Genre: Young Adult Horror, Romance
Published: Delacorte Press, August 2019
My Rating: 1.5 stars
“We are born of the Salt, we live by the Salt, and to the Salt we return.”
I realized full well that I’m not the target audience for this book going in. I’m not a teen, nor do I typically like fairytale retellings. Also, 12 Dancing Princesses is one of my least favourite fairytales… Yet the other elements of this story (a gloomy gothic mansion by the sea, family-lore, a haunting, a curse and a night full of dancing specters) and the first few chapters had me so excited that I had togive this one a go.
Objectively, there’s a decent Young Adult romance-horror in there… Subjectively I kind of hated it and am left with mixed, but mostly disappointed feelings.
The Story:
Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a gothic manor by the sea, along with her 11 sisters, father and stepmother. Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls have died shortly after another in tragic circumstances in the night. Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?
What I Liked:
Erin A. Craig understood the assignment when it came to the “aesthetics” of her book. I don’t only mean the stunning cover, but more importantly the images she manages to conjure in the readers head. The haunted manor, the misty ocean-side setting, the eerie dances and the lavish ballgowns. I’d pay good money to see a movie adaptation, júst to admire the costume-design and set-dressing. It makes for a unique atmosphere that is both eerie, beautiful, haunting and melancholic. Combined with the aforementioned premise; I actually the first 1/3 of the book, with the exception of a couple of gripes. It was about that time when I started to realize my mistake. Ironically befitting to the story itself; beyond the glitter, glamour and aesthetics of it all, there’s little substance to back the rest of the novel.
What I didn’t like:
First things first, the characters are abysmal and lack the even the faintest trace of development throughout the story. Let’s start with our main character Annaleigh, of whom I can name not a single character-trait, other than her instalove for the love-interest (don’t worry, we’ll get to this later). The same holds true for all 12 of her sisters, whom character-traits include “being the oldest and dead”, “being the youngest and creepy”, and… honestly can’t name any of the other 10, they’re that bland. This lack of any character-development, including any chemistry between them on page, makes it very difficult to feel invested in what’s supposed to be a quite emotional storyline. The book speaks a lot about grief (very imaginable if you’ve lost half of your sisters and your mother in such a short time), but we never get to feel that emotion as the reader, due to the poor character-writing. The only character who, in my opinion, had the potential for an intriguing arc was Morella. Unfortunately, she’s done dirty in the end, so no hopes there…
So are the male-characters any better then? If you count “broody and handsome” as character-traits; then yes. Otherwise: they’re just as abysmal, if not worse. The combination of bland characters, overemphasis on physical traits as the only characterization and the overall abundance of instalove-lovetriangle-hyperdramatic- shenanigans typical of a 2003-YA novel made this painful to read for me. I might be an old tart, with a low tolerance for this stuff, but I physically cringed at some of the descriptions and lines of dialogue!
Just to give you a taste, I'll provide a few quotes at the bottom of my review.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: intense grief and insta-lust don’t belong on the same page in a YA-novel, despite them being chugged together so often. The moment you try to sell me that a girl whom sister just passed tragically yesterday, is thís obsessed with a boy she’s only just met, or worse: that these sisters are more concerned with “dying unkissed before they meet a boy” than anything else, you lose me.
Last things last, I mentioned I liked the first 1/3. It’s because after that, the story takes quite a bit of a turn away from its set-up of ghosts, grief and madness. Instead we get a rushed resolution that hinges on trickster god(esse)s and demi-gods that had little to do with anything set up at the start. I'd have liked either thát plotline to be set up properly, ór to have been given a resolution to do with the foreshadowed ghosts. This sudden switch of focus just felt unsatisfying.
Overall: this book was best dressed at the ball, but had absolutely no substance to back it with. A sugar-paper-rose that dissolves at the slightest drop of water.
You can find this book here on Goodreads.
For your entertainment: here are some quotes that made me cringe:
The way our love-interest is introduced:
“I felt completely dwarfed by him, barely coming to his shoulders. My eyes lingered on their broad expanse for a moment longer than was entirely proper. He must be a sea captain I thought, sensing the muscles beneath his fine wool jacket. It wasn’t hard to picture him raising a heavy sail, one hoist at the time. His hair was unfashionably long, the dark curls stopping just shy of his jawline. One curl brushed the corner of his mouth, and I had a sudden and thoroughly horrifying desire to push it aside, just to feel its softness.”
Lady, this is the first time you see this man, get a grip!
“Skies like this were made to be kissed under”
“You smell like sunlight” if you know, you know…
