Author: Lexa Hillyer
Series: Spindle Fire #1
Genres: YA, Fantasy, Retelling
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release: April 11th 2017
Source: Audiobook
Pages: 368
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BLURB:
A kingdom burns. A princess sleeps. This is no fairy tale.
It all started with the burning of the spindles.
No.
It all started with a curse…
Half sisters Isabelle and Aurora are polar opposites: Isabelle is the king’s headstrong illegitimate daughter, whose sight was tithed by faeries; Aurora, beautiful and sheltered, was tithed her sense of touch and her voice on the same day. Despite their differences, the sisters have always been extremely close.
And then everything changes, with a single drop of Aurora’s blood—and a sleep so deep it cannot be broken.
As the faerie queen and her army of Vultures prepare to march, Isabelle must race to find a prince who can awaken her sister with the kiss of true love and seal their two kingdoms in an alliance against the queen.
Isabelle crosses land and sea; unearthly, thorny vines rise up the palace walls; and whispers of revolt travel in the ashes on the wind. The kingdom falls to ruin under layers of snow. Meanwhile, Aurora wakes up in a strange and enchanted world, where a mysterious hunter may be the secret to her escape…or the reason for her to stay.
EXPECTATIONS: I am not sure what exactly about this book got my attention. Maybe the promise or maybe the fact that it was supposed to be a retelling...
THE WORLD: As it is marketed as retelling of Sleeping Beauty we also get a magical world here. Tho if it really has anything to do with Sleeping Beauty I am not sure. But over the time I have learned that just because it is a retelling it does not have to really do much with an actual fairytale and that was the case here. I just don't see it, this was not a Sleeping Beauty to me at all. I mean we do still have a fairytale like world but it is more of the usual fairytale with a princess and a kingdom fallen under a magical curse and other kingdoms threatening to invade. I liked the world itself but only when I accepted that it is nothing like in Sleeping Beauty.
CHARACTERS: This book is about two main characters and I know we often see this and then it suddenly becomes about one. But I did not get that feeling in this book, it really was about both Aurora and Isabelle. Aurora is this legitimate princess who is death and feels no physical pain. Isabelle on the other hand is blind. However this not really a representation of disability. When Aurora was born withes came to congratulate the royal family and so they gave Aurora presents of taking away her voice and ability to be hurt. They also wanted to take her ability to see but The Queen tricked the witch and she had to take it away from Isabelle who was a bastard. Mind what witches did they thought it was a good thing which I know is weird but things are weird in this book. Aurora was also supposed to die at some point but they managed to talk the witch into making her asleep instead. But let's just take a second and talk about personalities here. So Aurora is this super beautiful and perfect princess but that is just the outside. In reality is very sweet and caring person if not a bit too naive. I liked Aurora but she was my favorite in this book, however saying that I did not dislike also says a lot I think, after all I almost always dislike female leads. And then there is Isabelle...also rather naive but at the same time much stronger than Aurora. She is also jealous of Aurora because everything comes so easy to her but despite all that Isabelle loves and protects Aurora with all she has. Needless to say I liked Isabelle way more.
ROMANCE: The tale goes that when one true love kisses Aurora she will wake up. Well things get rather more complicated than this and even tho it is all about true love kiss at the same time it is more about discovering yourself and the question if you do want to wake up or not.
GOOD: If I put the idea of Sleeping Beauty aside I really liked this story and the magic in it.
BAD: However it is supposed to be a retelling of Sleeping Beauty and in that sense it made very little sense to me.
OVERALL: I enjoyed this book a lot on its own but if you are looking for a Sleeping Beauty retelling I do not recommend it.
What do you think about SPINDLE FIRE?
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