Marina has lived most of her short years in a quiet village with her aunt and uncles. She is gifted with Elemental Magic, but has not yet come into her full powers. She doesn’t know why she hasn’t known her parents, or why she has a sinking feeling of foreboding about her aunt…
This is a retelling of the fairytale Sleeping Beauty. It is intelligently crafted, just as I would expect from an early Lackey novel. Although predictable in nature, it is the little things that make it a reread for me. I really like the character of Marina, and also the brief insights into Andrew Pike that we get through the changing narrative perspective For the most part it is told from Marina’s perspective however.
I do have one little grump about this novel. Marina and Andrew get along well enough, but I feel like there isn’t enough contact between them for this to grow into something more. I would have also loved to have heard more about his treatments, and the care of the insane.
Don’t you just love the cover of this novel? I’m not sure it adequately captures Marina, but the skulls are a giveaway that things might not be all as they seem.
I don’t know what draws me to fairytale retellings. In this case, I had just watched the Disney film of Sleeping Beauty, and it sparked a desire in me to reread this novel.
