I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this book. A long-time lover of fairytales, I have found that it has become difficult in modern times to offer something new in this genre, but Donnelly has done an incredible job, weaving feminism into the old stereotypes and giving characters who were previously branded 'evil' a voice.
Short chapters made it so easy to binge read - the last 100 pages were read in the bath in one sitting!
The underlying themes of grief, loss and strength were powerfully addressed and we say development of the main character from meek princess to worthy queen. By the end I was right there with her followers, cheering her on.
It's a love story, that cannot be denied, and some of the self-deprecating stuff was a little difficult to stomach at times. There were still some tropes that I think could have been avoided - for example, Arno could definitely have been a woman!
Short chapters made it so easy to binge read - the last 100 pages were read in the bath in one sitting!
The underlying themes of grief, loss and strength were powerfully addressed and we say development of the main character from meek princess to worthy queen. By the end I was right there with her followers, cheering her on.
It's a love story, that cannot be denied, and some of the self-deprecating stuff was a little difficult to stomach at times. There were still some tropes that I think could have been avoided - for example, Arno could definitely have been a woman!