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A review by tacochelle
The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Johansen is very good at worldbuilding for the most part. The descriptions are the highlight of everything here, fully realizing the setting from the industrial city they live in to the candy-coated nightmare realm of the Kingdom of Sweets. It's enough details to paint a gorgeous picture, but vague enough to create a sort of dark fairytale mood - at least until the very end. Throughout, there's little details, like mentioning Dracula multiple times, and various European countries, where you know it's kinda set in a turn of the century, Eastern European country, and I would have been fine with that. Then the last few chapters reveal that this is actually Russia before the revolution and implies that the magical events in the story directly lead to Lenin taking over. It was such a buzz kill for me. Completely took me out of the story, what little was left. It doesn't even fully make sense, either. Little details like calling the ruler a King instead of a Tsar make it feel anachronistic to the time period.
The characters are all deeply flawed. And not always loveable. I'm generally fine with that. But the twins are the fucking worst, really letting some guy get between them? Natasha is deep in the I'm-not-like-other-girls mindset, and it feels like half the time she is criticized for it by the narrative, while the other half backs her up. The trope is really overplayed, but at least pick a lane and be consistent. It gets really slut-shamey at points, and again, half backs it up and half criticizes it. Against her own twin, even! I get everyone's life is different, but as a identical twin myself, I could not get over that. Personal preference really, but it's almost all you see in media that one twin is always jealous of the other, and it gets old real fast. Clara is no better, she is just as self-centered as her twin, but in the way that she tries to willingly be blind to other's problems. It's implied that Drosselmeyer could help Natasha get a good proposal for marriage, and that would be her only chance to avoid life in a Convent because their society is so deep up his ass with the whole dark twin shit that they do not want her. He gives the choice to Clara, who is also implied that she could easily get her own man at any time, by her own charisma and beauty, but she takes the opportunity Drosselmeyer offers. And then cries when her twin is upset about it. Neither really grows out of their major flaw, despite endlessly being punished because of it.
The ending kind of justifies their remaining character flaws, as it both gives the twin a kind of happy end, as well as an end that they rightly deserve for all their bs. But it would have worked better if it kept with the almost timeless vibe of a fairytale about the consequences of greed, jealousy, and vengeance. But solidly grounding this in the gd Russian Revolution ruins that and introduces far more complicated issues than the story actually handles.
I'm giving this 3 stars because overall I enjoyed this. Johansen does write well, and I was very engaged with the book, reading it in one sitting. But the negatives really stick with me in a way that I can't forget or forgive easily.
Moderate: Classism, Murder, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Infidelity, and War