Sometimes I forget that the prettiest things can still have a bloody history. In the book Blood For Pearls by Peter Von Perle we see exactly how that can be the case. It tells the story of what was known as the Pearl Coast, an island known as Cubagua island and the site of a rather bloody example of Spanish conquest. The story opens on a nearby island with a native tribe known as the Guaiqueries and their first meeting with Europeans when Columbus landed there on his third voyage in 1498. We meet several young members of the tribe such as Charaima, the eldest son of the local chieftain and next in line to be the leader, and Cora his soon to be betrothed. While visiting them Columbus realized that they had an excessively large amount of pearls worn as jewelry and other ornaments. Having been searching for a source of wealth Columbus left some men behind to find the pearl’s location and start diving operations. However, driven by greed things soon turn bloody for the natives as events take a deadly turn.
Honestly, I rather liked this book as I could tell there was a considerable amount of research done, especially on pearls, in order to write it. Reading it I could easily tell that the author knew his information and really knew his subject. However, at the same time there were a few things that I did not necessarily like about the story. One of the big ones was the difficulty with continuity that the story had. There were multiple times where the story would reference events without a timescale but would then backtrack and go more in depth on earlier events before going back to the already referenced future events. I often struggled to determine what was happening when in comparison to each other or how long of a time frame there was between events. This made it difficult to piece together the overall narrative at times which definitely detracted from my overall enjoyment. I also struggled with the transitions between perspectives as these were not very smooth and often impeded my immersion with the story. While the story was good I am only giving it three out of five stars.
This book was a work of historical fiction and one that tells a rather bloody story. If you enjoy historical fiction and don’t mind the violence that is present I would suggest you try this. However, the story is rather brutal at times and contains a lot of violence and other mature content so be careful before you do. Due to this content I would also suggest the book is not for younger readers, at best older teens and young adults but no one younger. I hope you consider trying it anyway and if you do feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. This book was acquired though the Reedsy Discovery program so you can also find a copy of my review there as well.