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literatehedgehog 's review for:
Entwined
by Heather Dixon Wallwork
A story with a lot of promise: a less commonly retold fairy tale, layers of magic and history, descriptions of dances (and its emotional healing power), the potential familial complexity of having 11 sisters.
Unfortunately, the writing and the characters fall flat. With so many characters, it is difficult to distinguish the sisters beyond one line descriptions, along the lines of "Five year old Ivy eats a lot" and "Shy, responsible teenage Clover". I could forgive a little confused magic, floral, alphabetically named girls, an inexplicably evil villain, and even some flat dialogue, but even the fairytale genre in general and a powerful suspension of disbelief isn't going to make me believe that 12 girls who share a room "never argue". Retelling fairy tales treads a fine line between familiarity, reinvention, and believability and this story stumbles at these junctures.
Finally, I can enjoy good (feminist) romance, and I could allow for the three older sisters all being happily engaged or married by the end of the book, but with such an interesting power dynamic as princess royale and regular lord, WHY couldn't that proposal delve into the power of female propositions, rather than her sighing, "I know I'm more important than you so I should do the asking, but I'd rather hand over all decision-making and power, so I'd really like it if you would propose to me instead." Come on girl, try a character development arc or something.
Unfortunately, the writing and the characters fall flat. With so many characters, it is difficult to distinguish the sisters beyond one line descriptions, along the lines of "Five year old Ivy eats a lot" and "Shy, responsible teenage Clover". I could forgive a little confused magic, floral, alphabetically named girls, an inexplicably evil villain, and even some flat dialogue, but even the fairytale genre in general and a powerful suspension of disbelief isn't going to make me believe that 12 girls who share a room "never argue". Retelling fairy tales treads a fine line between familiarity, reinvention, and believability and this story stumbles at these junctures.
Finally, I can enjoy good (feminist) romance, and I could allow for the three older sisters all being happily engaged or married by the end of the book, but with such an interesting power dynamic as princess royale and regular lord, WHY couldn't that proposal delve into the power of female propositions, rather than her sighing, "I know I'm more important than you so I should do the asking, but I'd rather hand over all decision-making and power, so I'd really like it if you would propose to me instead." Come on girl, try a character development arc or something.