I'm always so in awe of this kind of retelling. How do authors take a (let's face it, fairly thin) fairy tale and make a whole novel, with a convincing world and characters?
If that author is Jennifer Donnelly, the answer is; pretty damn brilliantly.
Stepsister was already amazing, showing one of the 'Ugly' Stepsisters take things into her own hands after Ella leaves with the prince. Poisoned shares its Grimm roots and the theme of girls taking responsibility for themselves; it shares the same lyrical language and fantastic underpinnings. People eat bratwurst and go to market and wear corsets in Jennifer's world, but they might also live with a six foot tall spider or ride around on trolls.
The most important theme, though, is that we should stop listening to the voice that says I can't. Sophie meets people who tear her down and people who build her up, and she teaches herself to stop listening to the former and pay more attention to the latter. A lot of reviews are calling this feminist, and I agree that it is, but I think men and boys can benefit from it just as much. Everyone needs to be reminded not to listen to that voice, after all.
The only part that made me shake my head ... and with the content of this book, that's saying something ... is that the men of the Hollow proclaim to already love Sophie like a daughter after she's been with them for approximately two weeks, and spent twelve days of that unconscious. I could believe it if they'd spent more time interacting with her, but it felt very fast. At least for the rest of her allies she was actually awake and talking to them.
It's a very tiny niggle, though, in a story that I absolutely adored. The book will get a place of honour beside Stepsister and I'll be watching closely for the following books she hinted at towards the end there!
If that author is Jennifer Donnelly, the answer is; pretty damn brilliantly.
Stepsister was already amazing, showing one of the 'Ugly' Stepsisters take things into her own hands after Ella leaves with the prince. Poisoned shares its Grimm roots and the theme of girls taking responsibility for themselves; it shares the same lyrical language and fantastic underpinnings. People eat bratwurst and go to market and wear corsets in Jennifer's world, but they might also live with a six foot tall spider or ride around on trolls.
The most important theme, though, is that we should stop listening to the voice that says I can't. Sophie meets people who tear her down and people who build her up, and she teaches herself to stop listening to the former and pay more attention to the latter. A lot of reviews are calling this feminist, and I agree that it is, but I think men and boys can benefit from it just as much. Everyone needs to be reminded not to listen to that voice, after all.
The only part that made me shake my head ... and with the content of this book, that's saying something ... is that the men of the Hollow proclaim to already love Sophie like a daughter after she's been with them for approximately two weeks, and spent twelve days of that unconscious. I could believe it if they'd spent more time interacting with her, but it felt very fast. At least for the rest of her allies she was actually awake and talking to them.
It's a very tiny niggle, though, in a story that I absolutely adored. The book will get a place of honour beside Stepsister and I'll be watching closely for the following books she hinted at towards the end there!