a copy of this book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

On board of the Pepper Kay, an unskilled crew directed by God (no, not that God) is on its way to the Bering Strait for crabbing. From God/s, the captain, point of view, this is a ragtag group: Sam, "tall and rangy", Jordan, "dark of skin but bright of gaze", Charlie, a "no-nonsense woman", and Nash, "mean and unshaven", it's an odd group for sure even for God. God has three commandments for his crew. They need to do what he says, work hard, and work together.

Nash is nasty. He's an absolutely vulgar, abhorrent sack of testosterone that deserves to be castrated and then quartered by horses. He's such a piece of excrement that it's honestly difficult to read the scenes that he is in. He's exactly the kind of character that you wish the deepest, darkest corners of the earth to swallow him down and torture daily without remorse. I've read some atrocious characters before but I can honestly say Nash is by far, the most deplorable. There are no redeemable traits about him whatsoever. None. He's disgusting, perverse...there truly aren't enough words in the English language for Nash.

While the focus is on the clashing personalities aboard the Pepper Kay, we mustn't count out the danger of what they have drug up from the deep. This mermaid is ugly, superficially human, but with a mouth and teeth more like a dolphin, green tangled hair, blue skin, and the tail of something that resembles a whale. It's a tight, dreadful atmosphere aboard the Pepper Kay with the so-called mermaid in the hold. As the story progresses, the crew is stuck desolately in the middle of the ocean with danger both on board and off, we are then left to decide who the true monster is. (Hint: only one is pure evil.)

The pacing was brilliant but I found myself wanting more mayhem by mermaid. Oh, there is carnage galore, but it went way too fast and skipped to the end. I highly enjoyed the perspective of the Pepper Kay itself, with its almost all-knowing compassion and empathy. There are many triggers in the book and the authors give a list of them, so I highly recommend reading those first. Maiden is a hard story to swallow, getting stuck in your throat as you try to gulp air past the blockage.

While I think this book will be a worthwhile one to have in store, it's going to be for the customer who doesn't mind a riveting story as long as the book is gruesome enough. All I could really drudge up at the end was, "...this is Fine." I'm not really carrying anything away with me afterwards, which is never feedback you want in a book.

The theme for this month for me is Thriller and horror in the ocean and this did not disappoint. Every turn came with something I did not expect. I have heard this is a good book but I think they were wrong. Its a great book

DNF 50%

Such a beautiful cover for such an ugly book. I think maybe that is the point?

This is what others have already mentioned; full of violence, profanity, vulgarity and needless lewdness. And nothing else. Which is the problem I had.

Aside from the above, the writing, story and characters are all empty and I couldn't bring myself to care about them.

This was a really gutting read. Definitely compelling and a page-turner. Very dark: please mind the trigger warnings.

I really liked the movement between different character’s perspectives. My favorite sections from an imaginative standpoint were those from the perspective of the ship, The Pepper Kay. I always love seeing how authors imbue awareness and sentiency into non-living things. A ship seems like a natural choice for an object with supernatural awareness and agency, especially since humans have been anthropomorphizing ships for centuries.

I also enjoyed the authors’ take on mermaids. If you’re looking for Ariel, this is not the book for you! These mermaids may have features that resemble humans in many ways (arms, faces, etc.), but they are not human. They are sea creatures, adapted to their environment, and they don’t conform to human standards of beauty. They’re described as looking more whale-like than fish-like in many ways, which makes a lot more sense from an evolutionary standpoint (yes, I know mermaids aren’t real/are extremely unlikely to evolve). I really enjoy creature-horror that is based around how the creature would live in and interact with its environment.

Another thing I appreciated was that, though the mermaids were monstrous in many ways and definitely problematic for the protagonists, they were not the main threat. As usual, human greed, cruelty, and arrogance are a bigger problem for other humans than any other animal will ever be, no matter how dangerous or powerful.

Definitely take the trigger-warnings (listed at the end of the book) seriously! There are graphic, disturbing scenes in this book depicting physical and sexual assault. There are discussions of very distressing and often gross things, and the discussions are often detailed. It’s a testament to the authors’ writing skills that the concrete details and descriptions are so viscerally upsetting. Personally, this was about the limit of what I can handle, and I seriously caution anyone who has triggers to check before proceeding. This book will not be for everyone.

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting deep sea adventure with murderous mermaids, I’ll say I had a decent time reading this adventure novel. While I didn’t really connect deeply with any of the characters, the short chapters helped me move through the unpacking of the plot and still enjoy what the book had to offer.

I’d recommend this book to someone looking for a fast paced quick read that is packed with blood, salt, and killer mermaids.

CW: Maiden includes scenes of sexual assault, pedophilia, racism, and homophobia.

