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sincerelysara22 's review for:
Ever Cursed
by Corey Ann Haydu
“There is more than one way to be brave.”
This is the powerful, feminist, dark fairytale I didn’t know I needed! I thought this would be like any other predictable YA fantasy, but it’s not at all — it’s so much more! The writing is beautiful and lyrical, the characters are flawed and hauntingly real, the magic is fantastical and terrifying and stifling, and the story itself is dark and doesn’t shy away from very real subjects. (Trigger warning: rape.)
This book is dark but brave. It doesn’t shy away. It doesn’t look away. It delves deeply and truthfully into the subject of rape. But it goes deeper: it shows what it’s like to not be believed, to be believed but not have justice, to have to be brave everyday, to feel like a possession, a thing for someone’s amusement, to be nothing except a pretty face and a trophy for men’s amusement. It shows all the ways women can be harmed by the act of rape: the woman who is raped and has to be brave everyday because of it, her family and friends who know and wish they could help her, and the women who turned their heads away so they wouldn’t know because it brings about an uncomfortable truth about someone they love.
Reagan’s mom mentions how “unfair it all is, to have things taken without permission.” The story elegantly connects rape with the spell that Reagan cast on the princesses; it took too a piece of them away without their permission. It’s an assault of a different kind — a magical one — and it works to bridge the real with the fantastical.
I’m so glad this book went back and forth between the POV of Reagan (the witch) and Jane (the princess). We get to see both sides to the story and we get to see how both of them grow as women in tough situations.
I love the magic in this world because it’s real and flawed and strict and stifling for the witches. There are rules for the spells that are cast and every spell that a witch casts ends up as a skirt around her forever; everyday spells are silk and chiffon whereas big spells are wool and burlap. Such a fascinating idea! It also plays into the fact that women are always burdened by their lives and their choices and can never escape them.
The only thing is that the ending felt a little rushed and didn’t feel as satisfying as I would’ve liked.
Overall, I loved this book!
*Thanks NetGalley for the review copy.
This is the powerful, feminist, dark fairytale I didn’t know I needed! I thought this would be like any other predictable YA fantasy, but it’s not at all — it’s so much more! The writing is beautiful and lyrical, the characters are flawed and hauntingly real, the magic is fantastical and terrifying and stifling, and the story itself is dark and doesn’t shy away from very real subjects. (Trigger warning: rape.)
This book is dark but brave. It doesn’t shy away. It doesn’t look away. It delves deeply and truthfully into the subject of rape. But it goes deeper: it shows what it’s like to not be believed, to be believed but not have justice, to have to be brave everyday, to feel like a possession, a thing for someone’s amusement, to be nothing except a pretty face and a trophy for men’s amusement. It shows all the ways women can be harmed by the act of rape: the woman who is raped and has to be brave everyday because of it, her family and friends who know and wish they could help her, and the women who turned their heads away so they wouldn’t know because it brings about an uncomfortable truth about someone they love.
Reagan’s mom mentions how “unfair it all is, to have things taken without permission.” The story elegantly connects rape with the spell that Reagan cast on the princesses; it took too a piece of them away without their permission. It’s an assault of a different kind — a magical one — and it works to bridge the real with the fantastical.
I’m so glad this book went back and forth between the POV of Reagan (the witch) and Jane (the princess). We get to see both sides to the story and we get to see how both of them grow as women in tough situations.
I love the magic in this world because it’s real and flawed and strict and stifling for the witches. There are rules for the spells that are cast and every spell that a witch casts ends up as a skirt around her forever; everyday spells are silk and chiffon whereas big spells are wool and burlap. Such a fascinating idea! It also plays into the fact that women are always burdened by their lives and their choices and can never escape them.
The only thing is that the ending felt a little rushed and didn’t feel as satisfying as I would’ve liked.
Overall, I loved this book!
*Thanks NetGalley for the review copy.