e-ARC, 352 pages
Release Date: June 25, 2024
Published by: Bloomsbury YA
Read from: June 15-24, 2024
Companion to Cinderella is Dead
Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Child death, Torture, Death, Animal death, Incest, Suicide
For Readers Interested In: Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Retellings, Fantasy, 2sLGBTQ+, YANew York Times bestselling author and TikTok sensation Kalynn Bayron returns to fairytales with a lush, thrilling and original YA Snow White retelling that brings a new and exciting voice to this familiar tale. Perfect for fans of Cinderella Is Dead.
Only the truly desperate – and foolish – seek out the Knight, an ancient monster who twists wishes into curses. Eve knows this first-hand: one of her mothers was cursed by the Knight and trapped in the body of a songbird. With the unique abilities to communicate with animals and conjure weapons from nature, Eve has trained all her life to defeat him.
With more and more villagers harmed by the Knight’s corrupt deals, Eve believes she’s finally ready to face him. But when Queen Regina begins acting strangely – talking to seemingly no one, isolating herself, and lashing out at the slightest provocation – Eve must question if her powers are enough to save her family and her kingdom.
*MY THOUGHTS*
The beginning was…. interesting lol But once it got started and more of the retelling started to come through, I was more into it. It was very different than her other one, but Snow White wasn’t my favorite so it was expected.
So with that being said, I’m not a huge fan of Snow White. I always thought her movie was boring lol So I can’t lie, I wasn’t expecting much from that side, but I was excited to see how much of it Bayron was going to use in it. And the way she formed everything to fit the story was pretty cool. I can’t lie I was a bit worried about the Dwarves. But they were very cute. Sad tale, but it was very cute. I think I grew to love them as much as she did. But also with that, it was a bit confusing. This was more a mash up multiple fairy tales. I wonder what this will mean for the universe? Will there be more coming? JUST THROW ME A BONE HERE BAYRON lol
I DID wish that there was more world-building tho. There was a lot of snow, yes, but like that was it until the end when the real retelling info started coming up. I think I wanted to see more of the castle, the cottage, the food, hell anything. I don’t even remember much about it to be honest. I KNOW this is a me thing, but I’m just living up to my blog name in Take Me Away! I want the world-building to take me there! And I wanted more of the magic. There was fighting, but the magic that she had was only shown few and far inbetween.
The twist this time was different, but it wasn’t as crazy as Cinderella. Like I said Snow is just a hard story to sell for me. But let me just say, the Knight was terrible. Hell he frightened me lol I was picturing the things he would ask of me and I just kept thinking ABSOLUTELY NOT. Too creepy lol But the ending was YOOOOOO. I was impressed that she went there. But it was awesome lol
This was a bit different than her others and I really enjoyed it. It’s been a long time since I was desperate enough to listen to a book via the Read Aloud robo voiced option, but I couldn’t read this fast enough so i used it for this. It was very much one of my most anticipated books of the year, and to me, it lived up to it!
Overall, I give this
