About the Book
-
Author:
- A.B. Poranek
- Genres:
- Fantasy
- Girl-Girl Romance
- Horror
Cover Story: Light and Shadow
BFF Charm: Caution
Talky Talk: Glamor and Guts
Bonus Factor: Supporting Characters, Siblings
Anti-Bonus Factor: Blood and Gore, Bigotry
Relationship Status: A Loyalty of Retellings
Cover Story: Light and Shadow
This is exactly the way Odile sees herself: as the shadow sneaking up on Odette to steal her light. It’s eerily beautiful in an 18th-century style, just like the book.
The Deal:
The kingdom of Auréal (inspired by 18th-century France) is cursed. Ever since its court sorcerer betrayed its king, the gods punished them by withdrawing almost all magic from the kingdom, with the exception of a few key artifacts. (At least, that’s the version most people believe.) Theatre director Regnault and his adopted daughter Odile have a plan to bring magic back: a multi-stage heist that involves impersonating a noblewoman, seducing a prince and stealing the magical royal crown. You know how it is with heists, though (from books and movies, I hope): They never go according to plan.
BFF Charm: Caution
Odile was an orphan living on the streets when Regnault took her in. All she really wants is to be loved, but he taught her all the wrong ways to go about it: “Don’t show your pain, or it will be exploited,” etc. She’s been his accomplice for so long that she’s genuinely horrified to find out she still has a conscience. She also has a massive chip on her shoulder about the nobility, which makes it difficult to listen to said conscience: “Why should I pity [Odette’s] pain when she weeps into pillows of satin?”
Swoonworthy Scale: 7
Odile and Odette – Marie d’Odette d’Auvigny in this version – are a classic example of slow-burn friends-to-enemies-to-lovers. Normally I’d have a problem with a love story in which one turns the other into a swan, but Odette is no more a saintly victim than Odile is as wicked as she thinks she is. This version of Odette (though she takes a long time to admit it) actually enjoys having wings and being away from court intrigues. Odile is not so much keeping her prisoner as, in an indirect way, freeing her to become the adventurous young girl she used to be before family pressure forced her to become the perfect lady.
Talky Talk: Glamor and Guts
Poranek’s writing style has a macabre streak that suits the mood of the story perfectly. Rubies have “bowels”. Diamonds “swallowed light in their bellies and spit it out”. Regnault’s theatre where Odile grew up is a “gluttonous beast”. Having been hungry as a child and feeling both envious and threatened in luxurious surroundings, no wonder she sees the world like that.
Bonus Factor: Supporting Characters
Prince Siegfried – here called Aimé – is secretly involved with his bodyguard, Damien (Odile’s estranged brother), while at the same time planning a marriage of convenience with Odette (actually Odile in disguise). It’s all very soap-operatic, and I mean that as a compliment.
Bonus Factor: Siblings
Odile’s brother Damien left Regnault’s theatre when he realized how cruel and manipulative Regnault was. He tried to persuade Odile to leave with him, but she refused. Since then, she tells herself he’s no brother of hers, but her heart and conscience know better – especially when he’s wrongfully accused of a crime.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Blood and Gore
There is a monster in the palace that eats people – in graphic detail. I don’t recommend a heavy meal before reading this book.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Bigotry
Sorciers – magic users – are recognizable by their golden blood, even though they can’t do magic anymore. “Never let them see you bleed”, Regnault warns Odile, because if non-magical people see that golden blood, they’re liable to form a lynch mob. Part of the reason Odile is willing to go through with the heist is that she hopes, once magic becomes a normal part of the kingdom again, people like her will be able to live openly and in peace.
Relationship Status: A Loyalty of Retellings
Unlike some of its characters, this book delivers exactly what it promised. It’s a fairy tale retelling that makes you feel its magic as if it were new.
Literary Matchmaking
The School for Good and Evil (The School for Good and Evil #1) by Soman Chainani is another morally complex fairy tale.
The Song of the Swan by Karah Sutton is another Swan Lake retelling from the Black Swan’s perspective.
Where Shadows Bloom by Catherine Bakewell is another sapphic fantasy inspired by the court of Versailles.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received no compensation for this review.
