The Trident and The Pearl
Sarah K.L. Wilson
Trade Paperback / eBook
ISBN: 978-0316586573
Orbit, February 2026, 464 pages

Greetings, readers, and welcome back to another book review! This month we’re traveling to a fantasy world filled with powerful gods, impossible choices, and a queen who must navigate her duties and her sorrow—that’s right, it’s The Trident and The Pearl by Sarah K.L. Wilson!

The Trident and The Pearl is the story of Queen Coralys, ruler of the Kingdom of the Five Isles, who is forced into a deal with Okeanos, God of the Sea, after a disaster wreaks havoc on her kingdom and kills her husband. In exchange for protection from the apocalyptic storm ravaging her people, Coralys agrees to marry the first person to set foot on the pier of her battered capitol, but instead of a charming prince, it is Okeanos himself, battered and wounded, who shows up. Coralys has no choice but to set sail with her new deific husband in order to not break her bargain, but her sorrow quickly transforms into an anger so vast it could threaten the entire pantheon itself.

Reading The Trident and The Pearl very much reminded me of a Greek tragedy, with its heavy focus on interactions between gods and mortals, and nowhere is this more evident than in the relationship between Coralys and Okeanos. Coralys is a woman wracked by grief and desperate to make the right choice that will save her people, which Okeanos mirrors in many ways; but as in all good tragedies, bad decisions are the norm, not the exception. Wilson does a fantastic job presenting the world through Coralys’s eyes, letting us see her justifications as things spiral deeper and deeper out of control, with every chapter upping the stakes in believable and compelling ways. In addition, Wilson also navigates the complex slow-burn relationship that develops between Coralys and Okeanos excellently, setting the stage for a finale that feels cathartic and well-earned (and, as all tragedies go, also bittersweet and poignant).

None of this would be possible without an interesting world for these characters to inhabit, and Wilson crafts prose with the same care that she shows her character development. Whether it be the descriptions of the numerous islands (both mundane and mythical) in the Kingdom of the Five Isles, the retinues of the various gods, or the various shades of the sea, Wilson’s words seem to leap from the page and paint a picture impossible to ignore. When I was reading The Trident and The Pearl, I felt as if a play was assembling itself around me, shifting from set to set, and only missing a literal chorus in the background bemoaning the hubris of mortals.

The last thing I really enjoyed about this book is that, for as much as it is a tragedy, there were always lights of hope throughout the story. Coralys clings to her rage, it is true, but she also finds moments of joy within the darkness. Okeanos is initially aloof and mysterious, but as we see more of his past, the humanity shines from him like a lantern on a deep-sea floor. If I could pick out a main underlying theme, it would be the idea of persevering in the face of pain and trying to build something better with what remains. A thing that was broken cannot be made unbroken, but it can be made into something else, and I think that is always a concept worth appreciating.

Overall, The Trident and The Pearl was an excellent read, filled with plenty of mystery, action, and musings on the nature of grief and healing. It was also, despite the length, a remarkably quick read, the pages flowing one into the next like gentle waves cresting a welcoming shore. Wilson has crafted a suitably epic tale that I can heartily recommend to anyone who appreciates a good old-fashioned tale of revenge and everything that comes with it, and I am quite looking forward to the next book in the series.