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A review by aeoliandeductress
The Grimrose Girls by Laura Pohl
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed it but wanted to like it more. I love fairy tales and am always up for a new re-telling. The queer rep and diversity discussions are great. This is an area where it being on the surface works- teens are hardcore in the identity formation phase of life so they do discuss all of this more upfront. I liked the beginning with the murder and seeking answers. I love a good magical book.
However this was a nearly 400 page book that should have been 250. The middle was a really slow burn with not a lot of progress. I could live with that except the number of editing errors in this book is egregious. I respectfully acknowledge that English is not the author's first language and if I'm understanding the acknowledgement section correctly, she did write this one in English first instead of opting for translation. And if that is the case, she did a very good job considering. However, all of her editors failed her. There is not a chapter in this book without noticeable errors. Some of which made sentences or paragraphs incredibly difficult to read. Subjects of sentences were just dropped, missing articles and function words, things that are key to understanding what going on. Her editors should have caught these for her.
I will be reading the second one because I do want to know how she wraps it up, but I do agree with others that Yuki's magic feels underdeveloped. That said, I hope this duology pushes others to make their own versions and we get more cool modernized fairy tales.
However this was a nearly 400 page book that should have been 250. The middle was a really slow burn with not a lot of progress. I could live with that except the number of editing errors in this book is egregious. I respectfully acknowledge that English is not the author's first language and if I'm understanding the acknowledgement section correctly, she did write this one in English first instead of opting for translation. And if that is the case, she did a very good job considering. However, all of her editors failed her. There is not a chapter in this book without noticeable errors. Some of which made sentences or paragraphs incredibly difficult to read. Subjects of sentences were just dropped, missing articles and function words, things that are key to understanding what going on. Her editors should have caught these for her.
I will be reading the second one because I do want to know how she wraps it up, but I do agree with others that Yuki's magic feels underdeveloped. That said, I hope this duology pushes others to make their own versions and we get more cool modernized fairy tales.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death