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We all know the fairy tale story of sleeping beauty, but have you have ever wondered what that story would have looked like in real life? What would cause the king and queen to avoid inviting a powerful woman to their daughter’s baptism? Was the woman who cursed the princess really a fairy, a witch, or just a very bitter woman? And if not by magic, how was the princess cursed and then saved? Elise is able to tell a tale to answer all those questions from her time as a servant in the castle. She’ll also tell a tale of her own, including love she won and lost and the sacrifices her loyalty to the princess demanded.

This book was one of those books I immediately got so swept up in, I had a hard time making myself take notes. Elizabeth Blackwell has a masterful command of language. She used large words that I noticed not because they felt out of place but because they were always perfectly chosen. They lent her sentences a beauty that demanded to be read out loud. She brought the medieval setting to life with her vivid descriptions, from the struggles of the poor to the court intrigues of the nobility. Little thoughtful asides about human nature elevated this book to something truly out of the ordinary for me. Commentary on human nature is something I often love in classics, so seeing it in a contemporary novel was delightful and surprising.

Although you might describe this book as a darker version of sleeping beauty, I think it’s more accurate to say that it’s a sleeping beauty story for adults. This retelling makes the original story look like a sanitized version of the true story. There are deceptions and schemes behind the scenes that motivate the events of the original. There are some very low points in the story and Elise has to deal with some heartbreakingly difficult decisions. The end was more realistic than the original, but surprisingly happy and the happiness was all the more beautiful for the suffering and darkness the characters had to make it through first. The author kept me hooked throughout, dropping just enough hints about the coming events to make me desperately curious to read more. Basically, the writing, the plot, and the characters were all perfection. I simply couldn’t put this one down!

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In Germany in the 1200′s, much of life revolved around the church. However, pre Martin Luther, many people in small towns still rely exclusively on sometimes corrupt officials to interpret the bible for them. When Adelaide’s town suffers a plague, the church abandons the people. Although tithes continue to increase, few priests are brave enough to provide the funeral services they claim are necessary for a happy afterlife. After a bribable but cowardly priest disrespects her mother’s funeral, Adelaide is determined to bring down the corrupt priests, despite having to work within the many rules restricting women’s rights in the middle ages.

Surprisingly, the fairy tale aspect of this story was my least favorite part. Although Adelaide’s nickname is Snow White, the resemblance between her story and the fairy tale is very thin. That wouldn’t have bothered me too much if the author hadn’t also tried to bring in a bunch of other fairy tales. Most of these other stories are included by having characters relate them. They in no way connect to the plot. They’re just randomly related by characters as fables or as their past experiences. As a result, the very good historical fiction plot drags a lot more than it needed to. The inclusion of many unrelated dreams and memories slows the plot down as well.

As historical fiction though, this story had much potential. I was truly impressed that the author managed to have her heroine act within the restrictions faced by women in the middle ages. Without doing anything unbelievable, she manages to be a strong heroine, taking control of her own life. She does so by either cleverly acting within the boundaries she faces or by sneaking around them. I was also very impressed by the historically accurate details, such as the fact that most families in the middle ages almost exclusively drank ale or watered down wine. I think if the author hadn’t tried to try this into the recent fairy tale craze, it could have been a very good book. I’m hoping the next book in this series will capitalize on that potential and would also be very excited to read any historical fiction the author writes in the future.

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There are two kinds of re-tellings. There are those which use the original as an inspiration and which become awesome by using the original material in creative new ways. Cinder is one of my favorite examples of that kind of re-telling. This is not that kind of re-telling. This is the other kind, where the source material is preserved almost entirely with just a setting change and this is by far the best example of that kind of re-telling that I’ve ever read.

First of all, despite the integration of modern terms and even some pop culture, the writing reminds me very much of Austen. It’s something about the way she uses adjectives and long descriptive clauses, in my non-English-major opinion. Whatever it is, it works. I thought she also did a remarkable job preserving the spirit of each character. They may not be exactly the same, but the things I would list as being essential to who they are were all preserved. This is a little thing, but I thought it was nice that she kept the same names for her characters too. There’s no reason to change that (unless your change of setting demands it) and it makes it far less confusing to discuss the book later!

I was also incredibly impressed by the author’s ability to create modern situations analogous to the now outdated social situations in the original. Every scene I loved in the original had an counterpart in this re-telling. There was also some detail added to Edward and Elinor’s romance, something I liked in the movie and also liked here. It’s so much easier to root for a couple when you know why the like each other! At the end of the day, this still might have only been a four star review except for one very important thing. This book made me feel the exact same way as re-reading the original. I had some memory of what was going to happen, but I still couldn’t wait to get to the conclusion and I was so happy for our characters when I got there. While it is likely that no re-telling is going to do it for a real Austen purist, for anyone else, if you are out of new Austen to read and need something to fill the gaping void that has created in your life, read this. It was almost a lot like getting to read Sense and Sensibility for the first time all over again.

