Scan barcode
A review by frenchtoast_n_books
The Cold Is in Her Bones by Peternelle van Arsdale
4.0
Maybe 3.75.
I wouldn't quite call this a Medusa retelling but I loved the quirks and snippets that were taken from Medusa mythology to create this book about family love and mistakes.
Though I enjoyed this book overall and loved the dark tone of the story, there were a few things that didn't work for me.
The writing took a little while to mesh with me because the author constantly focused on names and pronouns which didn't make the sentences flow smoothly in the audio narration at first. As I got used to it, the sentences weren't as jarring.
Another writing quirk was word choice. For the most part, the writing felt authentic to premodern times (somewhat Greek somewhat Midieval). However, when Milla meets a witch the word "boo hoo baby" gets thrown around A LOT and it took me well away from the story. I mean, who says that?
Also, I would have liked to see more interactions between side characters so that I could get more of a shown instead of tell experience, but this wasn't too detrimental to my enjoyment of the story.
Lastly, the ending was a big deflated tire for me. It wrapped up too smoothly and the tone shifted drastically from the dark to happy and rose tinted. It felt forced and weird.
Those issues aside, I was really drawn into the family and friend dynamics of the story with Milla and I was genuinely surprised by plot points and the journey the story takes. These characters really intrigue me and I'd love the opportunity to get to know them more.
I wouldn't quite call this a Medusa retelling but I loved the quirks and snippets that were taken from Medusa mythology to create this book about family love and mistakes.
Though I enjoyed this book overall and loved the dark tone of the story, there were a few things that didn't work for me.
The writing took a little while to mesh with me because the author constantly focused on names and pronouns which didn't make the sentences flow smoothly in the audio narration at first. As I got used to it, the sentences weren't as jarring.
Another writing quirk was word choice. For the most part, the writing felt authentic to premodern times (somewhat Greek somewhat Midieval). However, when Milla meets a witch the word "boo hoo baby" gets thrown around A LOT and it took me well away from the story. I mean, who says that?
Also, I would have liked to see more interactions between side characters so that I could get more of a shown instead of tell experience, but this wasn't too detrimental to my enjoyment of the story.
Lastly, the ending was a big deflated tire for me. It wrapped up too smoothly and the tone shifted drastically from the dark to happy and rose tinted. It felt forced and weird.
Those issues aside, I was really drawn into the family and friend dynamics of the story with Milla and I was genuinely surprised by plot points and the journey the story takes. These characters really intrigue me and I'd love the opportunity to get to know them more.