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rubeusbeaky 's review for:
The Mirror's Tale
by P.W. Catanese
Catanese has an immaculate writing style: No words wasted, the characters speak for themselves, and the danger and the intrigue keep your heart in your throat throughout the whole book! Definitely a master class in How to Write a Book!
I was head over heels for the premise: Snow White retold as a sibling rivalry instead of a mother-daughter relationship. The protagonists are 12 year old twins, and all the jealousy, insecurity, desire to impress, budding independence, and struggles with family, are all extremely relatable to a middle grade/teenage audience. I was especially moved by the too-real devolution of two kids who used to be best friends falling out when the world tested them.
I did, however, remove a star because the book got a little bumpy after page 200. The focus wasn't so much on the brothers, but rather on their abusive uncle. Giving them a common supervillain to face meant that the brothers never really had to reconcile with the choices they made earlier on, especially Bert, who gets welcomed back like a hero. And the story wraps up very abruptly and saccharinely, which I felt cheapened what the book had set up.
However, on the flip side, once the story switched its focus to the abusive uncle, Bert's chapters got REALLY dark: His uncle starves him and chains him up; Bert's magic-withdrawal is described like an addict suffering from drug withdrawal and he gets horribly sick; he becomes depressed and fatalistic; and the demon whose magic he craves literally sucks his soul out. Don't do drugs, kiddies! O_O This whoooole chunk of the book was for a much more mature audience than the first half or the finale were.
But compliment sandwich: I could tell that this was the first draft of Happenstance Found. I could see how the demon which can see you wherever you go, or the protagonist who feels disconnected from his feelings, were going to evolve into a book for an older audience. It was nice to see Hap again ^_^. Made me nostalgic, and it makes me want to find more Catanese books!
A worthy read if you love dark fairytale retellings.
I was head over heels for the premise: Snow White retold as a sibling rivalry instead of a mother-daughter relationship. The protagonists are 12 year old twins, and all the jealousy, insecurity, desire to impress, budding independence, and struggles with family, are all extremely relatable to a middle grade/teenage audience. I was especially moved by the too-real devolution of two kids who used to be best friends falling out when the world tested them.
I did, however, remove a star because the book got a little bumpy after page 200. The focus wasn't so much on the brothers, but rather on their abusive uncle. Giving them a common supervillain to face meant that the brothers never really had to reconcile with the choices they made earlier on, especially Bert, who gets welcomed back like a hero. And the story wraps up very abruptly and saccharinely, which I felt cheapened what the book had set up.
However, on the flip side, once the story switched its focus to the abusive uncle, Bert's chapters got REALLY dark: His uncle starves him and chains him up; Bert's magic-withdrawal is described like an addict suffering from drug withdrawal and he gets horribly sick; he becomes depressed and fatalistic; and the demon whose magic he craves literally sucks his soul out. Don't do drugs, kiddies! O_O This whoooole chunk of the book was for a much more mature audience than the first half or the finale were.
But compliment sandwich: I could tell that this was the first draft of Happenstance Found. I could see how the demon which can see you wherever you go, or the protagonist who feels disconnected from his feelings, were going to evolve into a book for an older audience. It was nice to see Hap again ^_^. Made me nostalgic, and it makes me want to find more Catanese books!
A worthy read if you love dark fairytale retellings.