A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas is a retelling of the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty."
Imagine
waking up one day to find that your family is long dead, you've been
asleep for a hundred years, and you're now expected to marry the
complete stranger who just woke you up by kissing you. That's Aurora's
life in a nutshell. While she slept, the kingdom moved on, power
changing hands in dramatic and tempestuous ways while Aurora slumbered
in the sealed tower, visited only occasionally by princes hoping to wake
her with a kiss. Rodric, the one who finally achieves this feat, is the
sweet but unexciting son of the current rulers, who plan to use
Aurora's waking to solidify their political position. He's not the only
prince on hand, though, as Prince Finnegan, heir to a neighboring
kingdom, pays a visit to welcome (and flirt with) Aurora. Finnegan is
everything Rodric is not: dashing, adventurous, charming. Meanwhile,
revolution is brewing among the common people, as Aurora learns when she
sneaks out of the castle in disguise. She meets a handsome
revolutionary who makes her question the current king's rule and his
treatment of the common people. But Aurora is a figurehead, a puppet --
and, thanks to her overprotective parents who locked her up due to her
curse, that's all she's ever been. Can she change things by stepping
away from the fairy-tale ending with Rodric -- or would she be better
off trying to change things by staying with him and working at making
things better when she is his queen?
I liked this Sleeping Beauty
retelling, but I didn't love it. There's plenty of good stuff in terms
of court intrigue, and some of the plot twists did surprise me. On the
other hand, I think some readers will find that the pacing lags as
Aurora spends a great deal of time trying to decide what to do. In my
opinion, this suits her character and her circumstances, but readers
looking for a fast and gripping read might disagree. Also, it's obvious
from the somewhat inconclusive ending that this will be the first book
in a series. Will I read on? Perhaps, if I come across the sequel and
I'm in the mood to see what becomes of Aurora. Do I recommend this? Yes,
but probably only to established fans of the genre, not to those who are
trying out fairy tale retellings for the first time.
(Reviewed from an advance copy, courtesy of the publisher.)
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