Beth's Reviews > Rose & Thorn

Very mixed feelings. Here's a retelling of Sleeping Beauty set in a world that would be more interesting, I think, were it not forced to follow the constraints of the fairy tale; Griff's story, as the lonely son trying to prove himself in a grim institution that just barely allows advancement based on merit, is much more compelling than the story that plots his new path.

Or should I say Story? It's a messy concept, the idea that there's a power that forces events to match specific fairy tales, and thus becomes stronger. Why? Why these stories? What does it matter if life matches fairy tales, and why are only certain stories dangerous?

The way the characters begin to separate Rose's beauty from Rose (much more effective when Rose herself is doing the separation) gives me Bone Gap flashbacks, and this doesn't work for me, either - even (once again) things that should work for me, like the idea that the way people respond to beauty is telling, or that good people are able to separate the appearance from the person. And there's pretty heavy foreshadowing that makes an aspect of the ending fall flat.

There's also some interesting gender commentary that doesn't work, mostly because it's mired in this mess: do I really care that (view spoiler)[she ostensibly saves him with a kiss (hide spoiler)] when I'm screaming for both these interesting characters to follow less-charted paths?

It's quite something when a fairy tale retelling outdoes the more famous predecessor in a way that makes its characters feel condemned to terrible lives. Maybe that's the point - but this book isn't nuanced enough to make it.