Book Review: The Fool's Girl

The Fool's Girl
Celia Rees

Young and beautiful Violetta may be of royal blood, but her kingdom is in shambles when she arrives in London on a mysterious mission. Her journey has been long and her adventures many, but it is not until she meets the playwright William Shakespeare that she gets to tell the entire story from beginning to end. Violetta and her comic companion, Feste, have come in search of an ancient holy relic that the evil Malvolio has stolen from their kingdom. But where will their remarkable quest--and their most unusual story--lead? In classic Celia Rees style, it is an engrossing journey, full of political intrigue, danger, and romance.



Star Rating:


Review:
Although tedious and slightly scattered, The Fool's Girl is yet another retelling of an old, beloved fairytale.. except this one doesn't trail as far back as Hansel and Grethel or Jack and the Beanstalk - hailing from Elizabethan England, Twelfth Night is comedy, tragedy, drama, and resolution. I found Rees' style frustrating - there are characters presented as important who ultimately show know purpose at all (I am thinking of Tod, here), and there is a great deal of talk and travel, what I generally refer to as "filler". It grew tedious. The important plot points felt so few and far between that they got lost and I was distracted from them.

Anyone familiar with Shakespeare will appreciate the references to many of his other plays beside Twelfth Night. Off the top of my head, I can think of four: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, and Richard III. In that way, it was charming to see the crossovers and where Rees revealed Shakespeare's inspiration. In many ways, Shakespeare's story in this book is much more interesting than Violetta's.

A certain level of appreciation for Shakespeare is required to enjoy this book on any level, and i would not recommend it to the people who have a difficult time relating to Shakespeare or to his work.

Book Review: Sisters Red

Sisters Red
Jackson Pearce

Scarlett March lives to hunt the Fenris--the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She's determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.

Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts ferociously alongside her. But even as more girls' bodies pile up in the city and the Fenris seem to be gaining power, Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves. She finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an ax and Scarlett's only friend--but does loving him mean betraying her sister and all that they've worked for?



Star Rating:


Review:
As a lover of fairytales-retold, I adore the idea of this book, but found myself overall, disappointed. Pearce's attempts to tell an old story in a new and interesting way are only partially successful in that he falls back on too many of the same old cliches. It's one thing to be able to predict a movie ending (and, ironically, the movie that comes to mind is Red Riding Hood, whose greatest secret I had called before the first fifteen minutes passed) but it is entirely a different thing when you are able to call the ending of a book. I almost put it down several times - a dishonor which I have bestowed on very few books - simply because the events were only proving time and again that my theory was correct. It's no fun to already know the ending of a mediocre book.

That said, it does get two stars, because cheesy romance and 2/3 ridiculous cliched characters aside, Pearce did do some interesting things with the retelling - such as having the Hunters instead on exclusively weak little pixies. It also just may be the fact that I am good at finding the wolves crawling out of the woodwork - many others are may not be able to predict it as well as I did, and for them, this book will certainly be enjoyable.