Merrie Haskell

This was different. This started off as the Twelve Dancing Princesses and quickly turned into a Persephone story with hints of Beauty and the Beast. There were a number of things I really liked about this - the first was the setting, which was a fictional country in Eastern Europe. It was very refreshing to read a fantasy book that wasn't set in France or the British Isles.

I also appreciated the darker aspects of the story. As a child, I was always a bit ambivalent towards the Dancing Princesses because it seemed so stupid - they danced and wore holes in their shoes, and that was supposed to be a horrible curse that the king wanted solved so much? In Haskell's version, the dancing was tied into a sleeping sickness for any who tried to observe the princesses at night, and seismic events if any of the princesses left.

I also just liked the main character. She was full of chutzpah, and intelligent and independent.

My only complaint was that the book ended too early and with so many threads still left hanging. This was, I gather, the first in a series. So I ended the book feeling both frustrated because the story wasn't over, and hopeful that there would be more.… (more)

Trying to get out this horrible reading slump I'm in... I grabbed this book because it's short, required minimal brain power, I liked the author's previous book, and hey - dragons!

It was a super fast read, and while it had unexpected complexity to the plot (which honestly I should have expected given that Haskell's first book was also like that), I wished it was longer/deeper/more. The story ended and I wanted to scream in frustration because really, there was so much more that the author left unresolved. Yes, the main plot was resolved but I had just gotten to like the characters, and I definitely wanted to see more of Curschin.

I loved the subtle weaving of the Bluebeard story into the plot… (more)