Review: The Storyteller's Daughter by Victoria McCombs
Hello bookworms!
Today, I’m so excited to share with you this amazing Rumpelstiltskin retelling called The Storyteller’s Daughter by Victoria McCombs! This book released on July 14, 2020 from Parliament Press, so you can already go check it out and immerse yourself in the wonderful world of Westfallen.
Synopsis:
"His shadowed face lit by flames,
Rumpelstiltskin is my name...
For as long as anyone can remember, every child in Westfallen has been born with a Gift, and these Gifts defined them.
Then Cosette is born, Giftless.
An attempt to hide her misfortune brings her before the King, who entraps her to use her Gift as a pawn in his war.
Caught in a lie, Cosette desperately searches for a power strong enough to free her. Intrigued by whispers of an old king and a dark curse, she calls upon Rumpelstiltskin and finds him trapped in a magic deeper than she bargained for. Now, Cosette must fight to reclaim her freedom from the King and break Rumpel’s curse. When time runs out, she’ll lose more than her heart. She’ll lose her life.
THE STORYTELLER’S DAUGHTER is a Rumpelstiltskin retelling that will satisfy fans of Gail Carson Levine’s ELLA ENCHANTED, as well as Jessica Day George’s DRAGON SLIPPERS and PRINCESS OF GLASS, and Cameron Dokey’s THE WORLD ABOVE."
Review:
(MILD SPOILERS, PROCEED WITH CAUTION)
I really enjoyed this retelling. In the beginning, I thought Cosette worried a little bit too much about why she was summoned to the palace (there was a lot of repetitiveness about her worrying), but she became a stronger, and more confident character throughout the book. I thought she went through some great character development! The sorceress in this book reminded me a lot of Lucinda from Ella Enchanted. Cosette’s love interests though… oh my goodness. What a variety! I really liked how different they were personality-wise, because you could really clearly tell who was the best guy there. Aiden was such a toxic and lowkey abusive guy with how he kept pushing Cosette to marry him and just how he talks to her and acts towards her overall. Prince Conrad was okay, he was pleasant but he was like the nice guy who isn’t really that nice because he also kept trying to push Cosette into marrying him. Rumpel was my favourite because he was super respectful towards Cosette, he respected her boundaries, and he was flawed but he was such a sweetheart! One thing I loved was how Cosette’s romance was not rushed and it took practically the entire book to develop.
I loved how Victoria’s plot kept the main aspects of Rumpelstiltskin’s story but twisted them into a new and creative retelling. I loved the funky names of certain characters and places. One mild issue I had with the story was the anachronistic writing. It seemed like this story would be set in a medieval time but Victoria used a lot of modern terms and diction which was a tad bit confusing. Also, one thing that I found unique about her story was how the characters don’t really act how you would think they would in that setting. An example of this is Anna’s character, Cosette’s maid at the palace, who acted extremely informally when she first met Cosette. She was such a sweet character though.
Another thing I didn’t really understand was Prince Conrad’s side plot. Throughout the book, Rumpel makes it seem like Conrad has this deep, dark, secret and can’t be trusted, but when Cosette confronts him about it, his secret isn’t too bad. It’s questionable behaviour but not as bad as Rumpel’s secret. Also, after Cosette confronts Conrad then that is basically the end of that suspicion and nothing else really happened. I was expecting the Conrad being a secret bad boy arc to lead to something super bad so I thought it was definitely anti-climactic.
Overall I thought this book was a great retelling of Rumpelstiltskin and I’m so excited to read Victoria’s next book, Woods of Silver and Light which releases on February 9, 2021. This book will focus on Anika, Cosette’s feisty younger sister.
Rating:
4/5 🌟
Happy reading!
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