As fairy tale retellings go, I'm quite fond of this series. Rereading it in 2020, I'm aware of how gendered and heteronormative it is (including the fact that

Spoiler

it ultimately took a man to save the girls, despite Rose's best efforts

), as well as the fact that the worldbuilding could be more smoothly incorporated. The morality is simplistic and the villains/antagonists are fairly plain archetypes.

But the plot and pacing are engaging, the characters are differentiated and nuanced (no small feat, since this features all twelve princesses!), and I'm delighted that knitting patterns are included at the back of the book since I wanted to try them out for myself.

content warnings:

Spoiler

precanon death of parents & younger sibling, blood, gaslighting

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CONVERSION: 11.6 / 15 = 4 stars

Prose: 7 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 8 / 10
Emotional Impact: 6 / 10
Development / Flow: 8 / 10
Setting: 9 / 10

Diversity & Social Themes: N/A
Intellectual Engagement: N/A
Originality / Trope Execution: 4 / 5
Rereadability: 4 / 5
Memorability: 4 / 5
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[2014 review]
I don't know if it's the different fairy tale base, Rose's maturity compared to Poppy's teenage antics, or Galen's valiance and dreaminess over Christian's moony-eyed dreaming, but this book was better than the sequel (that I accidentally read first).