Synopsis:
Princess Alyrra’s strength lies in silence. Scorned by her family, she avoids the court, spending her time with servants. When her marriage is unexpectedly arranged with the prince of a powerful neighboring kingdom, Alyrra feels trapped. As the court celebrates her match, dark rumors spread about the unexplained deaths of the women of her new family. Alyrra begins her journey with mounting trepidation. Betrayed while traveling, she seizes an opportunity to start a life away from court.
Walking away from a prince whom she doesn’t know should have been easy. But from the moment she sets eyes on him, Alyrra realizes that her freedom could cost him his life. Without any magical defense of her own, she is plunged into a lethal game of sorcery and deceit. Now Alyrra must decide whom she can trust and what she’s willing to fight for—before her silence proves fatal.
As a rule I love fairytale retellings, and The Goose Girl is perhaps one of my favorites of all time. With such expectations for Thorn, I am pleased to announce that it did not disappoint!
At the start, I was worried that Princess Alyrra would turn out to be a whimpering damsel-in-distress. But she proved quite the opposite. Alyrra had a core of iron. She wasn't spoiled by her position in life and she didn't shirk from a hard job. Prince Kestren, though cold in the beginning, quickly revealed a depth to his character, and it was interesting to see how his character shifted throughout the tale.
Characters: 4.2 Stars
As I said before, I love everything about the Goose Girl. I love the magic, the mystery, the frustration as the the villain lives her life in the princess's place. Even more layers of plot existed in Thorn. Though Valka (Alyrra's counterpart) was evil, after she was overcome there was an even greater evil to conquer. All in all it was quite satisfactory. I would liked to have seen a bit more romance between Allyra and Kestren, but there was enough to make the book worthwhile and leave room for their relationship to grow.
Plot: 4.5 Stars
Intisar Khanani's writing was straightforward while still lending the story beauty and building depth to the world. Told in first-person point of view, Alyrra's environment was shaded through her eyes and helped me root for her. I'm definitely looking forward to future books!
Style: 4.2 Stars
Rating: 4.3 Stars
Source: Thorn Blog Tour
Genre: Fantasy
YA Fiction
Author Info:
*Giveaway*
Guys! This is so cool! As part of the book tour, Intisar Khanani is giving away a fantasy cloak that she made herself on a giveaway spanning all blogs participating in the tour!
Hi Valette -
ReplyDeleteThanks for your review of Thorn - I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I struggled a lot with the relationship between Kestrin and Thorn/Alyrra; there's so much that goes on between them that a "happily ever after" romance didn't seem truly realistic...I felt like they needed a little more time to get there than the end of the book could give them. I'm glad their relationship didn't disappoint!
I'm working on a trilogy that follows after Thorn (told from a new character's point of view). I hope you'll consider reviewing it when it comes out :)
Best,
Intisar
http://www.thornthenovel.com
I had not realized this was a retelling of the Goose Girl! That's so cool! I love that fairytale! I'll have to snag a copy for review! Great tour stop!
ReplyDeleteInky @ Book Haven Extraordinaire
I don't think I've ever read a fairy tale retelling of The Goose Girl, so I'm really, really looking forward to reading this book! I'm especially excited after reading your review! Thanks so much for sharing your opinion with us, and for posting such an awesome review:)
ReplyDeleteI'd never even heard of 'the goose girl' before talking to Intisar! It didn't matter though and I loved Thorn! :)
ReplyDelete