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siavahda 's review for:
Kill Me Softly
by Sarah Cross
I've been in the middle of a hate-on for YA for a while now, especially the paranormal stuff. When I picked this one up, I was pretty sure I was going to hate it. I could see it already - the love triangle, the revelation, the predictable ending...blah, blah, blah.
It was the first paragraph that convinced me I might like the writing style, if not the story. And I admit at first I thought Mira, the main character, was going to be a very annoying person to read about.
But she wasn't. Sure, she made some stupid choices - I had to keep reminding myself that she's fifteen for the majority of the book - but she stands up for herself and doesn't take crap from the guys who inevitably show up, which makes for a nice change of pace; lately there's been a lot of seriously side-eye worthy 'heroes' in YA. And I had a few moments where I thought that one of our heroes, at least, reminded me far too much of Twilight's Edward.
But. This review - this book - is all about 'buts'. Cross broke pretty much of all my expectations with this story. Mira is a very believable fifteen year old - trying to be independant, and strong in herself, but also easily swayed by a guy who seems to love her. It seems like she should know better, but frankly, she acts just as I did at her age. You _do_ fall for people very quickly and very hard at fifteen. And yet, Mira isn't stupid. She tries to be - that sounds strange, but she tries to tell herself that things will work out. But when she knows it won't...She doesn't lie back, she isn't passive, and she doesn't let other people save her. When she finds out about the curse - curses, I should say, that have doomed the people around her to replay stories from fairytales over and over - she's horrified, and disgusted, and doesn't find it sweet and romantic at all. Yes, when she falls asleep she has to be kissed awake by a guy. But she puts herself to sleep, to save her life, and she doesn't accept that her 'prince' is her one true love. She has help, but she's the one who writes her own happy ending.
What I'm trying to say is that Mira is a wonderful, believable character, the kind of girl who SHOULD be in YA (unlike, say, Shattered Souls' main character, who was appalling). I approve of her immensely.
As for the book itself - I love fairytales, and was very happy when I realised that Cross had incorporated some of the not-so-familiar stories. Yes, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella etc are all featured, but there are also mentions of the Unkind Sisters (one sister cursed to spit toads, the other to have jewels fall from her mouth when she speaks), Bluebeard, Donkeyskin...And despite the amusing Disney tweaks (Mira's 'prince charming' is constantly surrounded by sparrows and chipmunks who adore him) Cross doesn't shie away from the brutal, violent aspects of the fairytales in their original - Cinderella's stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to try and fit in the glass slippers; the first Sleeping Beauty was raped in her sleep and woke to give birth to her children (anyone who is familiar with Jim Hines' Stepsister Scheme will recognize this), and so on.
I also really liked that the different curses - and the roles people are cursed to play - had classifications and 'marks'. It was a small detail, but I thought it made it all more real.
Finally, yes, there's an element of Edward in Blue. He doesn't want to get close to Mira because he's afraid of hurting her. But Blue's tactic is to be snarky and rude and generally unlikable; he's also funny, smart and occasionally adorable. He's much more well-rounded than Edward, and I wouldn't compare Mira and Blue to Twilight, although I'm sure some will. Cross has drawn allusions to the 'fairytale romances' like Twilight, and the more traditional fairytales, but only to show how unhealthy and creepy they are or can be. Kill Me Softly is a book about magic, but it's actually _about_ writing your own happy ending and controlling your own fate. This moral is laid on a little heavy-handidly towards the end, but only over a few pages that didn't keep me from enjoying it. At all.
It's a fabulous book, one that the YA genre's been begging for for a while now. My hat off to Cross!
It was the first paragraph that convinced me I might like the writing style, if not the story. And I admit at first I thought Mira, the main character, was going to be a very annoying person to read about.
But she wasn't. Sure, she made some stupid choices - I had to keep reminding myself that she's fifteen for the majority of the book - but she stands up for herself and doesn't take crap from the guys who inevitably show up, which makes for a nice change of pace; lately there's been a lot of seriously side-eye worthy 'heroes' in YA. And I had a few moments where I thought that one of our heroes, at least, reminded me far too much of Twilight's Edward.
But. This review - this book - is all about 'buts'. Cross broke pretty much of all my expectations with this story. Mira is a very believable fifteen year old - trying to be independant, and strong in herself, but also easily swayed by a guy who seems to love her. It seems like she should know better, but frankly, she acts just as I did at her age. You _do_ fall for people very quickly and very hard at fifteen. And yet, Mira isn't stupid. She tries to be - that sounds strange, but she tries to tell herself that things will work out. But when she knows it won't...She doesn't lie back, she isn't passive, and she doesn't let other people save her. When she finds out about the curse - curses, I should say, that have doomed the people around her to replay stories from fairytales over and over - she's horrified, and disgusted, and doesn't find it sweet and romantic at all. Yes, when she falls asleep she has to be kissed awake by a guy. But she puts herself to sleep, to save her life, and she doesn't accept that her 'prince' is her one true love. She has help, but she's the one who writes her own happy ending.
What I'm trying to say is that Mira is a wonderful, believable character, the kind of girl who SHOULD be in YA (unlike, say, Shattered Souls' main character, who was appalling). I approve of her immensely.
As for the book itself - I love fairytales, and was very happy when I realised that Cross had incorporated some of the not-so-familiar stories. Yes, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella etc are all featured, but there are also mentions of the Unkind Sisters (one sister cursed to spit toads, the other to have jewels fall from her mouth when she speaks), Bluebeard, Donkeyskin...And despite the amusing Disney tweaks (Mira's 'prince charming' is constantly surrounded by sparrows and chipmunks who adore him) Cross doesn't shie away from the brutal, violent aspects of the fairytales in their original - Cinderella's stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to try and fit in the glass slippers; the first Sleeping Beauty was raped in her sleep and woke to give birth to her children (anyone who is familiar with Jim Hines' Stepsister Scheme will recognize this), and so on.
I also really liked that the different curses - and the roles people are cursed to play - had classifications and 'marks'. It was a small detail, but I thought it made it all more real.
Finally, yes, there's an element of Edward in Blue. He doesn't want to get close to Mira because he's afraid of hurting her. But Blue's tactic is to be snarky and rude and generally unlikable; he's also funny, smart and occasionally adorable. He's much more well-rounded than Edward, and I wouldn't compare Mira and Blue to Twilight, although I'm sure some will. Cross has drawn allusions to the 'fairytale romances' like Twilight, and the more traditional fairytales, but only to show how unhealthy and creepy they are or can be. Kill Me Softly is a book about magic, but it's actually _about_ writing your own happy ending and controlling your own fate. This moral is laid on a little heavy-handidly towards the end, but only over a few pages that didn't keep me from enjoying it. At all.
It's a fabulous book, one that the YA genre's been begging for for a while now. My hat off to Cross!