Hey peeps! I'm back--albeit briefly and extremely tiredly (please forgive any typoes), and with no promise of when I'll next pop in--to post a review of an arc that I just recently had the privilege of reading. It was the first time I'd ever gotten a physical arc (!!!) and I am a little embarrassed to say that *that* is something that made me feel like a Real Blogger. XD (Picture of where I finished reading said physical arc at the end of the post...it was a bit of a funny circumstance. To me, at least.)
Without further ado (because I don't have time to talk more, I'm heading back to work in like an hour and haven't packed yet 😅), on to the review!
Oh! Also, Wishtress releases September 13! You can preorder it now--and that's both a good way not to forget to order it, and a good way to support Nadine as an author, I hear. ;)
(Disclaimer: I did receive an ARC from the publisher. There was no obligation to write a positive review.)
She didn’t ask to be the Wishtress.
Myrthe was born with the ability to turn her tears into wishes. But when a granted wish goes wrong, she is cursed: the next tear she sheds will kill her. To break the curse she must travel to the Well before it claims her life—and before the king’s militairen find her. To survive the journey, Myrthe will have to harden her heart to keep herself from crying even a single tear.
He can stop time with a snap of his fingers.
Bastiaan’s powerful—and rare—Talent came in handy when he kidnapped the old king. Now the new king has a job for him: find the Wishtress and deliver her to the schloss. But Bastiaan needs a wish of his own. He gains Myrthe’s trust by promising to take her to the Well, but once he gets what he needs, he’ll turn her in. As long as his growing feelings for the girl with a stone heart don’t compromise his job.
Their quest can end only one way: with her death.
Everyone seems to need a wish—the king, Myrthe’s cousin, the boy she thinks she loves. And they’re ready to bully, beg, and betray her for it. No one knows that to grant even one wish, Myrthe would pay with her life. And if she tells them about the curse . . . they’ll just kill her anyway.
Worldbuilding/Writing Style
I loved the world building! Setting the story in an alternate version of the Netherlands (I believe) felt very right, and let itself to beautiful landscapes that were easy to picture and made a beautiful backdrop for the rest of the story. And the Well of Talents and the Nightwell felt like unforced fantasy elements which lent themselves to semi-allegory (sort of--it's complicated. See next paragraph! :)).
A few of the reviews I've seen have used the word "allegory" when describing some of what happens in the book. Tolkien would not approve of that use of "allegory", and neither do I. It's not about retelling a story that has occurred, or the story of a soul, or whatever...it simply has a very strong theme and emphasis on the choice between good and evil. Well-drawn (pun not intended), with the allures of both obvious. (Perhaps one could say that on an allegorical scale, it falls somewhere closer to LOTR between LOTR and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.) The semi-non-allegory was very powerful and made me think about applications of said semi-non-allegory in my own life.
The writing style was very Nadine...I could tell, from the amount of introspection, that she had written it! But that doesn't bother me. And the perspective shifts didn't bother me, either...usually I spend a lot of the time when I'm reading a book with perspective shifts wishing for the other perspective, but I think I only got impatient for the other perspective once! Which is saying lot for me.
(Also, there were a few moments that seemed like Frozen references, which made me smile.)
Plot
The plot was well-crafted and filled with twists I didn't anticipate, especially at the end! It started off a little slowly, but sucked me in quickly, even so. And the end picked up so much that I was reading faster and faster to keep up! There was one twist I thought I'd guessed, but I hadn't, which was honestly a *nice* surprise (I feel a little clever when I guess twists, but only if they're hard to guess...this one I thought was easy to guess, but Nadine double-crossed me! It was a good feeling, for whatever reason). There were a couple of my favorite tropes, too, which was the icing on the cake.
Characters
I loved Myrthe and Bastiaan! I especially liked Bastiaan's recognition of his relationship with his talent and how he needed to grow in that, and Myrthe's growth in her emotions, both things that honestly, I need to work on. At the beginning, Myrthe was tenderhearted to a degree I can't relate to--welling up with tears far more often than I can or would--but I know people like that, so it wasn't unrealistic. I loved how both of them needed to work on their communication skills, but that wasn't in such a way as to create stupid and cringy misunderstandings. I loved Bastiaan's protectiveness towards his mother and Runt. And I loved Runt so much! His relationship with Bastiaan, his sass, his jokes, his heart. Everything! And I loved that he got an arc, too.
Besides Runt, I think my favorite SC was Anouk (I think that's her name? The arc is in my backpack, and I'm too lazy to go and check, lol). She doesn't appear much, but she's a lovely person who deserves so much more than she got!
