Has anybody read this?
I swear to god I think I read this last in *highschool*, but it's been wanting to be re-read, lately.
(And if you don't know what that means, I'm not sure I can help you. X-D)
It was, I *think*, a young adult book.
It was set up in a very Old-Fashioned Fairy Tale style. There were rumors of a Something that was taking beautiful women, so all the really beautiful girls started staying home. The protagonist was only average, so thought she'd be safe. Unfortunately, she was the prettiest girl *out* on the night she was taken. Dark of the moon, I think?
I remember that she was taken to a castle/tower/thing, where the women who had been taken before were kept, and she was put to tending them. They were... ephemeral, still physical but very weak and frail, though not in pain. She was told to clothe them, as their current garb was too heavy and rough, and given a drop-spindle. (I had no idea what one was, and I was very confused.)
She's told she'll have to spin for them 'from herself', this confuses the hell out of her, as "I haven't enough hair on my head for even one kirtle!" Finally she gets the spindle to work, and it turns out that it spins what she *feels* for the women. At first it's contempt, which burns her fingers as she spins it. Then pity, which is coarse and rough and heavy, and weighs them down. Then finally she runs out of pity and comes to love them, and is spinning amazing beautiful fine threads that are light as a feather.
The guy who stole them all is under a curse from Ye Olde Evil Witch-type-person, and there's a whole thing where the girl goes on a quest to free him, which involves a hoof from... something, so she and her guardian/mentor can brew the pure essence of life. And a supersharp knife. And... some other stuff. IDK man.
It turned out that one of the things the witch had done with the curse was encase the dude's heart in lead, to keep him unfeeling. So the girl used the supersharp knife to cut open her own chest and replace his heart with hers. The mentor basically went "Tsk, you've no sense at all. Still, this might work better in the end." Then he melts the lead off of Dude's discarded heart, and puts it in her chest.
Then there was the usual, y'know. Happy ever after and all that.
Oh and they poisoned the Witch with the distilled Life. I remember that. And freed the other girls. Also, Dude was a dick for much of the early parts, constantly bitching that she wasn't *nearly* as pretty as the girls he'd taken before.
Help? I can't remember the title *or* the author, and it's driving me bonkers.
(And if you don't know what that means, I'm not sure I can help you. X-D)
It was, I *think*, a young adult book.
It was set up in a very Old-Fashioned Fairy Tale style. There were rumors of a Something that was taking beautiful women, so all the really beautiful girls started staying home. The protagonist was only average, so thought she'd be safe. Unfortunately, she was the prettiest girl *out* on the night she was taken. Dark of the moon, I think?
I remember that she was taken to a castle/tower/thing, where the women who had been taken before were kept, and she was put to tending them. They were... ephemeral, still physical but very weak and frail, though not in pain. She was told to clothe them, as their current garb was too heavy and rough, and given a drop-spindle. (I had no idea what one was, and I was very confused.)
She's told she'll have to spin for them 'from herself', this confuses the hell out of her, as "I haven't enough hair on my head for even one kirtle!" Finally she gets the spindle to work, and it turns out that it spins what she *feels* for the women. At first it's contempt, which burns her fingers as she spins it. Then pity, which is coarse and rough and heavy, and weighs them down. Then finally she runs out of pity and comes to love them, and is spinning amazing beautiful fine threads that are light as a feather.
The guy who stole them all is under a curse from Ye Olde Evil Witch-type-person, and there's a whole thing where the girl goes on a quest to free him, which involves a hoof from... something, so she and her guardian/mentor can brew the pure essence of life. And a supersharp knife. And... some other stuff. IDK man.
It turned out that one of the things the witch had done with the curse was encase the dude's heart in lead, to keep him unfeeling. So the girl used the supersharp knife to cut open her own chest and replace his heart with hers. The mentor basically went "Tsk, you've no sense at all. Still, this might work better in the end." Then he melts the lead off of Dude's discarded heart, and puts it in her chest.
Then there was the usual, y'know. Happy ever after and all that.
Oh and they poisoned the Witch with the distilled Life. I remember that. And freed the other girls. Also, Dude was a dick for much of the early parts, constantly bitching that she wasn't *nearly* as pretty as the girls he'd taken before.
Help? I can't remember the title *or* the author, and it's driving me bonkers.