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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
I listened to this as a book on tape and the accent of the reader added to the enchantment. I really enjoyed the book until it got near the end with the blood drinking and soul stealing. I would have rated it a 4 or 5 if it weren't for the really dark parts.
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
sometimes a book can just be fun and that's enough
For all the complaints other reviewers have made about insta-love and the confusion of siblings, I still found this quite enjoyable. Honestly, if it weren't for those issues, I could well have given 5 stars. The prose was quite good, and the story construction was clever.
I stopped at about 60% through the book. I just couldn't get into the story or characters
3, maybe 3.5 stars. There was a lot I enjoyed here--the author took the Frog Prince story (and a few other fairy tales) and changed it a bit to do her own thing with it, so it wasn't just a rehash--but some other things didn't quite work, or were left disappointingly under-developed.
Sunday's powers initially manifest kind of indifferently--what she writes tends to come true, so she avoids that by only writing down things that already happened. This could have been treated as more important--the frustration of being able to think up stories but not share them, the dangers of accidentally rewriting history, etc--but after one significant effect, it pretty much gets abandoned.
The barrier to the romance was well done, but the missing brother's story was never told to my satisfaction. The 'Forbidden Story' is brought up near the end to try to explain away a major obstacle, but never clearly spelled out. Either fit a cliffhangery hint somewhere to indicate that there will be more about this later (I feel like the author tried on the last page, but it didn't work for me), or give that sub-story some kind of resolution.
The prince's 'missing year' is never really explained; and not in a way that hints 'you'll have to read the next volume to find out!', because the story feels like it could easily stand alone, but in a way that says 'this should really have been either edited out or fleshed out'. We get a flash-memory of an interaction with the Pirate Queen that was frankly completely unnecessary to this story, and hints that the prince was Not A Nice Guy but no specific examples of why/how.
Maybe worst of all is that the feud between the two godmothers is the thing that drives all the events of the story, but *it is NEVER explained*. While we're getting backstory on almost everyone in this large family, the two people whose magical spat caused almost everything are just kind of THERE. Unexamined. Almost completely unexplained. Never meeting face to face. WHY?
Although I was pleasantly surprised with the way several fairy tales managed to blend in here (the Frog Prince, the Dancing Slippers, Rumplestiltskin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Bluebeard, Cinderella, etc), at some point it started to feel like the story was trying to be too many things at once, and started to suffer from being pulled in too many directions.
Overall I still enjoyed this fairy tale retelling for its good parts, but the many little flaws hold it back from being a very strong read. Recommended for a light read or for people who enjoy seeing a familiar pattern tweaked.
Sunday's powers initially manifest kind of indifferently--what she writes tends to come true, so she avoids that by only writing down things that already happened. This could have been treated as more important--the frustration of being able to think up stories but not share them, the dangers of accidentally rewriting history, etc--but after one significant effect, it pretty much gets abandoned.
The barrier to the romance was well done, but the missing brother's story was never told to my satisfaction. The 'Forbidden Story' is brought up near the end to try to explain away a major obstacle, but never clearly spelled out. Either fit a cliffhangery hint somewhere to indicate that there will be more about this later (I feel like the author tried on the last page, but it didn't work for me), or give that sub-story some kind of resolution.
The prince's 'missing year' is never really explained; and not in a way that hints 'you'll have to read the next volume to find out!', because the story feels like it could easily stand alone, but in a way that says 'this should really have been either edited out or fleshed out'. We get a flash-memory of an interaction with the Pirate Queen that was frankly completely unnecessary to this story, and hints that the prince was Not A Nice Guy but no specific examples of why/how.
Maybe worst of all is that the feud between the two godmothers is the thing that drives all the events of the story, but *it is NEVER explained*. While we're getting backstory on almost everyone in this large family, the two people whose magical spat caused almost everything are just kind of THERE. Unexamined. Almost completely unexplained. Never meeting face to face. WHY?
Although I was pleasantly surprised with the way several fairy tales managed to blend in here (the Frog Prince, the Dancing Slippers, Rumplestiltskin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Bluebeard, Cinderella, etc), at some point it started to feel like the story was trying to be too many things at once, and started to suffer from being pulled in too many directions.
Overall I still enjoyed this fairy tale retelling for its good parts, but the many little flaws hold it back from being a very strong read. Recommended for a light read or for people who enjoy seeing a familiar pattern tweaked.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was a fun twist on the fairytales most of us grew up with. There were a few times I was confused about what was going on (the introduction of the Prince was just...off...) but overall I thought it was a fun read. There's two more books about the main family in the story, and I look forward to reading them!
Very clever story that manages to weave together a whole pantheon (for lack of a better word)of fairy tales into something new and interesting. Definitely interested in the next one!
interesting book
loved how all our childhood fairytales were intertwined in the book , i loved the twist and the characters were well developed.I am now in love with the woodcutter family and want to read on about them
loved how all our childhood fairytales were intertwined in the book , i loved the twist and the characters were well developed.I am now in love with the woodcutter family and want to read on about them