by Sarah K.L. Wilson
So good, but could have been even better.
Wilson’s voice in this (and other books) is just fantastic. It fits the fairy-tale retelling to perfection. The narration was also smooth and fitting for the main character’s voice.
When I first wrote my review on Goodreads, I rated the story ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫 stars, reduced by 1/2 because I wanted the male perspective here too. This is, at its heart, a romance, and I felt like I was being kept away from one of the characters. This may have been intentional to not give away too much of the motivation, but I felt like things were unnecessarily hidden.
The more I consider the story and the distance I have from it, my rating is creeping downward. The characters needed something more to make them memorable, and as I think on it now, I don’t plan to continue the series.
Plot, pacing, the whimsical feel, worked very well for me. However, the lack of connection to the characters did not. The story continues, but the ending wraps up nice enough that I’m not compelled to go on and nor do I feel like I’m not content with the ending (as I do in some other series).
Plot & Characters
The plot is well enough crafted. The stolen bride concept is at play and exactly as the trope should be.
The characters are, well, forgettable. I didn’t have this problem while I was reading or initially after I finished, but these don’t stick with me enough to bring me back to read book 2.
Favorite Quote(s)
I didn’t find any to highlight in this book.
Romance Elements
Swoonworthiness
This is the kind of book where you have to be okay with the girl being mostly forced into a relationship. That’s not my favorite trope, so it was a bit hard to get my head around. Wilson tried to make it so that the MC overcame her situation, but it was a big uphill battle. Again, I think if I’d had both points of view, I might have been able to empathize with both characters a little more.
Sadly, the more I think about this, the fewer stars I want to give it.
Heat
This is interesting in this book. At the beginning, I thought it could have been a very adult retelling of Bluebeard. There are hints of things in this story that involve power play. I almost wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if it took on that nature rather than being YA.
Fantasy Elements
Worldbuilding
Wilson does this really well, and I think this is what kept me reading. The talking head, talking fire who consumes books, all those little details kept me pressing onward.
Magic & Magic Systems
There’s not much new here. It’s a fae-ish feeling and the magic is race-baced, at least from the first book’s perspective.
Writing & Narration
Good. Wilson knows how to put words together so they are simplistic yet still musical. Really enjoyed this aspect of the story.
Narration was superb. The narrator captured all the voices in a really dynamic way. I’m not certain it would have been the same experience if I’d read the book with my eyeballs.
Synopsis
A STOLEN BRIDE. A TERRIFYING BRIDEGROOM. THE GAME THAT WILL DETERMINE THEIR FATES.
No one told her the most important law of the court – the Law of Greeting.
If they had, maybe she wouldn’t have greeted Bluebeard when he arrived to claim a mortal wife. And if she hadn’t greeted him, she wouldn’t have become his sixteenth wife or been swept away to the lands of the Wittenhame.
But if none of that had happened, then she wouldn’t have been an integral part of the game that takes place every two hundred years – a game that determines the fates of nations .
For not all is as it seems, not in her homeland of Pensmoore, not in the Wittenhame, and certainly not in her new marriage.
My Ratings
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About the Author
I write timeless stories. Not the stories you think you want but the stories you don’t know you desperately need.
I believe in happy endings and that it should take a lot of struggle to get to them.
I believe that sometimes violence is the answer, that sometimes no one is coming to save you, and that self-sacrifice is always worth it.
I believe in big twists and beginnings that start in the end.
I believe in heroic acts of bravery, that chaos sometimes trumps order, that there’s humor in dark things, and that risks are what you make of them.
I believe in the someday that will make all things new.
And I believe in stories – sweeping, epic, glorious stories that renew our hearts and our hopes and refresh our minds like woodland streams.
Oh, and I’m a USA Today bestselling author. I suppose I should mention that. November 2, 2017
www.sarahklwilson.com
sarah@sarahklwilson.com
Final notes…
If you’re looking for an epic read, check out Susan’s complete 5-book series: The Serpentine Throne