Synopsis

Only the truly desperate - and foolish - seek out the Knight, an ancient monster who twists wishes into curses. Eve (POV character) 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.

*Blurb taken from Goodreads

Review

Characters: Our FMC, Princess Eve, has a self-righteous personality that certainly doesn’t lack confidence at the beginning of the novel. Her immaturity born out of fierceness will likely draw teen readers in, and they’ll be able to grow alongside Eve as she learns the importance of patience and working with those around her toward a common goal. That being said, Eve is seventeen, and she reads more like she’s fifteen. I wish her character had been aged down to make her even more relatable.

Craft: We started this text off with some major craft issues. I won’t speak to a lot of them because they get nitpicky, and will instead focus on the two the pulled me of the story at the beginning and kept me from ever falling into the plot. The first is the complete lack of filtering. It made this novel excruciating. By not filtering, the rhythm of the prose becomes stilted. It also creates distance between the reader and the character.

Ex: “As she busies herself, I spot my helpful friend as he emerges from the underbrush” should be filtered to “As she busies herself, my helpful friend emerges from the underbrush” (pg. 4).

This might feel like a dramatic critique until you get this “subject + verb + filler” structure for over 300 pages. It grates on the prose.

The other issue is the classic Telling instead of Showing. This causes a disconnect between the emotions of the reader and the content of the text. It also prevents the reading experience from being immersive.

Because of these two craft issues (among some smaller ones), I never fully engaged with this text.

Plot: This took us on an intriguing journey through well-known Grimm fairytales. Despite the book copy alluding to a Snow White retelling, this really pulls from several folktales popularized by the Grimm brothers. I enjoyed the mash-up of these stories and thought they were incorporated in a manner that made sense for Eve’s story, but left little treasures for readers who are familiar with the original lore. The pacing was quick, here, and we don’t spend too long on any one event. Because of this, the storyline comes off as a bit rushed. I also feel that there was little depth here, and there are no twists whatsoever.

World Build/Magic System: Despite magic being prevalent in this world, it’s not explained at all. Which is actually pretty hilarious considering the whole Telling-instead-of-Showing problem I had in concern to the craft. Eve has more power than the land has seen since the emergence of the Knight. We know how she comes by this magic—she’s a product of a wish—but never learn why these specific powers manifested. The world build also comes across as simplistic, which was fine in a YA focused more on Eve’s growth as a character, as well as the defeat of the antagonist.

Audio: Unfortunately, I advise steering clear of the audiobook version of this novel. The narrator has a stilted, inconsistent reading that felt as though they published the first take of every recording, then moved on no matter the execution. Pauses happen in the middle of sentences and between paragraphs, almost as though they lost their place and picked back up when they found it. There are also a few instances where the narrator stumbles over words or phrases, but did not rerecord a corrected version. It was like listening to a rough draft.

Overall Thoughts: This will be a great low-level read for teen audiences. It’s easy to understand, has a relatable FMC that’s transitioning into a more mature version of herself, and executes a compelling storyline built upon a plethora of fairytales. That being said, the craft could have been executed far better, even with the simplicity of the plot. It had me wincing throughout. Eve also read younger than her seventeen years, and she would be more identifiable to a teen audience if she had been fifteen going on sixteen due to her immaturity and unmitigated sense of self-importance.

Content Note

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