Thornspell

by Helen Lowe

You know those signs some factories have that say, "57 safe work days" or something of the sort? I've always thought it must be kinda pitiful the day they have to change it to "0 safe work days" since somebody got hurt the day before. Now I need a sign that says something like, "89 days since a dud book". Unfortunately, today is the day mine reads "0 days" because this book was a dud!

I picked up Thornspell by Helen Lowe at the library. I found it online and read some reviews (all positive) and i just thought it looked fun! So I put it on hold and was able to pick it up and get started on it this week. And that's were the fun ended.

I think the concept for this book is really cool. It's a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, told from the perspective of the prince. I thought the prince really lacked personality though, and I found it very hard to be interested in his story at all. Plus, he has a horrible name - Sigismund. I found myself just glossing over it as I read, or reading it as "Sigmund" or "Sigsimund" instead. Granted "Sigsimund" would be weird as well, but it does seem to flow better.

Another thing I didn't like was the magical element of the story. Now I love magic in books, but in this book it just didn't make sense! She talked about currents and paths of energy or power, and alternate universes, and it all just seemed like a jumbled mess. There was no explanation as to what kinds of magic they used and how it worked so I felt like almost out of the loop the whole time.

Now when I got to around page 200, it seemed that things were going to finally get interesting. But once again the story just fizzled out. It seemed like the author was trying to write this grand epic conflict of good and evil, and it was all just a bit contrived. The villain wasn't that villainous, the hero not that heroic, and everyone else was just sort of there with no obvious purpose. And then there was the big reveal of the mystery girl who we met at the beginning - too bad I'd seen that twist coming a mile away.

Sigh. I hate being disappointed by books. Hopefully I will enjoy my next selection more!