For some other perspectives, check out the other stops on the tour, Amazon, or Goodreads.

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Keith Johnson is happily married and pursuing a career as a helicopter pilot when he’s sent to Vietnam. When evidence suggests his sergeant has killed one of his own men, Keith is unable to keep silent. Unfortunately, one of his friends is willing to betray him for a chance at a safer posting and his sergeant is desperate to get rid of him. Sent on a mission meaning almost certain death, Keith is reported as missing in action but actually survives only to be thrown into a prison camp for 20 years. When he eventually escapes, his only thought is of revenge.

I loved Crux, in large part because it felt to me like almost exactly what Dumas would have written had he set his novel during the Vietnam war. The author included all of the things I loved about the first book, including the sense of adventure; the mystery surrounding Keith when he reappears a wealthy man; and the mentoring relationship he has with a fellow prisoner. He also keeps the focus on revenge and the question of what betrayal can do to an otherwise good person. Although some of the things he changed might bother other people, I loved the Keith was less arrogant than the original hero and also less willing to sacrifice innocent lives.

At first, I didn’t find Crux that suspenseful as it followed the path marked out by the original story. Fortunately, while the premise and the feel of the original were preserved, the details of the ending were all new. By the last hundred pages I was desperately wanting to stay up much later than I should just to find out what happened next. Lately I’ve read a number of thrillers that just read like every other action-packed thriller to me and this book was different. Although it did enjoyably amp up the action at the end, there was also the deeper focus of the original on Keith/Edmond’s character development and the themes of betrayal and revenge. That added depth made this both an exceptional thriller and a great homage to the original Count of Monte Cristo.

If this sounds like a good read to you, I’d love for my gently used copy to go to someone who’s excited about reading it, so hop on over to the rafflecopter giveaway! Open internationally, closes Friday 10/6.

Amazon|Goodreads

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This book is supposed to be a sequel to The Count of Monte Cristo. My review contains some spoilers for this book but none for the original.

Initially, I actually had high hopes for this book. From the first few pages it was clear that the author had done a good job capturing Dumas’ writing style. The language was flowery, Dantes was arrogant, and Hadee subservient. Not my favorite things about Dumas but integral to his work and well represented here. However… The book opens with a blatant sex scene between Dantes and Haydee. Now, I don’t have a problem with sex scenes in principle, but nothing like this happens in the original. More than that, I thought the ambiguous nature of Dantes’ relationship with Haydee was part of the first book’s appeal.

The book then continues with adventures that manage to be both boring and unbelievable. For instance, the first fight scene includes Dantes’ wearing stilts – and it’s not written as though it’s supposed to be funny. While Dumas often pushes the bounds of the believable with cliched adventure elements, there was nothing as blatantly ridiculous as the events in this book. The reason none of the adventures were suspenseful or exciting (even the scene on stilts was boring!) had to do with how Dantes handled the fights. In every case, he sends his servant to sneak up on people with a blow dart. Every. Single. Time. It’s so dishonorable and so out of character with the Dantes from the original! It also prevents our hero from every being in danger. Thus the boredom.

The sequel also pushes the wish-fulfilling aspect of Dantes’ experiences into the ridiculous. The only thing that happens in the book (besides the boring fight scenes) is that women throw themselves at Dantes. He manages to marry two women and still sleeps with a third. The book also includes too many details about food and wine, as well as poems and songs. All of these things break the author’s adherence to Dumas’ style of writing. Also, the book ends with someone not graphically, but certainly gruesomely being castrated. So that’s the book folks. Boring fights and scenes totally out-of-character for Dumas’ writing plus gratuitous sex and violence.

Also, I can’t help noticing that while this book has mostly five star reviews on goodreads, many of them come from people with a 5 star average and no profile pictures. From that, you may draw your own conclusions.

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Like the book, this review is going to be a quick, easy read. The plot is almost exactly that of Sense and Sensibility, just a modernized version. My first reaction was disappointment that the author didn’t even try to copy Austen’s beautiful prose or understated humor. Once I got past that, I was better able to enjoy the book for what it was. Elinor and Marianne were both updated very nicely. Like the actions of Austen’s characters, the update wasn’t predictable but just felt right. Of course Elinor would be good at academics! Of course Marianne would act! I was also impressed by the way the update translated events with no modern equivalent. For instance, some of the social constraints on the original characters’ actions have no longer exist, but the author managed to come up with suitable substitutes.

