After her sister is left heartbroken by narcissistic Prince Gladen, Astrid decides to teach the prince a lesson and curses him. But something goes wrong, and she’s affected by the curse as well.
I didn’t know what to think of Astrid at first. She’s the villain but was almost sympathetic in the beginning. Was I supposed to like her? Root for her? Or not? I didn’t know, and that bugged me for some reason, lol. She had a great relationship with her sister Rosemarie, and it was nice to see the devotion and love they had for each other. Astrid didn’t want to see Rosemarie hurting so badly from the prince’s dismissal, so this was where things took a dark turn and her villainous nature began to emerge. But even through all this, she just seemed like a good, albeit annoying and immature, character who was making a poor choice. Maybe I was just expecting a straight-up traditional villain here who was more complex. But she came across as kind of weak and wishy-washy, and almost childish, at times. All of this was compounded by the fact that the whole story is told from the first-person point of view of Astrid. I kinda wish there would've been multiple povs, just to switch things up.
But I really did like Prince Gladen. I started enjoying the story more when he began popping up. He had a lot of depth and showed a side to him that was really endearing. He wasn’t the horrible person he first appeared to be.
I also appreciated the nods to the original story. How the rose came into play and the love of books.
While this wasn't one of my favorite retellings, it still had enjoyable moments and I'm eager to check out the rest of the books in this series. It's a neat concept.
Available in Kindle Unlimited at time of posting
I've happened upon this book while browsing amazon but I dismissed it as another retelling because I have seen so many of them and they are mostly disappointing. The cover is always nice though.
ReplyDeleteAstrid being kind of weak and wishy-washy would bother me also because villans should not behave like that. I kind of like the idea of the prince being more in the story. I do think tales like these should be told in the third omnipresent - I want to see the whole image and not just a view from one person.
Have a lovely day.
I usually have a lot of fun with retellings, but this one just wasn't for me. I think I just expected something totally different, though. For the villain to actually be villainous, but she was just kind of an annoying brat, I hate to say.
DeleteAnd I agree with you, I would've loved third-person omnipresent narration, just to get a fuller picture of things.
Hope you have a lovely day too! :)
Hmm...I'm not sure I'd love this one. I'm not a huge fan of stories retold from the villain's POV.
ReplyDeleteThat's understandable. There are a few authors I've enjoyed that are taking part in this series, so I thought I'd check out some of the others that I don't know. I always find it interesting seeing how different authors retell an old, familiar tale. And the villain part really intrigued me. :)
DeleteI am curious to see which villains will be getting their own stories.
DeleteI believe there's gonna be twelve books in the series. I can't remember all of them, but the ones that stuck out to me were Bluebeard/Robin Hood, Gothel, Hansel and Gretel, The Little Mermaid, and Little Red Riding Hood. I probably won't read them all, but there's a few I'm really curious to check out. :D
Deleteawesome your post
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteI will pass on this one. Thank you for sharing. Have a beautiful day.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Hope you have a beautiful day too! :)
DeleteMost novels used to be third person omniscient, but in the last decade or so, more and more are first person. Sometimes it works quite well, but often I'd prefer a straight 3rd person narrative. I may give this one a miss.
ReplyDeleteI've been noticing that the majority of books I've been reading lately are first person. I feel like it used to be evenly split between first and third, but not anymore. Weird. I wonder why that is?
DeleteFirst person doesn't usually bother me unless the character is unsympathetic or annoying, like the one in this book. But there are times when I do crave a good third person narration. :)