🧜‍♀️ This is a spoiler-free review 🧜‍♀️

Maiden by T.C. Parker and Ward Nerdlo succeeds in depicting the worst of humanity and creating a frightening human antagonist, but doesn’t utilize its mermaids quite as well.

The story does an excellent job with the set-up: four people join the crew of a captain called God and sail into the Bering Strait. It should be easy money but matters are complicated by rising tensions in the crew and by the capture of a mermaid.

Parker and Nerdlo do a good job establishing three of the five–Sam, Jordan, and Charlie–as likable. I rooted for them to survive the mermaid threat but also the very human threat that’s on the ship in the form of Nash, an old man whose sexual and moral depravity is more frightening than any threat from the ocean.

Besides Nash, God himself is a villain in his own right; he knows what Nash is but lets him stay on the ship and it ultimately bites him back later on. The ways in which the ocean brings all of these characters together is fascinating as they’re all running away from something. And God is no exception.

The human element of the story is great even when the dialogue is stilted and awkward, but the mermaids aren’t very scary themselves (which may be the point but still could’ve done with more development). The only moment that really terrified me was when they found the skeletal remains preventing their ship from moving. I think the monster aspect of Maiden needed to be built up more along with the emotional tensions between the characters.

Without that buildup, the action at the end of the book is a little underwhelming. I also think the story suffers from more show than tell at times, especially during Nash’s perspective. It’s a problem I have with horror movies too where filmmakers think that they have to get graphic constantly to shock their audiences, and ignore the subtle or restrained horror of leaving things unsaid or only hinting at things.

Overall, Maiden is a fun romp into the ocean-infested waters and a good reminder that humanity is often the worst monster of all.

Im not going to lie, I really struggled with this one. Good in theory, liked the plot and bits and pieces of the writing, but overall the characters were all so unlikeable, some even vile, that I just Couldn’t get invested.

This was a very disturbing book, but I did enjoy the mermaid/siren aspect. Most of the characters did not have many, if any redeeming qualities. A very gritty read. Many, many trigger warnings for abuse/assault, rape and attempted rape, and murder.

Maiden is a solid creature feature with strong character development. The story was monstrous and horrific, and not just from because the "monsters". I found some the content very disturbing and the repeated use of a certain word, an excessively used word I hope to never hear again, almost intolerable. However it did propel your hatred of a certain character. The derogatory language in general was a bit much but it did give the desired affect. I actually enjoyed this book much more than I expected too, I'm just not a big creature feature person, so I was surprised by how quickly I became engrossed in the book. I would definitely recommend for fans of sea faring, creature stories.

This was a quick and fun read, with a refreshing take on creature horror! I enjoyed the way the story bounced between characters, giving insight into each of their minds and separate pasts. Hoping these authors team up again, and I would love to see more work set in this universe.

There are those characters that just won’t let go of you. I have been busy and have not been able to find time to read but yet these five people are always on my mind. Charlie, Sam, Jordan, Nash, and the captain, who everyone calls God, absolutely haunted me when I wasn’t reading.
There was a disquiet that permeates throughout the story, the tension of being out in the cold ocean with a monster storm approaching and a human monster on board. And what was it that they saw in the waves? Even the ship herself gets her own dedicated POV which further enhances the unease that you can’t escape from.
Can five brilliantly flawed characters, each dealing with serious issues of their own, come together when myth becomes reality? Even if one of the vilest, most disgusting, characters I have ever encountered is on board this ship.
Parts of this book made me so angry that I was cursing out the authors. I really hope there is a prequel in the works, because I want more Pepper Kay.
I can’t say anything else because you need to experience this first hand.

“God surveys his crew and sees that they are good.”

After reading Mira Grant’s Into the Drowning Deep I have been searching for mermaid horror like crazy. I never knew how much I needed Mermaid horror! I’ve had Maiden on my TBR and was so excited to see it available on NetGalley!

The Pepper Kay is a crabbing ship heading out to the Bering Strait in search of Dungeness crab with mostly inexperienced crew. If that isn’t enough of a problem, her new captain has brought along his violent right hand man referred to as The Empty One. And soon, they are joined by the Nameless ones coming up from the depths of the ocean.

Maiden is told to us through multiple POVs including the ship. Yes, she is some sort of sentient ship! That didn’t prove to be the problem I thought it would be at first. What proved to be the problem was experiencing Nash’s POV.

This man is naaaasty enough that our sentient ship refuses to call him by his name! Reading his chapters was extremely difficult because if you haven’t guessed it yet- the real monsters are often human.

Nash is a violent rapist with a history of murder thrown in on the side. He does not refer to women as women, but instead calls them ‘gashes’ and spends time reminiscing on his previous assaults. Still, the captain (AKA God… yes he calls himself God) keeps him on and it isn’t long before he’s causing problems with the only female crew member, Charlie and eventually Jordan (I found his scene with Nash very difficult due to the homophobia too).

