Scan barcode
A review by princessleopard
Cinder & the Prince of Midnight by Susan Ee
3.0
Preface: I received a free copy of this story in exchange for an honest review
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
Explicit content: None, really? Implied sexual assault, kind of? Violence? Death?
Recommended for: Fans of fairytale retellings with tempered expectations
I really enjoyed about 3/4ths of this story. It's an interesting little twist on the Cinderella story. You've got all the pieces, just twisted around and re-imagined in fun ways. The addition of the deadly hunt was interesting, Cinder training to be badass was fun (if a little girl-power-y), and I really loved the fairy godmother stand-in, she was just a unique and interesting take. Even the romance isn't too bad - at least Cinder and the prince have met each other a few times before the eventual ball. The villain is kinda weak (typical evil king stuff) but he at least had an interesting appearance as a kinda chunky, not physically intimidating dude. His plan, while easily foreseen, did put another little fun twist on the situation.
However. The story has problems, especially in its ending. Other reviews said the ending comes out of nowhere, so I thought I was prepared - boy was I wrong! One of the most important events basically happens off-screen, and after that it's like the author just hit the fast-forward button. Our characters literally just decide to gtfo of the story, and then we get a slapped-together "and they lived happily ever after, probably" kinda thing. What happened with Lalyn was definitely the worst part, for me - she has several sympathetic scenes and is a genuinely interesting character, only for all of this to be thrown out the window at the end. It was just all very frustrating. And, weirdest of all, the training that Cinder goes through (that we spend chapters developing, and even a two-year time-skip to give her plausibility as a warrior) basically comes to nothing. She doesn't fight using her training, she basically turns into a wild animal for no reason. Add in another character coming seemingly out of nowhere, no resolution to the fate of a minor character (because the author wrote another novel about it)...it was all just very, very sloppy.
The quality of the writing is also pretty so-so. There's a lot of adverbs, a lot of repetition, a lot of weird phrasing a competent editor would have caught. Overall, this story just feels really, really rushed. It needed a lot more time in the oven, and some serious polish.
All that being said, if you enjoy fairytale retellings, this might still have some value for you, if you can overlook its faults. Some parts of it are enjoyable - just be prepared for a very unsatisfying ending.
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
Explicit content: None, really? Implied sexual assault, kind of? Violence? Death?
Recommended for: Fans of fairytale retellings with tempered expectations
I really enjoyed about 3/4ths of this story. It's an interesting little twist on the Cinderella story. You've got all the pieces, just twisted around and re-imagined in fun ways. The addition of the deadly hunt was interesting, Cinder training to be badass was fun (if a little girl-power-y), and I really loved the fairy godmother stand-in, she was just a unique and interesting take. Even the romance isn't too bad - at least Cinder and the prince have met each other a few times before the eventual ball. The villain is kinda weak (typical evil king stuff) but he at least had an interesting appearance as a kinda chunky, not physically intimidating dude. His plan, while easily foreseen, did put another little fun twist on the situation.
However. The story has problems, especially in its ending. Other reviews said the ending comes out of nowhere, so I thought I was prepared - boy was I wrong! One of the most important events basically happens off-screen, and after that it's like the author just hit the fast-forward button. Our characters literally just decide to gtfo of the story, and then we get a slapped-together "and they lived happily ever after, probably" kinda thing. What happened with Lalyn was definitely the worst part, for me - she has several sympathetic scenes and is a genuinely interesting character, only for all of this to be thrown out the window at the end. It was just all very frustrating. And, weirdest of all, the training that Cinder goes through (that we spend chapters developing, and even a two-year time-skip to give her plausibility as a warrior) basically comes to nothing. She doesn't fight using her training, she basically turns into a wild animal for no reason. Add in another character coming seemingly out of nowhere, no resolution to the fate of a minor character (because the author wrote another novel about it)...it was all just very, very sloppy.
The quality of the writing is also pretty so-so. There's a lot of adverbs, a lot of repetition, a lot of weird phrasing a competent editor would have caught. Overall, this story just feels really, really rushed. It needed a lot more time in the oven, and some serious polish.
All that being said, if you enjoy fairytale retellings, this might still have some value for you, if you can overlook its faults. Some parts of it are enjoyable - just be prepared for a very unsatisfying ending.