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spookysierra's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Look. I don't typically write reviews unless a book is amazing or truly terrible.
This book is fantastic.
Going in, I knew it was going to be a retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses, but I wasn't sure how closely it was going to follow the fairytale. I also didn't realize this book was going to be a spooky murder mystery. Because I went into this not realizing the full scope of the book's premise, the beginning was kind of slow for me; HOWEVER, as soon as I started to realize there was more to this than just a group of girls wandering off into the forest to dance the night away, with dashing young men I. WAS. IN.
My assessment of the book went from a 3 to a 4 immediately and before I was 75% through the book, I could just feel that I was going to rate this 5 stars
This book had me mistrusting EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. I would go back and forth on some, I would second guess everything everyone was saying. This book is masterful.
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Medical trauma, Child death, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Death of parent, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Alcohol, Death, Body horror, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Suicide and Terminal illness
chloenrogers's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death, and Body horror
Minor: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Child death, Self harm, Blood, Forced institutionalization, and Animal death
tays_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Grief, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Death of parent, Self harm, and Miscarriage
Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Rape, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Adult/minor relationship
stephanieluxton's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Annaleigh was one of 12 princesses living on the island, but after the unfortunate accidental deaths of a few of her older sisters, and her mother, the townspeople believe her family to be cursed. Annaleigh believes the most recent death was a murder rather than a suicide and begins trying to unravel the mystery, with some help from her childhood crush and a handsome stranger she meets in the market. The plot thickens when the sisters go searching for a portal used by the Gods to travel to other regions in hopes of finding love with people who are unfamiliar with the curse. Annaleigh struggles to unravel the mystery of what's happening. Is there really a curse? Who can she trust? Wtf is going on? Also, there's ghosts.
The world-building was well done in this book. We learn about their religion and customs organically without a ton of exposition. It's definitely a world you can get lost in. The only thing that makes this book YA is the lack of smut, which feels authentic to the time period where marriage came first. One thing that wasn't old-timey was the fashion for the balls that the princesses attend. Everything is described in a beautifully cinematic way. As the book slips further into horror, the descriptions are grotesque and you genuinely feel scared for our characters who we've grown to care about.
I'd recommend this book to people who like gothic, ghostly, psychological horror and don't need smut to enjoy themselves.
Moderate: Grief, Gore, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Classism, Suicide, Child death, Pregnancy, Blood, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Death of parent
This book is more psychological that violent and we generally see the aftermath of violence more than we see violence. There's a few scenes that feel like nightmare sequences that are a bit more intense. The horror sequences were pretty epic for a YA book, but it's definitely not splatterpunk or anything.aurumia's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.5
Boy, I could not have been more off-base.
From scene one, this book was sad, then a little scary, then maddening, then frightening, before reaching the happily ever after epilogue (after a fashion).
The retelling of Twelve Dancing Princesses was absolutely expert. There were details woven in that I recalled from the original fairy tale and made my heart happy, which is why it was so incredible the author was able to work in such darkness. There are horror movie tropes which made me have to stay up to finish the book, just to make sure I wouldn't have nightmares.
Annaleigh as a main character was fantastic. I could follow her line of thinking, her emotions were mild to others, but as we didn't much time in her head, you could learn and grow with her as those emotions became increasingly important to share and show.
Despite having a lot of things I didn't enjoy (just in mood), it was expertly written and I really did like it in spite of myself, and it will definitely be a book I remember. I look forward to more!
Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Body horror, Blood, Violence, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Grief, Death, Alcoholism, and Gore
komaedacoffee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Moderate: Pregnancy and Child death
Minor: Death of parent, Infertility, Animal death, Mental illness, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
ahaugen23's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Grief, and Vomit
Moderate: Rape
callmesword's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The eerie, twisted atmosphere presented at certain moments (for example, with annaleigh's and verity's visions) was immaculate. The characterization of each sister and how easy it was to differentiate them from each other (even the ones who were already dead) as well.
Unfortunately, the romance, I did not even know the book would include, was extremely rushed and unnecessary. Did not apport anything to the story. Personally, I would have liked more of a consequence to annaleigh, and by that I mean I was rooting for her to die (sorry!).
To sum up, it felt all the darkness was diluted. I had different hopes, I suppose.
In an additional final note, why are all fantasy books terribly straight?
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, and Gore
Moderate: Stalking and Pregnancy
Minor: Suicide and Fire/Fire injury
readingwithjo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Graphic: Death, Child death, Gore, Grief, Pregnancy, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Miscarriage and Death of parent
Minor: Infidelity
cerilouisereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship