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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
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:
Yes
It had potential for me at times, and it wasn't a bad book, just had hoped it would be more of a draw. It was predictable at times, and I had hoped for more mystery in the characters and surroundings! Would recommend for a younger audience, not exactly for everyone. But, it was enjoyable.
Sleeping Beauty or The Snow Queen?
Even though I liked the book I didn't see the connection to Sleeping Beauty. I drew more parallels to the Snow Queen. The curse that strips someone of emotion all the references to ice get my point? I mean, there are SEVERAL versions of the Sleeping Beauty tale none of which I saw.
Yes, Jade is given a storybook with that particular tale but that's the only time I saw the connection. It honestly makes me sad.
Even though I liked the book I didn't see the connection to Sleeping Beauty. I drew more parallels to the Snow Queen. The curse that strips someone of emotion all the references to ice get my point? I mean, there are SEVERAL versions of the Sleeping Beauty tale none of which I saw.
Yes, Jade is given a storybook with that particular tale but that's the only time I saw the connection. It honestly makes me sad.
I really liked this book. It has a strong heroin and a genuinely caring good guy. It's a unique take on an old fairy tale, but it has enough surprises and twists to make it unpredictable.
adventurous
medium-paced
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The author/publisher provided a free copy of the book for review purposes - thank you! Receiving a review copy does not guarantee a positive review and therefore do not affect the opinion or content of the review.
Congratulations, Kaitlyn Davis. I've found my favorite Sleeping Beauty retelling (for now) – FINALLY! (Because a lot of the other retellings I've come across have been Sleeping Beauty, and I've managed to not get along with them.)
The first book in the Once Upon a Curse series is set up in a futuristic New York where two worlds merged as one in an earthquake when Jade was younger. Years later, Jade lives in a world where a queen strips all of the inhabitants' emotions away, leaving them with no emotion. When she comes across the queen's lost son, Prince Asher, the queen sets her on a mission to be captured and trusted by the prince, eventually betraying and returning him back to the queen.
There's something I really liked about Gathering Frost – something that Davis did here that wasn't done in other Sleeping Beauty retellings. I enjoyed the futuristic world Davis creates – two worlds, one of them believed to be parallel to Earth, being merged together and a queen who takes away all emotions from her people, along with the ability to control them. Somehow, throughout all of that, Davis weaves in a bit of Sleeping Beauty and make her own fairytale world as well – I really liked the addition of Jade coming across the original story while staying in the rebel camp.
There's also something about Davis' writing style that I really enjoyed, despite the fact there were a few moments where I started questioning the grammar, or there were commas where there really shouldn't have been any commas, or there were commas thrown in when the sentence would have worked so much better as two sentences. There were some parts that were just written beautifully and flowed together extremely well (read: the beauty of parallel structure).
I honestly can't say too much about the characters, particularly in Jade's case. Since her emotions have been taken away by the queen, it was only natural for Jade to be depicted as a cold, detached, statuesque character and focus mainly on her surroundings. As Jade spends more time in the rebel camp, though, she slowly starts to develop emotions and feelings, and Jade's focus seems to balance out a little with her surroundings, her past, and her newly developed emotions.
With a hint on what the sequel will probably be about, Davis doesn't actually leave us on a major cliffhanger. Instead, she seems to be conveying that Jade's and Asher's story definitely won't be ending with Gathering Frost – they're more than likely to appear in the second book, and I can't wait to see what Davis comes up with for her retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts.
Congratulations, Kaitlyn Davis. I've found my favorite Sleeping Beauty retelling (for now) – FINALLY! (Because a lot of the other retellings I've come across have been Sleeping Beauty, and I've managed to not get along with them.)
The first book in the Once Upon a Curse series is set up in a futuristic New York where two worlds merged as one in an earthquake when Jade was younger. Years later, Jade lives in a world where a queen strips all of the inhabitants' emotions away, leaving them with no emotion. When she comes across the queen's lost son, Prince Asher, the queen sets her on a mission to be captured and trusted by the prince, eventually betraying and returning him back to the queen.