Sven was a complicated character, but the way Nadine made him grow and change and his character develop was pitch perfect.
And all the other characters were wonderful (or well-written, if they were the bad guys). I don't think there was one I thought was unrealistic or without depth.
Romance
Well, there is some, and it is SWEET AS ALL GETOUT. Very slow-burn, very wholesome, with some of my favorite romance tropes. I loved how the characters were able to recognize the true nature of love, and how it's both a choice and a heart-judgement. Exceedingly well done beyond my expectations (I was worried that it would go from "love is a choice" to "oh no, love is from the HEART, and the HEART CHOOSES" and it didn't do that, thank goodness), and I highly approve.
Content
Death, bloody injuries (non-graphic), some mention of a woman being used (not explicit, would probably go over the head of a younger reader).
Overall rating
An unapologetic four stars! I think this is Nadine's best book yet!
I finished reading it while wearing goat-stained pants on an old couch in the staffroom area of the farm where I'm working, with Isaiah the cat next to me. Other locales it was read in may or may not have included sitting on a concrete wall watching the goats in the pasture, in an 8x8 unheated cabin, and while walking. Would highly recommend any of those locales, especially including the cat. :) I'm not sure why I like this picture so much, or wanted to share it so badly, but maybe it has to do with the contrast of the beautiful cover with the farm-dingy surroundings. XD
Ooh this looks interesting. I'll put it on the tbr.
ReplyDeleteThe love as a choice thing is amazing but so rare. Actually one of the only times I came across it was in a series that was more "the heart chooses" kind, it was in a sort of backstory-- it's hard to explain, but not part of the main story. It's from Legacy of the Curse, by Grace Deborah White. So basically this princess has made an arranged marriage with the crown prince from another kingdom. Very soon after her marriage her family are all either killed or go missing in a rebellion and she is distant from her husband, and the court finally start suggesting the prince should get rid of her. He is absolutely outraged and goes to comfort her. This is what he says in a later scene: "For a moment Sarai could only blink, the declaration was so wholly unexpected. “You…love me?” “Of course I do,” said Germain sternly. “I have loved you since the moment I married you.” She lifted an eyebrow. “You didn’t know me when you married me, Germain.” “I know,” he acknowledged easily. “Then how can you say you loved me?” His eyes searched her face, his expression serious. “I loved you because I chose to love you. I was very willing to make this marriage alliance, Sarai. I wanted to do my duty to my kingdom. But like any man, I didn’t want to spend my life in a loveless marriage. So I chose to love you. I decided before we even met that I would love you, and I committed myself to that love when we took our vows, as surely as I committed my kingdom to an alliance.”
Actually the side story is the best part of the whole book.
Yay! Glad this review helped the book onto your tbr. :)
DeleteI know, it is a really rare trope, and one that shouldn't be so rare! I'll have to look into that book, just from that scene alone, it seems like something I would enjoy. We'll have to see...
I still haven't read any of Brandes' books, but this one looks cool!
ReplyDeleteI think you might enjoy it, Hamlette!
DeleteYou got an actual PHYSICAL ARC? That is so special! :O Whoa! The contrast in that photo of the book and the background is hilarious. XD Also, you read while /walking/? As a clumsy child who learned to walk very carefully (because I've had too many stitches to want any more), older me still walks while looking at the ground. And I can't imagine reading. Yes, at this point I'm just trying to learn ALL your secrets...
ReplyDeleteSlow-burn is quite my favorite romance trope, so that is all you needed to say to get me. That and how EPIC this all sounds. I am in awe of worldbuilding skills and wish I had some of my own. ;)
Sort of allegory, sort of not are some of my favorites! Not that I can think of any examples, but you know. I will. XD It reminds me of the C. S. Lewis quote: “The world does not need more Christian literature. What it needs is more Christians writing good literature.”
I DID! I was so excited!! I know, I looked down at the book and was like...ha. I need a picture of this. XD I do, in fact, read while walking, and I especially do it a LOT at school, where I've been introduced to people, and/or have met acquaintances again and been told, "Oh, I've seen you walking and reading on the quad!" XD I guess I have really good peripheral vision, but unless one of my friends SPECIFICALLY gets in my way (um, yeah, that has happened), I don't run into things, and I can get where I'm going. It might just be my superpower...
DeleteIt's a good one! (Not my favorite--I think my favorite is friends-to-lovers, but slow burn is up there). Haha, I wish I had worldbuilding skills, too. Maybe someday...
It's a good way to write a book! Narnia is a really good example of that, I think, especially the later books (not LWW, that's VERY specifically an allegory) where there are definitely layers, but they're a little bit occluded. I love that Lewis quote--he's the best!