“That’s the story he’ll be telling himself, to keep his own engine running when he comes at her: that’s she not a real woman, not in the way he understands a woman ought to be. Because if she’s not a real woman, then she’s not a real person, right? And if that’s true, then what the fuck does it matter what he does to her?”

We get a solid amount of insight into each of the characters enough so that the book just feels heavy. A large focus of this book is spent on tension between the crew as lives are lost and mermaids are making themselves known. The mermaids are there and all, but they are not really the focus of the book.

Overall, I do wish that there was more focus on the mermaids and less focus on ensuring we know who is actually the bad one.

Don’t get me wrong, this book filled me with rage and I think it was meant to. But it felt a bit gratuitous in regards to Nash’s lack of hygiene (and soul) and the amount of sexual assault talk. He was written well enough that you KNOW what kind of man he is and the efforts to make sure we understood that were a bit much.

I’d likely recommend this to someone who enjoys both creature features and human monsters. It’s a fast read that will for sure give you some anxiety as you read and I think it does isolation very well.

Content warnings for: homophobia, rape, sexual assault, misogyny, gun violence, murder, gore

Now that I have had more time to sit on this, I’m giving this a 3.5 star rounded up.

I couldn't finish the book. The graphic descriptions of rape & the objectification of women was too much and in too quick succession to be enjoyable at all.

“Maiden.” by TC Parker and Ward Nerdlo. I am fan of both TC Parker, and Ward Nerdlo under a different name. I thought Saltblood was great and I thought Salvation Spring was great.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t work for me. I did go into it with high hopes, so maybe I should take partial blame. But yes, overall, this book just didn’t work for me. I’m at a 2 overall. And I rarely go that low with Indie and Small Press books. There were times I thought about DNF’ing it but it did keep me curious enough that I wanted to see if it was going to get better.

I also realize I may be in the minority with this low of score because the 2 writers are pretty popular and loved in the community. And that is fine. I’ve always said reading is subjective. Don’t allow my negative review steer you too far away from giving something a try.

But let’s get into the issues. I won’t go too far into the plot, because that is part of the problem I had with it. I didn’t get interested in it. That may be my preference, but the presentation of the plot didn’t help things too much.

Starting off, the first 5 or 6 chapters just seemed to be a major info dump. Here we have the characters introduced. In fact, each chapter was just about one of the new characters. So for example, the chapter called Charlie, we are introduced to Charlie. The chapter called Jordan, we are introduced to Jordan. I get the format. It just didn’t work for me. It was like the writers were saying “Hey here are all of the characters. Get acquainted with them.” This works sometimes, but I just don’t feel like it worked here.

Some of the info we get about the characters is brought up many times later in the book. It’s almost like there are parts where the writers felt they needed to rehash a piece of information. Take Charlie for example. Spoiler, Charlie is a lesbian. We get that information from the chapter “Charlie” when we are introduced to her. This gets mentioned or referred to several times later, but almost in a way like “Hey, don’t forget, Charlie is a lesbian.” The continuous mentioning of certain things about each of the characters seems a little forced, and I felt the writers were trying to create my opinion of the character for me. I don’t mind helping me paint the picture of the character, but this was excessive at times.

The book seemed like two different books in one. I’m not sure how the writers shared the duties, maybe taking turns on chapters or writing chapters together, but I didn’t care too much for how the styles meshed. They didn’t. I didn’t think they fit together properly. You can clearly see the difference in writing styles in the different chapters. I applaud them for collaborating, but in my opinion they just didn’t fit too well. It goes from one chapter using harsh and offensive language to the next chapter giving direct descriptions of this adventure without any offensive language, then back to a chapter with the previously mentioned language.

And the main reason I bring this up, again, I may be totally off about this or in the minority, but remember this is my opinion: If this book was in first person view, as in we are seeing this story unfold through the eyes of one of the characters in the book, and the person telling the story used this term, I wouldn’t see an issue with it. If this word was used in dialogue, again, no problem with it because the writers are creating characters from their dialogue. But this isn’t written in first person, and I only seen the word used in 1, maybe 2 dialogues. The other times it’s in the narration from the writer, and that gives me a different view. Like I am again being told my opinion or how I should feel about certain characters.

The book eventually levels out a little in the second half, and becomes a story of adventure and survival, but as a whole, unfortunately it was not a winner for me. It’s a miss. This is my honest opinion and I’m going to keep it that way. I do want to thank the writers, TC Parker and Ward Nerdlo for providing me a copy to check out. This in no way means I’m no longer a fan of the writers. Just not a fan of the book. TC and Ward are good people.