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A review by leann_bolesch
Broken Wish by Julie C. Dao
dark
emotional
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I was all about this until the ending. I loved the set up for the family curse, the slight eerieness about Mathilda and the growth of the various characters. The magic was nicely done in a way that gave a sense of firm limits while still maintaining a broad scope and a sense of uncertainty that works well in a more fairy tale-like setting. Elva, too, was a good character, and I liked her relationship with Cay and Mathilda. Even Agnes I enjoyed, with the conflict between her good nature and the pressure she caved to from her husband to abuse her friendship to Mathilda. I would have given this five stars if it weren't for the ending.
SpoilerI dislike stories where it feels like nothing matters, or like the protagonist dies needlessly at the end of the book. Elva's death isn't MEANINGLESS in that it drives Mathilda's growth, but it feels pretty meaningless when Mathilda was already recognizing that she played a part in pushing others away before she learned of Elva's situation, and when you don't get to see the fruits of her growth except implied via the family tree at the back of the book. The self-fulfilling prophecy where Elva kills herself causing the storm she began experimenting with magic to prevent all left me with the sense that everything would have been better off if she had never dabbled in magic at all, and that the only real moral was that her mother shouldn't have broken her promise... which is a little hard to accept as the moral of the story when Elva dies shortly after breaking her own promise in a way that even Mathilda treats as comparable before later acknowledging was justified.
SpoilerI dislike stories where it feels like nothing matters, or like the protagonist dies needlessly at the end of the book. Elva's death isn't MEANINGLESS in that it drives Mathilda's growth, but it feels pretty meaningless when Mathilda was already recognizing that she played a part in pushing others away before she learned of Elva's situation, and when you don't get to see the fruits of her growth except implied via the family tree at the back of the book. The self-fulfilling prophecy where Elva kills herself causing the storm she began experimenting with magic to prevent all left me with the sense that everything would have been better off if she had never dabbled in magic at all, and that the only real moral was that her mother shouldn't have broken her promise... which is a little hard to accept as the moral of the story when Elva dies shortly after breaking her own promise in a way that even Mathilda treats as comparable before later acknowledging was justified.