A review by stenaphierose
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

2.0

A very intriguing concept that I was excited to read... but it fell flat. The characters are very one-dimensional and boring. The whole first half of the book is complete "fluff" and the second half dark and serious (but not quite thought-provoking), leaving me confused about the overall feeling the author was going for with this. The parallel with the Sleeping Beauty story is intriguing at first but quickly becomes obvious and later starts to feel really contrived. I kept waiting for a beautiful moment when the whole metaphor would come together and then Becca would discover that her Grandma was an amazing woman with great inner strength or something. Nothing of the sort. In the end she's still just a delusional old lady with no personality who repeats the same old story with annoying frequency.
It was a good idea in concept, but not well written. Not even close.