I thought it was very boring. Someone should have edited these little tales. Most of them were not dark or creepy, I doubt they were even true.
While it was obviously excellent to get to be with my crew a little bit more, I feel I would have enjoyed this worlds more if I had read it when it came out between Screaming Staircase and Whispering Skull, rather than straight after I finished Hollow Boy, because character development went backward and I didn't learn anything new. Still, that was my fault. And it doesn't really matter, because this series.
**Skim read from page 120+** I know I missed a lot of plot stuff due to the skimming, but I don't really care. But if something I say below is truly amiss, feel free to let me know.
I'm not sure what to say about this one. I wanted so very much for it to be a favorite, even though I knew it was improbable that I'd love it. Fairytale retellings are my thing, I can't get enough, but sometimes they don't sit right with me. Maybe I simply wasn't in the right mood for this, but it was a little too dark for my taste. And the oddly sexual vibe I was getting from the evil forestborn wasn't helping matters. I had a sense of things to come when young Rachelle is forcibly kissed in the forest on page 12...
Hodge's prose is lovely, if occasionally royal purple, but her writing leaves something to be desired. She explains things in such a way I'm not sure she even knows what something really is. I still have very little clue as to what the bloodbound are. And goodness, did this really need to be over 400 pages? I think not.
The love triangle was so annoying. I must have hit every kissing/flirting scene, even with all the page flipping and skipping I was doing. I am so done with love triangles. SO. DONE.
I never saw what went on with the Devourer, but he/it strongly reminded me of Fenris from Norse mythology, especially since he was swallowing the sun and moon. I'm sure something quite important went on with him, or he was Armand, or some such, but quite frankly...
I couldn't be bothered to care. I wanted to, but it just wasn't doing a darn thing for me. And life is too short to read those kinds of books. So undoubtedly this is someone's type of book, but it wasn't mine.
**An ARC of this book was provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
This is a three-hundred page book, but it read very fast. That being said, I think it might have done better as a novella. There was too much going on for it to be a short story and I'm glad we got as much time as we did to get to know Serefina, but I think the overall story would have done better as a shorter book.
Serefina is a bright and special character, because she realizes that it doesn't matter about one's upbringing or circumstances or even who someone is, so long as they try to do right and make good choices. And she never once annoyed me. Sadly, I didn't much connect with her on an emotional level, but I did root for her.
This is an exceptionally dark MG book. It's got the creep factor going for it, if you're into that sort of thing. To be honest, I was a little concerned about Serefina at first, the way she's written and her weird obsession with the rats and killing them. But it all makes sense. I didn't figure out the specifics of the "plot twist" but I had a general idea.
Serefina is a catamount's daughter, so she is somewhat animal...?? Her mom's soul has two parts, animal and human, so she can shapeshift between a mountain lion and a human lady. But her human soul was captured by the Man in the Black Cloak some 12 years ago and she was stuck as a mountain lion. When Serefina destroys the Black Cloak, all the human souls (and bodies) stuck in it are freed, also freeing her mum's human half. It's a bit weird and a bit more dark, but less so when you've read a whole book leading up to it.
One of the only downfalls, in my opinion, was the tween romance. Which wasn't even romance, but the way their reactions and interactions was written felt more like 16-year olds than 12-year olds. Also, when a 12-year old boy (Braeden) gives a 12-year old girl (Serefina) a dress with a corset as a gift, how could Serefina, a girl who has never before worn a corset, tie it up herself?? That whole scenario in the book seemed improbable.
The setting of the book is lovely; The Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. I thought maybe the setting could have been utilized (ie. described) a bit more, but alas.
The local color was off-putting at first, but I settled into it pretty quick. Especially since only the dialogue was local color, and actually there isn't that much dialogue in the book.
Overall, I'd recommend this to girls of the young tween-teen audience who like their books a little darker than unicorns and gumdrops.
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