How do you summarize a book that is morbid, unforgiving, whimsical and maddeningly un-put-downable? This gem from Cindy Pham is stark, sharp and bony in places that make you weak and uncomfortable and yet agonizingly true... In the rich realms of sleeping beauty, there draws a sharp line of reality, with hunger, loss and death turning selfishness into a trait and cowardice, a comfort opposed to the tyrannical suppression of rebellion.
Cindy Pham scores harsh lines and scathes through the blistering and impoverished ruins of a once thriving kingdom, while, alternatingly, she travels back a 100 years to delve into the mystery of Amelia or Briar Rose, whose disappearance severed the land from sustenance, reducing its inhabitants to a hopeless populace awaiting death's embrace...
Cindy dismantles a happy fairytale with slashes of apathy and misconstrued villains and hurt heroines who are abashed to face their true selves. this book read more like a poem or dirge to loss but with a beautiful cycle bringing the dream to closure.
I thoroughly enjoyed this moody, atmospheric and world shattering breed of writing - amorphous and yet brutal at the same time!! Loved the dreamscape of the otherworld and Mal is my absolute die-hard favorite! teeming with emotions and brimming with flashbacks and deep seated insecurities and personal failings, this is one dark, lush and visceral read!!
Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for making my wish come true!
#Junereleases #darkfairytale #visceralreads