There's something I really liked about Gathering Frost – something that Davis did here that wasn't done in other Sleeping Beauty retellings. I enjoyed the futuristic world Davis creates – two worlds, one of them believed to be parallel to Earth, being merged together and a queen who takes away all emotions from her people, along with the ability to control them. Somehow, throughout all of that, Davis weaves in a bit of Sleeping Beauty and make her own fairytale world as well – I really liked the addition of Jade coming across the original story while staying in the rebel camp.
There's also something about Davis' writing style that I really enjoyed, despite the fact there were a few moments where I started questioning the grammar, or there were commas where there really shouldn't have been any commas, or there were commas thrown in when the sentence would have worked so much better as two sentences. There were some parts that were just written beautifully and flowed together extremely well (read: the beauty of parallel structure).
I honestly can't say too much about the characters, particularly in Jade's case. Since her emotions have been taken away by the queen, it was only natural for Jade to be depicted as a cold, detached, statuesque character and focus mainly on her surroundings. As Jade spends more time in the rebel camp, though, she slowly starts to develop emotions and feelings, and Jade's focus seems to balance out a little with her surroundings, her past, and her newly developed emotions.
With a hint on what the sequel will probably be about, Davis doesn't actually leave us on a major cliffhanger. Instead, she seems to be conveying that Jade's and Asher's story definitely won't be ending with Gathering Frost – they're more than likely to appear in the second book, and I can't wait to see what Davis comes up with for her retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a combination of 2 of my beloved genres — ya dystopian and fantasy/fairytale. When Jade was 5 years old there was an earthquake that shook the city and through the cracks arose a castle with an evil queen at the helm — the evil queen placed a spell on all the adults and children within her kingdom removing all their emotions making them cold, flat, robotic. When Jade is entrusted with a special mission by the queen to bring back her son, who fled when he was young, and in doing so she gets to leave the kingdom and the queens spell. Her Icy heart begins to melt —
This book was fun, adventurous, and fast-paced — Jade was a strong lead and I liked how they flipped sleeping beauty — jade being the asleep princess whose heart is warmed up but also by being the strong savior. IThe character that lacked for me, as usual, is the prince — he was kind of bland. I also would have loved more of the evil queen.
Overall I would recommend — I am giving it 3 stars because I am not totally convinced of the dystopian world-building and I am probably not going to continue on with the series. It just felt like it was lacking somewhere
This book was fun, adventurous, and fast-paced — Jade was a strong lead and I liked how they flipped sleeping beauty — jade being the asleep princess whose heart is warmed up but also by being the strong savior. IThe character that lacked for me, as usual, is the prince — he was kind of bland. I also would have loved more of the evil queen.
Overall I would recommend — I am giving it 3 stars because I am not totally convinced of the dystopian world-building and I am probably not going to continue on with the series. It just felt like it was lacking somewhere
I usually am so picky about rating book five stars, but how can I give it less? The most ingenious retelling I've seen/read. And Asher, oh, Asher! My heart melts. I'll definitely be reading the next one!
I had already forgotten the synopsis for this book when I started, so I came in with a WAY different expectation than I got. What I wanted was a fairy tale. What I got was a YA cliché.
It actually could have been excellent. But again, I am disappointed by how far the romance goes, by how little I get to see of the characters, and how the plot is so...basic.
We'll start with the characters - I didn't like Jade at first. I don't even know if we're supposed to do so. She's a fighter, a killer. It makes her a little scary, and since she's emotionless, I am definitely a little frightened of her. It does get better as we go along, though. And I do see why she likes Asher, although it was too fast, and it doesn't make sense for her character to fall for him so quickly.
