A review by uutopicaa
The Thirteenth Child by Erin A. Craig

slow-paced

2.5

I got this through the Book of the Month subscription, and I honestly regret not picking another option. But… let me explain why. 

This is not a bad book, not at all. I chose it because I’ve always had a really hard time with the “dark fairy tale” style of stories, and I wanted to give the genre another chance. I guess it’s just not for me. 

I did manage to finish reading it, which means a lot when I think back to so many other titles in the genre that I’ve DNF’d before even getting halfway through them. 

I liked the main character; she was human and credible, while also standing up for herself when necessary. However, I didn’t like the lack of worldbuilding. The gods appear but are a complete mystery, and we don’t know anything about the world (how it functions, what kingdoms exist, or even if there’s an ocean). Nothing at all. Even though it’s a really long book, it’s missing so much context. The story just moves forward following a character while everything else remains a blur. It’s like watching through the eyes of a racing horse who can’t look to the sides to see what’s around them. 

I liked the narration style, but not the story. And I still don’t truly understand what the plot is about. There’s not one main conflict, and the “biggest twist” happens in just a couple of pages towards the end. The rest of the book feels like pure filler. The story doesn’t move forward at all until more than halfway through. Everything before that is just an incredibly long prologue. 

How can a novel be lacking so much and at the same time have so many unnecessary pages? It baffles me. 

I don’t know… maybe I’m just missing something, and this is a masterpiece in a genre I don’t understand. 

I did finish it, though. And I did like the fact that many elements from the first part came back near the end. I also liked how most of the characters were developed. So that’s something, I guess. 

All in all, it was a waste of a week for me, and with this book, I’m fully giving up on the dark fairy tale type of stories. They’re just not for me; they bore me too much. But if you enjoy this kind of books you’ll probably love The Thirteenth Child. It’s the best I’ve read in the genre, even if I still didn’t enjoy it.