Reviews

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

danielle_l_l's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

niki2361's review against another edition

relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

addheading's review against another edition

4.0

those "MONSTER" chapters??? like girl, don't piss me off.

linguisticfanatic's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

rhoopes's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

reine_alakhrass's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

thenovelcourt's review against another edition

3.0

I’m very confused about this book - on one hand I read it in one sitting and found it very easy to want to know what happens next, yet on the other, I feel very indifferent and I’m not particularly dying to know what happens in the next installment.

In general, the first half was better than the second, despite the fact that I seemed to crave more information throughout. The strongest feature of this narrative were the three main characters and their strong, dominating personas. At some points I even expected them to just jump off the pages. But then towards the ending of the book I just found it to be a bit lacking, and I was progressively starting to feel indifferent to it.

Lastly, the other (very subjective) thing that also bumped the rating down was that when I picture a Beauty and the Beast retelling - this just isn’t what I imagine. A Beauty and the Beast retelling without cute talking teacups and singing wardrobes is a missed opportunity.

libbs004's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.25

sjmorelos's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

isabelbrieler's review against another edition

5.0

ACSDAL really, really grew on me. I've read a lot of beauty and the beast retellings and the first several chapters of this felt very similar to all the rest in kind of a boring way. But man, did it pick up. Harper was genuinely such a fun character, I loved that she was strong in a scrappy way. The plot after around 40% was original and period-drama-court-intrigue-y and stunning and full of adrenaline. I was reading this in between classes earlier today and I was so close to just saying screw it and skipping class to finish the book. (I didn't because I'm #responsible, but it was close) It reminds me a lot of ACOTAR, just because it starts out as a retelling of the same story, so there's obvious similarities there, and then branches out into more high fantasy elements.