I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Trident and the Pearl (The Fisher King, #1) by Sarah K.L. Wilson Published by Orbit on February 24, 2026
Genres: Fantasy
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads
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.
This novel is definitely outside of my comfort zone. I don’t usually go for romantic fantasy stories. But the premise was too hard to resist; I just love stories that entangle gods and humans.
I really liked the way the author wrote this novel. It flows well and is easy to get through. The worldbuilding is also decent; it sets the stage well for the characters and plot to flourish.
It’s just a shame that the characters and the plot are letdowns.
My major issue with the plot is its overreliance on the miscommunication trope between our two MCs. It causes Coralys, a character meant to be intelligent, to make impulsive and stupid decisions. Many times, the more logical decision is clear to see – and yet, Coralys would choose the exact opposite. It made for a very frustrating experience. The rest of the plot is both jumbled and repetitive. The author attempted to do too many things with the story, but the way to go about on these quests meandered and became repetitive. This was a missed opportunity for the author to raise the stakes and keep readers interested.
Meanwhile, Oke … well, he’s just there. The author did not spend any time in developing his personality. He is just a nice and simple guy who is misunderstood. Still, I liked him better than Coralys because he didn’t do stupidly infuriating things every other minute.
The romance was non-existent. I never felt a connection between Coralys and Oke (not for lack of trying from Oke’s side). This was probably due to the lack of interactions between Coralys and Oke. They spent more of the story apart than together. In addition, the supposed grief that Coralys is feeling for her dead husband felt forced.
I know this is the first book in the series but there is not much that makes me want to go for the next book.
