Dorthea has been cooped inside for her entire life and she’s ready to get out. Never mind the reason she’s been kept inside is that the women in her family are cursed to one day burn the world down–she’ll just stay away from any and all fire. She almost manages to get out, but is stopped by her overbearing mother. When a wish goes awry, Dorthea finds that all of the rules of Story have been broken and that her parents have disappeared. Dorthea is left to find them with a belligerent servant and a Chimera for a fiance.
I really wanted to like this book…I love fairy tale retellings so
this seemed right up my alley.Ā Unfortunately, the main character was immature and shallow pretty much the whole time and I just found that really annoying. She wasn’t very deep as a character and, I’ll be honest, I wanted some of those fairy tale creatures to get her and teach her a lesson on manners or being kind and considerate to others or something. It was just too much for me to handle. The other thing that I didn’t like was that the book was all action. The characters went from bad situation to bad situation without any kind of rest or break in between. I like plots that move the book along, but this was too much. I felt exhausted just reading it and a little bit exasperated.
I did think that Kato was a good character–though I don’t see AT ALL what he sees in Dorthea–he was interesting and actually sensible. Ā I also did like how a lot of fairy tales were incorporated and it was interesting how theĀ author woveĀ the Wizard of Oz elements into the story. Another thing I liked was the little quotes that were throughout from the books from Story. It’s the small things in life.
Overall, I just didn’t really like it. The characters were mostly flat and the plot was just too much, too fast. The end didn’t have quite the resolution that I was looking for (even though I know it’s leading to another book). Just okay. I don’t plan on reading the next one.
Overall Rating: 2
Violence: Heavy. Mostly magical fighting though, not a ton of gore.
Language: None
Sexual Content: Mild
Drinking/Smoking: Mild
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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