Objectively, I think this probably deserves two starts. The characters were two-dimensional stereotypes and I occasionally found their actions unbelievable. The writing wasn’t anything special. But when I finished it, I would have said I liked it. I had fun reading it and enjoyed seeing the author’s creativity in making the update, so three stars it is.

Do you ever feel like a book “objectively” deserves a different numbers of stars than the rating you want to give it? If so, which rating do you go with?

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Earlier in this Persephone/Hades myth based trilogy, John (Hades) and Peirce (Persephone) made a decision that has imbalanced the forces ruling the underworld. Having finally (mostly) worked out their relationship, Peirce is suddenly faced with the possibility of losing John because of this imbalance. As she tries to rescue him and restore balance to the underworld, she’ll have to take advantage of all the connections and cool powers that come with being the queen of the underworld. And it will be awesome.

Initially, I had some trouble getting back into this series. There are some vague references to the previous books, but nothing specific enough to be helpful. At first my disorientation made Peirce and John come across as melodramatic about everything from their relationship to the danger to the underworld. As I got into the story, however, I started to remember everything I loved about the first two books. Peirce is by far one of my favorite Meg Cabot heroines (and they’re all pretty awesome). She’s sarcastic, she’s funny, and she’s a very strong character. And I mean a really strong character. Not one of those characters everyone describes as strong but who is always rescued. She’s a strong heroine who actually rescues her boyfriend at least as often as he rescues her.

I also liked that this book included some enjoyable secondary character development, including the addition of some less well known Greek mythology. It’s nice to see a large number of characters have depth and character growth, instead of just being foils for the protagonist. Like the previous books, once things got started, something was constantly happening. The fast pace was a lot of fun and I appreciated that there were several interesting issues the protagonist had to deal with. Not that awesome fights with furies aren’t enough, but the secondary plot involving her introducing John to her family really fleshed out the story for me. In addition to preserving the things I enjoyed about the previous books, this attention to all aspects of Peirce’s life made this book a great conclusion to the trilogy.

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As I mentioned in my previous review of a Goose Girl retelling, the basic gist of both this book and the original fairy tale is as follows. A princess is sent to marry a prince in a foreign land and on the journey, her maid uses some form of magic to take on the princess’s identity. Once they reach the foreign capital, the princess becomes a goose girl and must decide if and how she wants to regain her place as a princess.

Like the previous re-telling, this princess was very unassuming and not so sure she minded being a goose girl. Unlike the previous re-telling however, I felt she had a very good reason for being nervous and mistrusting the prince, so her inaction was less frustrating. Later in the book she does manage to stand up and make a difference when it matters. And at the end, she is required to be incredibly brave, enduring violent trials to save the prince. She made for a very impressive heroine!

In general this heroine faces far darker and more violent situations than were to be found in the other re-telling. I didn’t love that this lost the “fairy tale feel” of the other, but I suspect it would be right at home in an original brothers Grimm collection. I did love that the author added some ethical dilemmas and a villain with a lot more depth. As with the other re-telling, the author did an incredible job meshing original plot with the world and magic system she created. This world was a slightly more grown-up version than the other, but I also enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to people who like character growth and/or fairy tale re-tellings.

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I picked up this version of The Goose Girl planning on using it as an original to read before another re-telling. Further research suggests you’d need a children’s book (or the wikipedia page) to get the most original story, since the original is far too short for a book. The basic gist of both this book and the original fairy tale is as follows. A princess is sent to marry a prince in a foreign land and on the journey, her maid uses some form of magic to take on the princess’s identity. Once they reach the foreign capital, the princess becomes a goose girl and must decide if and how she wants to regain her place as a princess.

Lately I’ve been finding middle grade stories lacking complexity, but in this book I appreciated the feel that the book was directed at a young audience. It felt perfectly true to the original feel of the fairy tale and didn’t prevent the author from making the story a little more intricate than the myth. In the original, the goose girl ends up a princess again almost by luck. In this story, not only is becoming a princess again difficult but so is the decision whether or not to do so.

The difficulty of the princess/goose girl’s decision hinges on her personality. She is a quiet, reserved girl with the ability to speak to animals. The ability and confidence to charm people is far more valued by her mother, so she grows up feeling a lot of doubt about her ability to rule. Initially, her inability to take initiative is overdone to the point where it’s incredibly annoying. For instance, when she suspects her maid is staging a coup, she waits on someone to warn her instead of acting on her own certainty.

The nice thing about this bad beginning is the amazing character growth that occurs throughout the book. The princess spends a long time as a goose girl and experiences a believable process of slowly growing in confidence and desire to rule well.  In addition to the amazing character growth, I thought the author did a great job making up an interesting magic system that was compatible with the original myth. Although less different from the original than many of today’s popular retellings, I would highly recommend this book for the great character development and the impressive combination of original elements with those of the author’s own creation.

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