Publication date: January 29 2019
Published by: Bloomsbury US
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fairytale, Mystery, Suspense, Magic, Romance
Rating:
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, Harper learned to be tough enough to survive. When she tries to save a stranger on the streets of Washington, DC, she's pulled into a magical world.
Break the curse, save the kingdom.
Harper doesn't know where she is or what to believe. A prince? A curse? A monster? As she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what's at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.
😳
*crickets*
I am shocked. Shocked at how bad this was.
We all know the story - cursed beautiful prince, finds a "plain" and awkward but secretly stunning girl, whose undying love will finally break his curse.
I mean, I knew what I was getting into with the plot so I shouldn't whinge.
But I will.
The book starts when Harper, the main female character who lives in Washington DC, finds herself in a fantasy world after being transported there by an unknown man she happens to be fighting at the time.
---
Unless this is an everyday occurrence to Harper, it makes no sense that she is so nonchalant about it. As soon as she lands in Emberfell, she finds her bearings straight away, she runs to the stables, changes her clothes, hops on a horse and gallops away. She is surprised that she is trapped by men she doesn't know and she is aware that she needs to escape, but she does not express any surprise or shock at where she is, it's like she's right at home, in our world. So that put me off right from the start.
Her personality was OK I guess, bit bland, bit forgettable as a heroine. It was awesome to see people with cerebral palsy represented, but I felt that there was no thought, care or research put behind it at all. We just know that Harper has a slight limp and can't dance-that's it. Not how it affected her life positively or negatively, how it shaped the person she is today, no real depth to it which I guess, for a YA book, I might be asking for a lot :/
Rhen - the prince- had the personality of a tablecloth. He reminded me of the prince from Shrek at times, it was that bad. He was so miserable and pitiful, which yes, I get it's because of the curse but um excuse me, why should I feel sorry for a guy who makes his lackey snatch girls from the real world and bring them to Emberfell where most of them are likely to die (and most of them did!) just to serve his purpose, to make them fall in love with him so he can be uncursed! That's just terrible, why would I ever root for him? There are some hints that Rhen was indeed very selfish and horrible to others in the past before the curse, but isn't the purpose of the curse to change him and make him see the error of his way? Well, after however many seasons of him being cursed, I don't think it was working. He was still the same obnoxious, entitled asshole. I would have been grateful to Lilith for cursing him, if it wasn't all that killing a bunch of people thing.
Chemistry between him and Harper was just not there at all, and talking about them loving each other is just laughable. I felt like Harper was forced to like him, like going "Sigh OK then, come here, I am going to like you from now on because honestly, I have nothing better to do", making their scenes together even more cringey.
Lilith was nothing but a one-dimensional, caricature of a villain, like a cartoonish bad witch that lives in a hut in the middle of the forest and is always hunched over her cauldron. If the book was written better and Kremmerer wanted to go deeper, then she could have written Lilith her own chapters where we could find out more about her, about her past and how she ended up this way. There is a mention of her clan (breed?) of witches but only in passing, not even 2 sentences. Such a waste of a character.
Gray was a bit easier to read and his character was the least boring out of all of them. He had way more chemistry with Harper than she did with Rhen, but I would much prefer it if he ended up with someone else, like Zo maybe? Harper doesn't deserve him.
I have no recollection of the last 70 pages or so, and I read them twice! I was that uninterested to what was happening. I guess the epilogue was promising for those who will be reading book 2...?
There was a tiny voice in my head telling me to stay away from the Curse's hype train. I didn't listen to it and believe me, I paid the price.
Maybe I am getting too old for these tropes and probably I am not the target audience for this book. However! That doesn't change the fact that this book could have been so much better if only for a little bit more effort. There were million things Kremmerer could do differently with her characters, give them more depth, make them more interesting and relatable, make the plot more gripping. But she didn't.
I am glad this book became successful and found its audience, but it's definitely not me.
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