Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - The Kingdom of Sweets

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen

15 reviews

tacochelle's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm really split on this book. It takes the Nutcracker story and turns it into a sort of gothic morality tale. The actual nutcracker retelling only takes up a quarter of the story, the rest dealing with the consequences of that night. Drosselmeyer is a sorceror feared by the community, who blesses/curses a set of twins at their christening, naming one Light and the other Dark. The twins were fairly close to each other, despite their parents and acquaintances constantly favoring Clara (the light one)over Natasha (the dark one). The night of their 17th birthday, Clara is publicly engaged to Natasha's lover at the family's big party, and Drosselmeyer's gifts sends the two to the titular Kingdom of Sweets, where everything seems to be made for Clara, and Natasha is kind of neglected. Here, Natasha makes a choice that drives a wedge between the two in a deal with the Sugar Plum Fairy. Her actions give her the future she thought she wanted, but at a terrible cost.

Johansen is very good at worldbuilding for the most part. The descriptions are the highlight of everything here, fully realizing the setting from the industrial city they live in to the candy-coated nightmare realm of the Kingdom of Sweets. It's enough details to paint a gorgeous picture, but vague enough to create a sort of dark fairytale mood - at least until the very end. Throughout, there's little details, like mentioning Dracula multiple times, and various European countries, where you know it's kinda set in a turn of the century, Eastern European country, and I would have been fine with that. Then the last few chapters reveal that this is actually Russia before the revolution and implies that the magical events in the story directly lead to Lenin taking over. It was such a buzz kill for me. Completely took me out of the story, what little was left. It doesn't even fully make sense, either. Little details like calling the ruler a King instead of a Tsar make it feel anachronistic to the time period.

The characters are all deeply flawed. And not always loveable. I'm generally fine with that. But the twins are the fucking worst, really letting some guy get between them? Natasha is deep in the I'm-not-like-other-girls mindset, and it feels like half the time she is criticized for it by the narrative, while the other half backs her up. The trope is really overplayed, but at least pick a lane and be consistent. It gets really slut-shamey at points, and again, half backs it up and half criticizes it. Against her own twin, even! I get everyone's life is different, but as a identical twin myself, I could not get over that. Personal preference really, but it's almost all you see in media that one twin is always jealous of the other, and it gets old real fast. Clara is no better, she is just as self-centered as her twin, but in the way that she tries to willingly be blind to other's problems. It's implied that Drosselmeyer could help Natasha get a good proposal for marriage, and that would be her only chance to avoid life in a Convent because their society is so deep up his ass with the whole dark twin shit that they do not want her. He gives the choice to Clara, who is also implied that she could easily get her own man at any time, by her own charisma and beauty, but she takes the opportunity Drosselmeyer offers. And then cries when her twin is upset about it. Neither really grows out of their major flaw, despite endlessly being punished because of it.

The ending kind of justifies their remaining character flaws, as it both gives the twin a kind of happy end, as well as an end that they rightly deserve for all their bs. But it would have worked better if it kept with the almost timeless vibe of a fairytale about the consequences of greed, jealousy, and vengeance. But solidly grounding this in the gd Russian Revolution ruins that and introduces far more complicated issues than the story actually handles.

I'm giving this 3 stars because overall I enjoyed this. Johansen does write well, and I was very engaged with the book, reading it in one sitting. But the negatives really stick with me in a way that I can't forget or forgive easily.

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thebelovedreadingnook's review

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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sburchart's review

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This really isn't a retelling - more like the inclusion of a few Nutcracker elements towards the beginning that take a backseat to a story about characters nobody wants to root for and that never quite figures out what it wants to be. Horror story with a poorly explained magic system? A story about twin sisters reconciling? Russian historical fiction? Not sure what the marketing department was doing trying to spin this as a fantasy Christmas read.

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lovelymisanthrope's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I selected this as my BOTM pick for December 2023.
"The Kingdom of Sweets" is a Nutcracker retelling that follows one sister trying to get out of the shadow of her twin. Clara has always been the most beautiful twin with all of the opportunities in the world at her feet. Natasha has always lived in her shadow and seems to live more like a peasant than a princess. One fateful Christmas Eve, Drosselmeyer, a mysterious sorcerer, brings a special gift to their home: an enchanted nutcracker that takes the girls to the Kingdom of Sweets. While exploring this mythical land, Natasha finally gets her chance at revenge, and she may finally get to live the life she has always dreamed of.
I am not familiar with the original Nutcracker story, so I cannot attest to how well this book did at a retelling, but regardless, I really enjoyed this story. Natasha's envy of her sister was so relatable and although she made poor choices and really wreaked havoc on Clara's life, I still felt sorry for Natasha. Clara's life has always felt so much easier than Natasha's, and everyone has made Natasha know that she is less than Clara. That has got to be rough for anyone.
The Sugar Plum Fairy is sickeningly sweet, and Natasha's entanglement with her was enticing. I really enjoyed seeing the pair interact throughout the story, and I enjoyed even more the ultimate resolution they made by the end of the story.
This story was so atmospheric, and I loved reading about the Kingdom of Sweets. This is the perfect story to read in the winter, especially to get you in a festive spirit for the holiday season. I do wish I read it last month, but I still really enjoyed this story and I appreciated the ambience.
I really appreciated the overall message of this story. There are a few lessons to be learned throughout the duration of this story, but none of them felt presented to the reader in a heavy-handed way.
My one critique of this story is that the book ends up jumping ahead many years a few different times throughout the story. The time jumps made the pacing feel a little stop and go.
I highly recommend adding this to your holiday TBR for 2024!

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honuzbubbles's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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lauren_shilling's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

I want to start off by saying that this book is beautifully written. The writing is absolutely gorgeous, and very very immersive. However, that was really the only thing I really enjoyed about it. I felt like the plot was kind of all over the place. If the plot had only been the first half of the book, I would have probably given this 3.25 stars, but everything that came after the halfway mark bored me to tears. I also really couldn't stand the main character. She was very thoroughly an "I'm not like other girls' character, and in a way that put down other women, particularly Clara, who enjoyed things like collecting dolls and who cared and enjoyed caring about her appearance. Natasha, the main character, kind of made it seem like these were bad things and her lack of interest in them made her better than Clara, which bothered me. By the end of the book, this is supposed to have been changed and show that Natasha has changed as a person, but it felt almost lazily done, and it wasn't good enough for me. The reason I kept reading was because, as I said, the writing was gorgeous, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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torturedreadersdept's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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vj_thompson's review

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The beginning is what got me. It was hard to read and get through. The story in the beginning is straight up depressing. I wanted it to get to the plot a lot quicker.

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chasingpages1's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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jcrawford31's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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