Moving to Asher...I liked him. A lot, actually. He was genuinely a good person. But still a standard prince. Nice. Loving. Falling for the girl because we expect him to. (Pooey on his reasons - it's because they are both main characters and they have to fall in love.) Would it have worked out eventually? But there DEFINITELY would have been snares in their relationship due to the massive differences in their personalities.
Moving onto the queen, she was great, actually. I first was bored with her, but the more you know her, the more you understand her, and that is perfect. You should be able to emphasize with a villain...or at least admire them in their extreme-awesome-villainly-ness. (I'm looking at you, suave Moriarty. Killer you might be, but I can't help but admire your spunk.)
However, some stuff bugged me. First off, he romance. There's some inappropriate stuff involved in that; not too bad, but they talk until they fall asleep together, (just sleeping, luckily). Then there's the time that he had to clean her leg wound, so she ends up sitting in her underwear. To top it off, they do kiss...a lot...and not with chastity. It's the kind that makes me blush to read. It also just plain moves too quickly. We are given no time to believe it. We see star-crossed lovers, not a genuine relationship built on trust, friendship, and loyalty.
Secondly, the plot. I can see that our main characters will not die, and even when the twists come, they bore me. I wanted an Ender's Game ending (although I rarely expect it, because that kind of ending is a diamond in the rough) and I got something like Snow White. We know they live and go off into happily ever after. And the twist at the end was good, but I'm not convinced enough that I should read the next book.
Lastly, this book was SHORT. Like I've mentioned before, if I had more time, maybe I would have liked this better for the things that could have improved. (The plot, the depth of the characters, etc.) But it moves too quickly and we see a snapshot that should have been an film.
Overall, I would not read it again. If you want a sort of different fairy tale and a little more romance in a shorter format, then this is for you.
It actually could have been excellent. But again, I am disappointed by how far the romance goes, by how little I get to see of the characters, and how the plot is so...basic.
We'll start with the characters - I didn't like Jade at first. I don't even know if we're supposed to do so. She's a fighter, a killer. It makes her a little scary, and since she's emotionless, I am definitely a little frightened of her. It does get better as we go along, though. And I do see why she likes Asher, although it was too fast, and it doesn't make sense for her character to fall for him so quickly.
Moving to Asher...I liked him. A lot, actually. He was genuinely a good person. But still a standard prince. Nice. Loving. Falling for the girl because we expect him to. (Pooey on his reasons - it's because they are both main characters and they have to fall in love.) Would it have worked out eventually? But there DEFINITELY would have been snares in their relationship due to the massive differences in their personalities.
Moving onto the queen, she was great, actually. I first was bored with her, but the more you know her, the more you understand her, and that is perfect. You should be able to emphasize with a villain...or at least admire them in their extreme-awesome-villainly-ness. (I'm looking at you, suave Moriarty. Killer you might be, but I can't help but admire your spunk.)
However, some stuff bugged me. First off, he romance. There's some inappropriate stuff involved in that; not too bad, but they talk until they fall asleep together, (just sleeping, luckily). Then there's the time that he had to clean her leg wound, so she ends up sitting in her underwear. To top it off, they do kiss...a lot...and not with chastity. It's the kind that makes me blush to read. It also just plain moves too quickly. We are given no time to believe it. We see star-crossed lovers, not a genuine relationship built on trust, friendship, and loyalty.
Secondly, the plot. I can see that our main characters will not die, and even when the twists come, they bore me. I wanted an Ender's Game ending (although I rarely expect it, because that kind of ending is a diamond in the rough) and I got something like Snow White. We know they live and go off into happily ever after. And the twist at the end was good, but I'm not convinced enough that I should read the next book.
Lastly, this book was SHORT. Like I've mentioned before, if I had more time, maybe I would have liked this better for the things that could have improved. (The plot, the depth of the characters, etc.) But it moves too quickly and we see a snapshot that should have been an film.
Overall, I would not read it again. If you want a sort of different fairy tale and a little more romance in a shorter format, then this is for you.