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A review by allisonwonderlandreads
Edgewood by Kristen Ciccarelli
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
This ya fantasy is set on the boundary of the contemporary world in the small town of Edgewood, where everyone pays a tithe or faces the wrath of The Wood King and his dark servants in the forest. Emeline left Edgewood and the grandfather who raised her to pursue her music career, but the forest is far from done with her. One night after a concert, she gets the fateful call that her grandfather has gone missing, claimed by the woods. A fast-paced start takes us to the court of The Wood King through a forest that I rate 10/10 for creepy vibes. The court has many trappings of a fae novel with shifters, a dragon, a curse, and a mad king in attendance. Unfortunately, the plot soon devolves into something predictable. There's a high reliance on tropes that steals the drama from big reveals because of their obvious nature.
Most plot deficiencies can be saved in my eyes with loveable characters. I will overlook all kinds of things if you put certifiably huggable people in front of me. Unfortunately, here our heroine is bland and largely defined by her musical talent. There's a little spark of life in the difficult decisions she has to make as caregiver for her grandfather when dementia robs him of his memories of her. She feels guilty for pursuing her dreams without him and longs for their relationship from before. It could have been a powerful plot, but it was subsumed by the romantic subplot, fueling contradictory arguments between Emeline and broody boy that seem to be more about driving up (sexual?) tension between the two rather than any kind of substantive conversation that might, I don't know, inspire character growth or a self-aware examination of feelings and motivations.
Speaking of broody boy, Hawthrone is a typical ya love interest: moody, secretive, tragic, and misunderstood. This is a trope I can only get behind with active convincing. Merely putting it in front of me and expecting a thrilled reaction is folly. Emeline and Hawthorne's relationship is argumentative and juvenile (yes, I know this is a ya novel, but I've seen the genre produce so much better by modeling healthy communication and mutual support or at least growth towards that goal without idealizing toxicity). They strike out at each other out of insecurity and fear of vulnerability. A heavy secret festers between them, along with more superficial lies. When a betrayal is uncovered, it brings up a lot of questions regarding consent, respect, and agency that I do not feel are satisfactorily answered. In one of my least favorite moves in fiction, angst and self-pity go a long way towards camouflaging controlling, harmful behavior.
Side characters are largely ignored outside of tiny opportunities to push forward the plot. There's a sapphic couple on the periphery, but they have no discernable personality between the two of them beyond a willingness to help our protagonist. There's also a cruel manipulator who attacks even her friends with no provocation. There is no other dimension of her being, but somehow she hasn't been excised from the group or at least kept accountable for her actions. Finally, don't even get me started on the rape backstory for one character where the trauma is essentially resolved through magic.
There's a seed of something good here about memory and its loss, but it's piled so deeply under the pile of flaming garbage that is twisted, self-pitying ya romance tropes that it suffocates itself. For me, the opportunity is lost. I wouldn't recommend this book.
Most plot deficiencies can be saved in my eyes with loveable characters. I will overlook all kinds of things if you put certifiably huggable people in front of me. Unfortunately, here our heroine is bland and largely defined by her musical talent. There's a little spark of life in the difficult decisions she has to make as caregiver for her grandfather when dementia robs him of his memories of her. She feels guilty for pursuing her dreams without him and longs for their relationship from before. It could have been a powerful plot, but it was subsumed by the romantic subplot, fueling contradictory arguments between Emeline and broody boy that seem to be more about driving up (sexual?) tension between the two rather than any kind of substantive conversation that might, I don't know, inspire character growth or a self-aware examination of feelings and motivations.
Speaking of broody boy, Hawthrone is a typical ya love interest: moody, secretive, tragic, and misunderstood. This is a trope I can only get behind with active convincing. Merely putting it in front of me and expecting a thrilled reaction is folly. Emeline and Hawthorne's relationship is argumentative and juvenile (yes, I know this is a ya novel, but I've seen the genre produce so much better by modeling healthy communication and mutual support or at least growth towards that goal without idealizing toxicity). They strike out at each other out of insecurity and fear of vulnerability. A heavy secret festers between them, along with more superficial lies. When a betrayal is uncovered, it brings up a lot of questions regarding consent, respect, and agency that I do not feel are satisfactorily answered. In one of my least favorite moves in fiction, angst and self-pity go a long way towards camouflaging controlling, harmful behavior.
Side characters are largely ignored outside of tiny opportunities to push forward the plot. There's a sapphic couple on the periphery, but they have no discernable personality between the two of them beyond a willingness to help our protagonist. There's also a cruel manipulator who attacks even her friends with no provocation. There is no other dimension of her being, but somehow she hasn't been excised from the group or at least kept accountable for her actions. Finally, don't even get me started on the rape backstory for one character where the trauma is essentially resolved through magic.
There's a seed of something good here about memory and its loss, but it's piled so deeply under the pile of flaming garbage that is twisted, self-pitying ya romance tropes that it suffocates itself. For me, the opportunity is lost. I wouldn't recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia
Moderate: Abandonment, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Blood, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Rape