Entwined by Heather Dixon
Publisher: Greenwillow, 2011
Genre: Fantasy
Sub-genre: Fairy tale, Swords and Sorcery, YA
Rating: 4 pints of blood
This cover is simply gorgeous. The muted colours, the dress, the hair, the foliage... it all conveys a mood of another time and place. And look at our cover girl! She's not lying around passively, she's holding up her skirts and she's going places. We've got a girl here who goes and gets stuff done, and I am all over that. Also, did I mention it's very very pretty?
There are two reasons I picked up this book. First, someone told me it was a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairytale, and since that's one of the often overlooked fairytales, I was intrigued. Then I saw the gorgeous cover, and well... the two things combined were stronger than my willpower. Which I suppose isn't all that hard when it comes to books and things, since that's why we're all here, right?
When Azalea's mother dies, her world --and that of her eleven younger sisters-- is changed forever. The sisters are forced into a year of mourning, in which they have to wear black, cover all the windows, and refrain from anything social, any visits to the gardens, and any dancing. Since the girls love dancing more than nearly anything else, this proves to be the most difficult part of mourning for them, especially since it's strictly enforced by their stoic and distant father, who seems much more interested in official royal business than in his twelve devastated daughters.
But one day Azalea discovers there are little magical pockets throughout the castle, left over from a time long past. There's even a secret, magical passageway in the girls' room, which leads to an amazing ballroom, filled every night with music and dancers, all led by the mysterious Keeper, who invites the girls to come and dance every night. Since they can't be discovered breaking their mourning in this secret place, and dancing is the only comfort they have, the girls agree eagerly. Azalea finds, though, that started as an innocent respite soon has a dark price to it, one she and her sisters may not be able to pay.
There are certain things I expect from a fairytale before I even get into the story, and fortunately Entwined had its bases covered. While Dixon took the old tale and made it her own, the flavour of a fairytale remains, with a world full of magic and wonder and bloody, bloody death. Or, in some cases, a fate worse than death.
Azalea and her family are very well drawn. There are a lot of characters there, but somehow it's pretty easy to keep them straight and the older girls all have quite distinct personalities. While the story is told from Azalea's viewpoint, it's not hard to see where her father is coming from, even when they're at odds, and the relationship between the two of them (and, to a lesser extent, between the king and the rest of his daughters) is an important subplot, giving an emotional depth not often found in books marketed as "romantic YA." Not that there's anything wrong with your standard romantic YA, but Entwined goes a step beyond that.
The worldbuilding was wonderful. Nothing overly complex, just very natural for the story's needs. The castle had a bit of a sordid history, but it was just accepted by the girls as a part of everyday life. Nothing special about it, that's just the way things were. With the exception of the discovery of magical secret passages, the magic pockets were treated in the same way, as just a fact of life they'd always lived with, so there was nothing unusual or marvellous about it, even though none of the characters had any magical abilities of their own.
The one spot in this otherwise delightful book, actually, was the love interest. Oh, there was nothing wrong with the guy Azalea chose for herself, but that's sort of the problem. He really didn't have much of a personality other than being nice. And nice is nice, but well, I tend to hope for more than warm brown eyes and a kind demeanor. The second and third oldest sisters, Bramble and Clover, each had their own suitors and they were ironically given more personality and conflict than the main two. I was actually far more interested in the possibilities of Clover's suitor than in Azalea's, but since she's a secondary character we saw very little of how that played out. Really, though, that's a pretty small niggle considering the romance is such a minor part of the story, taking a backseat to the main plot.
If you like your fairytales rich and layered, if you're interested in complex family relationships, if you enjoy heroines who work to take control of their own worlds, this is exactly the book you want to be reading. Now get thyself to a bookstore.
Entwined is available in hardcover
.
Genre: Fantasy
Sub-genre: Fairy tale, Swords and Sorcery, YA
Rating: 4 pints of blood
This cover is simply gorgeous. The muted colours, the dress, the hair, the foliage... it all conveys a mood of another time and place. And look at our cover girl! She's not lying around passively, she's holding up her skirts and she's going places. We've got a girl here who goes and gets stuff done, and I am all over that. Also, did I mention it's very very pretty?
There are two reasons I picked up this book. First, someone told me it was a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairytale, and since that's one of the often overlooked fairytales, I was intrigued. Then I saw the gorgeous cover, and well... the two things combined were stronger than my willpower. Which I suppose isn't all that hard when it comes to books and things, since that's why we're all here, right?
When Azalea's mother dies, her world --and that of her eleven younger sisters-- is changed forever. The sisters are forced into a year of mourning, in which they have to wear black, cover all the windows, and refrain from anything social, any visits to the gardens, and any dancing. Since the girls love dancing more than nearly anything else, this proves to be the most difficult part of mourning for them, especially since it's strictly enforced by their stoic and distant father, who seems much more interested in official royal business than in his twelve devastated daughters.
But one day Azalea discovers there are little magical pockets throughout the castle, left over from a time long past. There's even a secret, magical passageway in the girls' room, which leads to an amazing ballroom, filled every night with music and dancers, all led by the mysterious Keeper, who invites the girls to come and dance every night. Since they can't be discovered breaking their mourning in this secret place, and dancing is the only comfort they have, the girls agree eagerly. Azalea finds, though, that started as an innocent respite soon has a dark price to it, one she and her sisters may not be able to pay.
There are certain things I expect from a fairytale before I even get into the story, and fortunately Entwined had its bases covered. While Dixon took the old tale and made it her own, the flavour of a fairytale remains, with a world full of magic and wonder and bloody, bloody death. Or, in some cases, a fate worse than death.
Azalea and her family are very well drawn. There are a lot of characters there, but somehow it's pretty easy to keep them straight and the older girls all have quite distinct personalities. While the story is told from Azalea's viewpoint, it's not hard to see where her father is coming from, even when they're at odds, and the relationship between the two of them (and, to a lesser extent, between the king and the rest of his daughters) is an important subplot, giving an emotional depth not often found in books marketed as "romantic YA." Not that there's anything wrong with your standard romantic YA, but Entwined goes a step beyond that.
The worldbuilding was wonderful. Nothing overly complex, just very natural for the story's needs. The castle had a bit of a sordid history, but it was just accepted by the girls as a part of everyday life. Nothing special about it, that's just the way things were. With the exception of the discovery of magical secret passages, the magic pockets were treated in the same way, as just a fact of life they'd always lived with, so there was nothing unusual or marvellous about it, even though none of the characters had any magical abilities of their own.
The one spot in this otherwise delightful book, actually, was the love interest. Oh, there was nothing wrong with the guy Azalea chose for herself, but that's sort of the problem. He really didn't have much of a personality other than being nice. And nice is nice, but well, I tend to hope for more than warm brown eyes and a kind demeanor. The second and third oldest sisters, Bramble and Clover, each had their own suitors and they were ironically given more personality and conflict than the main two. I was actually far more interested in the possibilities of Clover's suitor than in Azalea's, but since she's a secondary character we saw very little of how that played out. Really, though, that's a pretty small niggle considering the romance is such a minor part of the story, taking a backseat to the main plot.
If you like your fairytales rich and layered, if you're interested in complex family relationships, if you enjoy heroines who work to take control of their own worlds, this is exactly the book you want to be reading. Now get thyself to a bookstore.
Entwined is available in hardcover
.