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booksthatburn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This a quiet and powerful Cinderella retelling with a focus on the MC's interior world rather than the exact details of the vaguely antiquated setting. It's a fairy tale steeped in fairy tales, discussing strange bargains of dubious origin as the MC first is connected to her departed mother then seeks escape from her abusive stepmother via fairy tales. It portrays the MC's two romantic options of a sort in a way that makes them obviously two different paths, two different ways the rest of her life could go, not just two people she cares for. Even the possible pairing which looks straight at a glance feels queer in the way that two bi people dating is unquestionably queer even if it looks straight to an outsider. The sapphic pairing made me want to scream for them to kiss already, I'm not kidding about this being a slow burn all around.
On its merits as a retelling, I enjoyed how a lot of what is usually the main story is kind of happening in the background (e.g. the prince's search). It stands on its own and doesn't require any familiarity with the original or some of the more famous adaptations. If you are familiar with the basic tale there are references to anchor it without feeling like its wholly retreading ground.
Overall it's a lovely mix of vibes, yearning, queerness, and fairy tales with undertones of grief, loss, mourning, and moving on.
On its merits as a retelling, I enjoyed how a lot of what is usually the main story is kind of happening in the background (e.g. the prince's search). It stands on its own and doesn't require any familiarity with the original or some of the more famous adaptations. If you are familiar with the basic tale there are references to anchor it without feeling like its wholly retreading ground.
Overall it's a lovely mix of vibes, yearning, queerness, and fairy tales with undertones of grief, loss, mourning, and moving on.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Sexism
CW for sexism (minor), confinement, child abuse, domestic abuse, blood, violence, animal death, parental death, death.valereads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I really like this book in theory. The concept is so cool; a lesbian retelling of Cinderella featuring traditional fae, what’s not to love? Unfortunately the execution wasn’t everything I wanted it to be.
For one the pacing is this novel is really poor. The book is divided into two parts. The first section of the book follows Ash through her childhood before she has any relationship with her love interest, Kaisa. This section gives us lots of worldbuilding and really develops the characters and I enjoyed it a lot. However the second section is where the book fails in my opinion. We spend so much time with Ash, Sidhean, and Ash’s step-family in the first part but the second part feels rushed and as a result the characters and their relationships aren’t built up as much as they could be so the ending of the book doesn’t feel earned.
I did enjoy how Lo spent time developing and giving depth to some of the side characters, particularly the step-sisters, Ana and Clara. However the main characters and their relationships aren’t nearly developed as I’d like. In contrast to her step-sisters, Ash felt shallow and lacked personality. I found myself comparing her to other “blank slate” type characters showing up in YA around the time this was released such as Bella Swan from the Twilight Saga. I also felt Kaisa was particularly underdeveloped. She’s meant to be Ash’s endgame love interest but she had barely any personality and I can remember perhaps one fact about her. In the case of Kaisa this is linked to the pacing issues as I think she is introduced to late in the story to really build her as a character.
Overall this book ended up being a bit of a disappointment. I didn’t dislike it but it had some significant issues which meant it didn’t live up to the fascinating concept.
Content Warnings: abuse, parental death, violence towards animals
For one the pacing is this novel is really poor. The book is divided into two parts. The first section of the book follows Ash through her childhood before she has any relationship with her love interest, Kaisa. This section gives us lots of worldbuilding and really develops the characters and I enjoyed it a lot. However the second section is where the book fails in my opinion. We spend so much time with Ash, Sidhean, and Ash’s step-family in the first part but the second part feels rushed and as a result the characters and their relationships aren’t built up as much as they could be so the ending of the book doesn’t feel earned.
I did enjoy how Lo spent time developing and giving depth to some of the side characters, particularly the step-sisters, Ana and Clara. However the main characters and their relationships aren’t nearly developed as I’d like. In contrast to her step-sisters, Ash felt shallow and lacked personality. I found myself comparing her to other “blank slate” type characters showing up in YA around the time this was released such as Bella Swan from the Twilight Saga. I also felt Kaisa was particularly underdeveloped. She’s meant to be Ash’s endgame love interest but she had barely any personality and I can remember perhaps one fact about her. In the case of Kaisa this is linked to the pacing issues as I think she is introduced to late in the story to really build her as a character.
Overall this book ended up being a bit of a disappointment. I didn’t dislike it but it had some significant issues which meant it didn’t live up to the fascinating concept.
Content Warnings: abuse, parental death, violence towards animals
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Terminal illness