It's been a while since I've looked into the revised fairytale genre of YA. I've kinda missed it, so I've decided to dive back in with this book. This was a curious dive, I have to say. Certainly very thrilling, action-packed, detailed, and epic...so much so that, when you really look at it, it's not much of a Snow White story. Let's dive in.
Lorelai, forsaken princess of Ravenspire, has lived her life in hiding with her brother and her guardian after her kingdom was taken over by her evil stepmother/aunt, Irina. Fortunately, Lorelai has the gift of magic and must learn to harness her powers to save her oppressed people and bring down Irina once and for all. But when the Kol, king of the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, comes to Ravenspire in search for aid, Irina gives him an offer he can't refuse: kill Lorelai and bring Irina her heart. This is especially bad for Lorelai, seeing as Kol is a member of a race of creatures who can turn from human to dragon. But the queen's new huntsman is soon to discover that Lorelai is no easy target and it's his own heart that he needs to worry about in this venture.
Like I stated earlier, this story is pretty epic. It does a great job building suspense, has great action scenes, and some of the magic is cool too. Chases, escapes, fighting, with just the right amounts of violence and magic. Throw in just a pinch of romance and we've got potential for a great story here. But, that being said, there were some decisions that I thought were...questionable. Like I hinted before, there's not too much in here that makes it a Snow White retelling. It takes just the bare minimum and leaves out a lot of the big, defining details. There's no dwarves, no sleep, heck even the apple itself isn't in it. Yeah, there are apples in the book but one of the big, iconic details of the story, the one you even used for your frigging cover art is NOT featured in the source material. Might be a bit of a problem.
This book mostly sticks to the "girl starts rebellion" plot line that's exhaustingly common in YA and so, especially towards the third act, things started to get a bit repetitive. It really didn't help that the "huntsman's" thoughts were literally the same words over and over. There's also the fact that Lorelai makes a move against Irina, something big and scary tries to kill her, she escapes. Move, attack, escape, repeat. While it can get a bit tiring after awhile, the fact that Lorelai's moves are actually strategic helps and there is room for character development, so I'll give it that.
The characters in this book, as a whole, don't leave much of an impact. I kept getting Kol's dragon friends mixed up, Irina is little more than a cartoonishly over-the-top bad guy, and Kol and Lorelai themselves are pretty generic as far as leads go. That being said, I did applaud them for never going too whiny. Often when protagonists in these stories are faced with constant trials they have moments of "it's too hard" and "I can't do it!" Thankfully, this story just skips that stuff. Even when real loss comes into the story, Kol and Lorelai stay focused and become stronger for it so...kudos to that. Sadly, the only character I genuinely liked and I thought had the most personality isn't even in it very long and that was pretty disappointing.
Leading into my last point, this thing has some almost pointlessly dark moments. And I mean dark moments. Now, a dark moment here and there can be a good thing and drive the story along, so I have no problem with them. What I do have a problem with is when you have several moments like this and only once does it seem to have an impact on the characters. They also like to bring that one point up again, over and over, to make sure that we know it left an impact. Probably didn't have to go as far as it did just for the sake of saying "we went there" and didn't really have to hammer it into our heads like it did.
Final Verdict
As far as fairytale retellings go, I didn't hate this one...but it's probably not one of the best I've read either. Action is good, but the characters fall flat. It's fantastical but also pointlessly dark and, at times, repetitive. If these things probably aren't going to bother you and you just want a good fairytale based story, this one is fine. Go ahead and check it out but...maybe wait for it on paperback.
Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Please make sure to Follow Midnight Readings for instant updates. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer
Next Time: I've got a sinking feeling about this sequel....
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