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A review by gymnerdreader
A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
5.0
I will write an actual review when I can coherently string words into sentences. My thoughts are a jumbled ass mess in the best way. I do not even know if what I will say will do this book justice. This one was a GIGANTIC surprise for me!!!
My Actual Review:
Honestly, I went into this expecting to DNF it. I’m being honest here. I finished To Kill A Kingdom and saw this one as a recommended book and I was a bit nervous because To Kill A Kingdom was definitely not my style. However, this was a book club selection so I figured I needed to at least give it a try.
I AM SO FREAKING GLAD I DID! This book ended up being a HUGE surprise for me. In fact, I really can’t quite put into words how much I loved this story, which I feel is saying quite a bit considering I am a notorious fantasy hater (lol I’m starting to like it a bit more and well this book maybe one of the reasons why). While I feel that my words will not accurately give this book any semblance of justice so I’ll keep it minimal here. This is touted as a Beauty and the Beast retelling and well I’m just going to say that this book was so much more than a simple fairy tale retelling. It has so many elements that people will love: enemies to lovers (which was well done IMO), shades of a love triangle, curses, magic, badass female character (who also happens to be disabled so there’s disability rep) and a vulnerably, broken male hero who is pretty strong and badass in his own right. Honestly, this quick list doesn’t even cover the half of it so please give this one a read and don’t assume it’s just a “fairy tale retelling” because it’s so much more than that. This is one of my favorite fantasies I’ve ever read and I can safely say that I am going to be MAJOR trash for this series.
What I liked:
-Character development: first half of the book focuses a lot on character development, which may not be everyone’s cup of tea, however it is totally my thing. I loved getting into the heads of our protagonists and what they were thinking. They were complex and multifaceted. My heart broke for literally everyone.
-Different elements and how it was different than a typical fairy tale retelling.
-The twist at the end: maybe I’m stupid, but I did not see that ending coming whatsoever. I don’t often read fantasy so maybe that explains it, but once I was finished I was whispering “wtf” aloud for like 10 mins. No joke. I was SHOOK!
-the world building: very easy to understand and I felt like EmberFall was well interwoven with the real world. It was just awesome to see everything flow together like that.
-Representation and a badass female heroine to boot!
What I didn’t like:
-More background on the families of Rhen, Harper and Grey. I think I feel this way mainly with Harper because I feel that we never really got a clear picture of the shady stuff her brother was doing or what her family had gone through. Everything was very hush hush.
-Disability representation a bit more pronounced-maybe I’m being selfish because don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the way Harper’s disability was subsequently portrayed, but I kinda wish it was more pronounced because if Harper never mentioned anything about it I probably would not have known she was disabled.
I think this book taught me to separate myself from what I’m reading especially when it comes to fantasy. When I read books I am so quick to judge books for not being “realistic” for my taste. I was upset at first about Harper’s CP being relatively mild because I’ve met people who have CP and they cannot get around nearly as well as Harper can. I think once I let go of the notion that the disability portrayal was unrealistic, I was able to enjoy the story more. And well it makes sense because I do not know everyone who has CP. I’ve only met a few people with the condition so they are not representative of everyone. So in this case, I’m glad I was able to separate myself and my experiences (my biases) from the story because once I stopped caring about “reality” and “making sense” I found myself transported to the world of EmberFall, invested in the storyline and the characters. So I think I learned an important lesson with this one, which I think is an important lesson with fantasy in general. DON’T LET YOUR ASSUMPTIONS CLOUD YOUR JUDGEMENT OF WHAT COULD BE A WONDERFUL BOOK!
Reread?-For sure!!! I bought the whole series. It was THAT good!
Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CAWPILE Rating: 9/10
My Actual Review:
Honestly, I went into this expecting to DNF it. I’m being honest here. I finished To Kill A Kingdom and saw this one as a recommended book and I was a bit nervous because To Kill A Kingdom was definitely not my style. However, this was a book club selection so I figured I needed to at least give it a try.
I AM SO FREAKING GLAD I DID! This book ended up being a HUGE surprise for me. In fact, I really can’t quite put into words how much I loved this story, which I feel is saying quite a bit considering I am a notorious fantasy hater (lol I’m starting to like it a bit more and well this book maybe one of the reasons why). While I feel that my words will not accurately give this book any semblance of justice so I’ll keep it minimal here. This is touted as a Beauty and the Beast retelling and well I’m just going to say that this book was so much more than a simple fairy tale retelling. It has so many elements that people will love: enemies to lovers (which was well done IMO), shades of a love triangle, curses, magic, badass female character (who also happens to be disabled so there’s disability rep) and a vulnerably, broken male hero who is pretty strong and badass in his own right. Honestly, this quick list doesn’t even cover the half of it so please give this one a read and don’t assume it’s just a “fairy tale retelling” because it’s so much more than that. This is one of my favorite fantasies I’ve ever read and I can safely say that I am going to be MAJOR trash for this series.
What I liked:
-Character development: first half of the book focuses a lot on character development, which may not be everyone’s cup of tea, however it is totally my thing. I loved getting into the heads of our protagonists and what they were thinking. They were complex and multifaceted. My heart broke for literally everyone.
-Different elements and how it was different than a typical fairy tale retelling.
-The twist at the end: maybe I’m stupid, but I did not see that ending coming whatsoever. I don’t often read fantasy so maybe that explains it, but once I was finished I was whispering “wtf” aloud for like 10 mins. No joke. I was SHOOK!
-the world building: very easy to understand and I felt like EmberFall was well interwoven with the real world. It was just awesome to see everything flow together like that.
-Representation and a badass female heroine to boot!
What I didn’t like:
-More background on the families of Rhen, Harper and Grey. I think I feel this way mainly with Harper because I feel that we never really got a clear picture of the shady stuff her brother was doing or what her family had gone through. Everything was very hush hush.
-Disability representation a bit more pronounced-maybe I’m being selfish because don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the way Harper’s disability was subsequently portrayed, but I kinda wish it was more pronounced because if Harper never mentioned anything about it I probably would not have known she was disabled.
I think this book taught me to separate myself from what I’m reading especially when it comes to fantasy. When I read books I am so quick to judge books for not being “realistic” for my taste. I was upset at first about Harper’s CP being relatively mild because I’ve met people who have CP and they cannot get around nearly as well as Harper can. I think once I let go of the notion that the disability portrayal was unrealistic, I was able to enjoy the story more. And well it makes sense because I do not know everyone who has CP. I’ve only met a few people with the condition so they are not representative of everyone. So in this case, I’m glad I was able to separate myself and my experiences (my biases) from the story because once I stopped caring about “reality” and “making sense” I found myself transported to the world of EmberFall, invested in the storyline and the characters. So I think I learned an important lesson with this one, which I think is an important lesson with fantasy in general. DON’T LET YOUR ASSUMPTIONS CLOUD YOUR JUDGEMENT OF WHAT COULD BE A WONDERFUL BOOK!
Reread?-For sure!!! I bought the whole series. It was THAT good!
Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CAWPILE Rating: 9/10