A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer – Book Review

After hearing countless people on book twitter rave about A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer, I bought a copy for myself on a whim! But, if you know anything about me, you know that this book would have sat on my shelf for years to come. However, thanks to the Disney Read-a-Thon, I read… and LOVED… it! So, here is my formal thank you to book twitter! Maybe, sometimes the book does live up to the hype.

Disclaimers:

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Rating: 5/5 Stars

Content Warnings: suicidal ideation, mentions of pedophilia, sexual assault, suicide

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Wow, I really enjoyed this! I don’t have too much more to say other than, I loved it! At the start of reading this book, I was a little wary because I suspected that this might end up being a typical YA retelling. I feared a rehashing of the same fairytale that has been done thousands of times. Also, I feared it would be full of far too many tropes. And, to be honest, most of this is true, but it was so well done that I didn’t seem to care.

First, I loved the short chapters, switching between the perspectives of the two main characters, Rhen and Harper. The short chapters helped move the story along while continuing to have enough material to keep it interesting. In my opinion, the chapters were the perfect length, not too short but not too long, therefore pushing the story along nicely.

The characterization in this story was superb. Harper is the princess we all wanted and definitely deserved! The author wrote fleshed out characters, making for a truly dynamic story! While there are few characters in this book, each one was full and lively. This is also true for the world-building, which was incredibly whimsical and magical!

Overall, this has to be one of my favorite reads of the year, and I recommend this book to all the fantasy lovers!