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shell132001's review against another edition
4.0
4.25
Really enjoyed this, not surprising since I adore this author. I really love this retelling. You never knew what you were going to get. She also did a great job subverting some tropes, which I loved. Marillier does such a good job at immersing the reader into the story. She always creates wonderful fairy tales that I'll always want to read.
Really enjoyed this, not surprising since I adore this author. I really love this retelling. You never knew what you were going to get. She also did a great job subverting some tropes, which I loved. Marillier does such a good job at immersing the reader into the story. She always creates wonderful fairy tales that I'll always want to read.
denisedup's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
noamw's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. It's fair basic and predictable story - but also fairly effective one.
vailynst's review against another edition
4.0
Mini-Review:
4 Stars for Narration by Gemma Dawson
4 Stars for Hulde
3 Stars for Plot Progression
I loved the first segment of the story. It was a fresh take of a well known tale. I adore the three pets she is given and the parts they played. The weakest part of the story was the journey Hulde takes to create a story of her own. It was not as well structured and lost some of the fairy tale glow. Overall, cute story and heartwarming. I wanted more development & awareness from Hulde but that could be me being greedy.
4 Stars for Narration by Gemma Dawson
4 Stars for Hulde
3 Stars for Plot Progression
I loved the first segment of the story. It was a fresh take of a well known tale. I adore the three pets she is given and the parts they played. The weakest part of the story was the journey Hulde takes to create a story of her own. It was not as well structured and lost some of the fairy tale glow. Overall, cute story and heartwarming. I wanted more development & awareness from Hulde but that could be me being greedy.
supriya's review against another edition
It was cute! It takes a minor character from a Norwegian fairytale "East of the Sun, West of the Moon", and tells the story from her point of view, and then extends the story beyond the fairytale and giver her a whole arc. My favorite thing about it is the concept: giving the innocent troll princess caught up in her evil mother's scheme a voice and a chance to become self-actualized. (Because of course, I'm a sucker for flipping the script on the "monstrous" culture of trolls and antagonists in general.)
It was much more of a children's book than I realized when I got it, since I'm here for Marillier's more complex characterization and plots, but I paid for it on Audible so I finished it.
It was much more of a children's book than I realized when I got it, since I'm here for Marillier's more complex characterization and plots, but I paid for it on Audible so I finished it.
nessas_lair's review against another edition
3.0
I recently finished this audiobook about the story of Hulde, the troll from the fairytale ‘East of the Sun and West of the Moon’ (EotSaWofM aka my favourite fairytale ever). This fairytale was told from her perspective which was such an interesting idea and I loved it! This book has 3 parts and only the first part includes the story of EotSaWofM. After the original plot ends, the story continues with Hulde’s journey to make her own story and find out who she is. There wasn’t really much plot after the first part because it was just her going on her journey but I still enjoyed listening to her story. The troll culture was also very fascinating especially how the Queen can have 2 husbands who have the role of a Warrior and a Wayfinder. Overall this was a really interesting take on a classic fairytale
huldakaren's review against another edition
4.0
I admit I bought this book, mostly because the main character shares my name. With my name that doesn't happen very often. I hadn't really read what it was about and was expecting a typical "princess with magical powers" story so I was pleasantly surprised when the main character turned out to be a troll and *SPOILER ALERT* does not end up with the prince. It's a story about a girl making mistakes, learning about the world as she struggles with her new role as a queen. And though I would have prefered the story to be a bit longer, perhaps meeting another of the clans, or finding out what happened to the prince, I must say I really enjoyed this book :)