A Curse so Dark and Lonely
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Australia
Release date: 4th February 2019
Pages: 477 pages
R.R.P: $16.99
A compulsively readable, contemporary fantasy retellings of Beauty and the Beast, starring a tough young heroine with cerebral palsy and a beast who is a genuinely vicious monster.
It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl feel, for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each Autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was. Error he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, D.C., she's instead somehow sucked into Rhen's cursed world.
A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn't know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what's at stake. And as Rhen realises Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall...and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.
My Review
Thoughts in the book: A Curse so Dark and Lonely is the new novel from Brigid Kemmerer which is a modern retellings of Beauty and the Beast just not the way you might know or remember it. Prince Rhen has been cursed by a powerful enchantress who he wronged and is forced to repeat his eighteenth year over and over again until he falls in love and breaks the curse. The difference between this story and the normal story is that Prince Rhen isn't changed into a beast from when the curse is first started instead he has until the seasons changes before he changes into a monster, but it's a different monster each time. After so many seasons, Prince Rhen has lost hope of ever breaking the curse and has let his kingdom of Emberfall fall into disrepair but this season is to be his last chance to break the curse. So when his right hand man Grey brings back the latest girl from our world she is very different from the others. Harper has been fighting her whole life to just get through everyday, her mother has cancer and is fighting to survive, her brother is trying to pay off their father's debt and Harper herself has Cerebral Palsy and has to fight daily to get people to see her as a normal teenager. But when she is brought into Emberfall Harper sees Rhen's people are suffering and does something about it. Slowly but surely Rhen, Grey and Harper start to get the kingdom in some sort of order but will it all be for nothing? Will they be able to save their Kingdom from the new threat that is threating to take over Emberfall while also keeping the monster at bay?
A massive thank you to Sonia from Bloomsbury Publishing for sending me a copy of A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer to read and review. I love a good fairytale retelling and I've found Beauty and the Beast retellings are my favourite because they can be twisted in so many different ways. I adored this retelling and think it is my favourite retelling of a fairytale so far.
The characters were ones that we can all invest in and love in different ways.The fact that the 'beast' changes form with each season and has no recollection of who he is while he is this 'beast'. This means that after he returns to his human state he has to deal with the reprocussions of what he has done while being the 'beast'. We learn throughout the book that he has lost all of his family and has been letting his kingdom run itself because he believes that they are better off without his interference. All that changes though when his 'Belle' enters his world, but his 'Belle' is very different from our normal version that we grew up with and I'll admit that I loved this version. Harper is a 'Belle' that we should all aspire to be not letting her Cerebral Palsy define her and proving each and everyday that she can do more than people believe. Then there is Prince Rhen's right hand man Grey who is very mysterious and continues to stay mysterious throughout the book. We get to find out little snippets about his past and why he has stayed with Prince Rhen throughout his curse but there is still so much mystery surrounding him which I hope we will discover more about in book 2.
I adored that Harper goes from a modern day world filled with technology into a mythical world that is medieval in theme. Harper learns to live without her phone, Internet and television and learns to instead help a kingdom that is fighting to come back from the brink of ruin. Using a bow and arrow and sword are all new concepts to Harper and she becomes stronger and stronger in these fields the longer she is in Emberfall. She certainly makes a name for herself and changes the way the kingdom sees Prince Rhen. I can't wait for book 2 to come out and see where Rhen, Harper and Grey are taken next on their adventures. Bring on January 2020!
Rating: 4/5
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