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beforeviolets's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
A thrilling retelling of classic fairytales filled with twists, magic, and just the right amount of darkness. Think Disney Princesses turned dark academia.
The first two-thirds of this book really struggled with the pacing. It dragged SO MUCH and I don't know if it was an attempt to counteract the feeling of over-exposition or in order to build tension, but either way it made it hard to read and made me almost DNF this read a few times.
HOWEVER, the last third of this book was SO MUCH FUN! It was riveting, properly gorey and spooky and magical in the way I was expecting this entire book to be. It just sucked that I had to get through so much of the text before I was able to experience it.
This book was promised with a lot of diversity, however, there was quite a bit of problematic representation which I will explain below.
(Minor spoilers ahead)
The Asian character struggles with parental pressure to be the very best and have perfect grades and be the perfect daughter.
There is a character who is very clearly the "mean masc lesbian" type.
The half-Native, half-Black character's entire plot line is that she has an absent Black father who abandoned her. She is also stereotyped as a "mean lesbian."
One character has OCD and it is introduced by one of the other characters questioning if she had taken her meds. Her opinions and experiences were also constantly doubted or questioned due to her OCD.
The character that is meant to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast has a trans girl as a love interest (insinuating that the trans woman is a beast).
On that note, the trans girl's fairytale retelling is that she is The Ugly Duckling, explicitly stating that as a trans girl, she has become a swan.
Especially seeing a book written by a queer author, it was sad to see the lack of care put into the quality of the diversity.
My lovely friend Jess also discusses the representation, so I would suggest viewing their review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4268785942?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
TW:mentions of suicide, parental physical and emotional abuse, self-harm, and parental death. depictions of anxiety, OCD, blood, and gore.
A thrilling retelling of classic fairytales filled with twists, magic, and just the right amount of darkness. Think Disney Princesses turned dark academia.
The first two-thirds of this book really struggled with the pacing. It dragged SO MUCH and I don't know if it was an attempt to counteract the feeling of over-exposition or in order to build tension, but either way it made it hard to read and made me almost DNF this read a few times.
HOWEVER, the last third of this book was SO MUCH FUN! It was riveting, properly gorey and spooky and magical in the way I was expecting this entire book to be. It just sucked that I had to get through so much of the text before I was able to experience it.
This book was promised with a lot of diversity, however, there was quite a bit of problematic representation which I will explain below.
(Minor spoilers ahead)
The Asian character struggles with parental pressure to be the very best and have perfect grades and be the perfect daughter.
There is a character who is very clearly the "mean masc lesbian" type.
The half-Native, half-Black character's entire plot line is that she has an absent Black father who abandoned her. She is also stereotyped as a "mean lesbian."
One character has OCD and it is introduced by one of the other characters questioning if she had taken her meds. Her opinions and experiences were also constantly doubted or questioned due to her OCD.
The character that is meant to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast has a trans girl as a love interest (insinuating that the trans woman is a beast).
On that note, the trans girl's fairytale retelling is that she is The Ugly Duckling, explicitly stating that as a trans girl, she has become a swan.
Especially seeing a book written by a queer author, it was sad to see the lack of care put into the quality of the diversity.
My lovely friend Jess also discusses the representation, so I would suggest viewing their review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4268785942?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
TW:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
Minor: Self harm, Suicide, and Death of parent