Review #542
This was a very good choice for my annual tradition of finding a Nutcracker retelling. I absolutely loved the dark vibe and shadowy prose that painted the grotesquely gorgeous land of Natasha and her twin Clara.
It was much more psychological and inner-awareness themed than I expected which was a pleasant surprise. The concept of light and dark had the potential for a lot of debates and controversial bookclub topics that often aren’t an option during fantasy novels.
I give this a 4.75/5 stars. Here are my ramblings and comments while reading (beware of spoilers):
The Overture was written beautifully. At their christening, Natasha was cursed with darkness compared to her twin sister, blessed with light. Their strange godfather is a wizard of sorts and I’m curious to see how the Nutcracker story will enfold.
Natasha is in love with Conrad, and it seems her (secretly pregnant) sister has just been promised to marry him instead. Oh la la. The scandal.
After Act 1 I’m absolutely loving the prose. Though Natasha has an impressive vocabulary for a 16 year old.
At the halfway point I’m loving the vibe so much. My only complaint is sometimes the time sequences feel disorienting in the writing. Such as “… as the years passed …” but then she backtracks.
After Act 3 I’m impressed by the light/dark theme of Natasha turned Clara and am engrossed in her character arc and morality more than I have been with many others recently.
So I don’t like when several years pass within a book and time is summarized, but alas that is where we are. The ending section also felt too political and unrepresentative of carrying over the continuation of the vibe of the whole book. I understand there was symbolism involved throughout but it felt too heavy handed and the very end.
Also… the last page was beautiful. And I want to quote the whole thing. So I shall.
“We might have been anything and gone anywhere, for in that moment, it seemed that we were both dancers, both pirates, both duchesses and knights. She had forgiven me, and I had forgiven her, and so at last we were together, both of us at the end, just as we were at the beginning- free- as though we had never been divided, as though we had passed through all of it, this wild theatrical of life, And somehow come out whole on the other side.”