Charm - Cat Hellisen I really wanted to like this book, but for the first half I struggled to get into it. Everything was just so bleak and dark and depressing. I hated the negativity and couldn't stand the characters. I also felt like nothing particularly happened the first half, except that we got front row seats to Irene's obsession with Rain... because I'm sorry but whatever she feels for him is not pure love... but I'm not going to get into their relationship psychology right now.

So there I was at 50%, hating that I was about to DNF a book that I really wanted to like going in... when suddenly it just got incredibly good! I don't even know what changed, because I still don't like the characters (I guess it's more realistic when you have characters that are not the normal trope?) ! I don't know, but I went from about to give it up to being riveted! Suddenly the plot had me hooked and I enjoyed the originality and the grittiness and the familiarity of the customs and location (even though I've never been to Joburg... and after this I really don't want to go either).

There were still parts that I think could have been elaborated on... like Irene's whole family and their vibe and backstory. I would especially have loved to learn more about her mother and the vague remark about Dale also being affected by her magic. And it could definitely have done a better job of drawing me in from the start. If I had rated it simply on the last part of the book it would have been an easy 4... Maybe even a 5! I'm still rating it a 4 (simply because I can't bring myself to go any lower... it really got good man!), but for overall experience it's probably closer to 3 1/2

103. BEASTKEEPER, BY CAT HELLISEN

Yet another fairytale retelling, this one recommended by a friend I hadn’t seen a long time ago. I’m really enjoying these, it’s curious I hadn’t discovered them before...

Synopsis: A loose retelling of The Beauty and The Beast story. Sarah’s mother leaves, which triggers a descending slope for her father. Unable to take care of her, he takes her to live with her grandmother, where she discovers nothing is as she assumed.

Overall enjoyment: Sweet and fun, very beautiful and quick. The ending could have been better, though.

Plot: It is pretty well rounded; there aren’t any loose threads or unknown motivations. Maybe there could have been more suspense, or Sarah could have taken longer to figure out what was going on, but then the book would probably be much longer, which, I think, would take some of the urgency out of it.

Characters: Very well constructed. Sarah feels very much like a 13 year old girl. I especially liked the care she took with the grandmothers’ personalities, so similar to traditional fairytale characters, and yet a lot more human and real.

World/setting: It seemed like a fascinating place, but there wasn’t much describing. The rules are about the standard for fantasy places, so, if it isn’t all that original, at least she didn’t have to waste time explaining it (and risk making it boring in the process).

Writing style: Quite straightforward and easy to read. It flows nicely, but there could have been more poetry to it, considering the setting and subject. Although, the tween POV might explain this lack.

Representation: There are very few characters, and all are of the same family, so I suppose it’s understandable that it’s quite poor on representation.

Political correctness: It was very sweet and touching. I think it was a nice take on the original story, especially the adaptation of the original curse. It did become more interesting, and when it comes to Sarah it’s even better. It’s a nice take on such a difficult subject as the possible fickleness of how one person might feel about the other.  It would have been interesting, though, if Sarah had been turned back into a human at some point on those six years she spent living with Alan. Six years living together in harmony is more than enough for a very loving friendship to flourish. Romantic love isn't the only love that exists, and the curse didn't specify, it just said "love". It would have been nice if the book didn't reinforce the idea that romantic love is the be-all end-all of a person's life.

Up next: Touch, by Claire North

This book felt like the whole thing was lead-up ... I was 3/4 of the way through the book and still had the sense that I was "waiting" for the story to begin. Sarah's total isolation was disconcerting, and not really in a good way -- I kept hoping for her to come across ONE person who wasn't going to abandon her, betray her, or treat her like crap. I was waiting for a change of heart, for her to see that someone was not what they seemed, etc., but people pretty much were what they appeared to be at first glance, with the possible exception of Alan. In some ways, this felt more like a dark and dreamlike foray into Alice in Wonderland territory than a riff off Beauty & the Beast.

The terms of the spell in this book feel a little bit convoluted, and I wasn't surprised when I read in the author's note that she had written it in "a mad dash." It reads like a cleaned up NaNoWriMo novel, although I wasn't able to verify that. There is some really gorgeous writing near the end that almost bumped this up to a four-star book, but it ended up being too little too late for me.

I really, really wanted to like this, and I just couldn't manage.

 

The primary problem, for me, was the characters. Not that they were bad people or that they were too good, but because they were none of that. They didn't feel real. I couldn't connect with them, I couldn't empathize or sympathize or even really care. They felt hollow, and when the story line relies on evoking my sympathy for love and loss and the changes (quite literal changes, in this case) that these emotions evoke in the characters and I can't feel them feeling these emotions, we have a problem. 

 

Sarah was the worst in this regard. She was our main character, she is obviously supposed to grow, part of the plot even requires her to fall in love (no spoilers--this is literally mentioned in the synopsis), and yet she feels like a child throughout. A young child. A Roal Dahl-like child, almost. That wouldn't be a bad thing, that isn't a problem in a character, but it's like she doesn't fit the plot of this book, like perhaps she wandered in from a more traditional children's book and wouldn't leave. Even the love interest that sparks the curse seems confused by her.

 

The plot was a little meandering as well. It wasn't that there were twists and sudden reveals (I love that sort of thing), but that it didn't really seem to know where it was going and didn't seem to fully make sense. Maybe I just missed something? But it didn't feel like I missed something, unfortunately; it felt like certain details that would perhaps make the plot more awkward to construct were skimmed over and ignored when that suited. The ending was a huge disappointment; it didn't really solve anything. It felt like the author ran out of pages and had to wrap things up super quickly. I don't really mind that it isn't "traditional," (though I am a sucker for traditional endings, let me be honest here), but that it sort of came out of nowhere. There is all this long (sometimes boring...) build-up and then BAM the story is over, apparently. 

 

The writing was serviceable verging on genuinely beautiful at some points, and I'd certainly pick up something else by her, but this just didn't work for me at all. 

this reminds me of a book I read before long ago, but I can't place it...
Still really enjoying the style and flow of the story