Book #219 of 2019:
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
I was initially on board for this Poe-inflected retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, but the middle is a bit of a generic YA slog and the ending really goes off the rails with unearned revelations about the setting’s mythology. (It’s fine to have Tortall-style gods and tricksters meddling in the mortal realm, but you can’t just spring that on a reader when the novel is almost over.) I also didn’t care for either of the lying love interests, and I wanted more focus on elements from the original fairy tale like the actual dancing and the contest to uncover how it’s been done. The premise that the sisters are steadily dying off is great, and the atmosphere is suitably creepy, but the story just doesn’t work for me as it goes along.
[Content warning for gore, childbirth, miscarriage, and discussion of suicide.]
★★☆☆☆
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