As one by one her beautiful sisters mysteriously die on their isolated island estate, Annaleigh must unravel the curse that haunts her family. Be careful who you dance with. . . .
Four of Annaleigh Thaumas's eleven sisters have returned to the Salt, the brackish water that surrounds their lonely island home, their lives cut short, each more tragically than the last. Whispers throughout the Highmoor estate say the girls have been cursed by the gods.
When Annaleigh finds out that her sisters have been sneaking out to attend glittering midnight balls and dance until dawn, she's not sure whether to stop them--or join them. And when she begins to see a series of horrific, ghostly visions and more sisters die, she realizes she must solve the mystery--with the help of Cassius, a sea captain who knows much more about her than he should--and unravel the Thaumas curse before she descends into madness or . . . it claims her next.
You put
creepy and
retelling in one sentence; that's a surefire way of making me read a book.
House of Salt and Sorrows is such a deliciously dark and creepy retelling of "
The 12 Dancing Princesses". I'm not sure why I procrastinated picking up this book because once I started it,
I finished it in one sitting.
~A dark atmospheric setting to match my soul~ (
I'm kidding, I obviously don't have a soul)
The setting has a definitive
dark Gothic feel to it that I
ADORED because what better place for a creepy retelling than on
stormy islands with
family mausoleums and
huge houses? The author does an amazing job describing the setting that I was surprised to look up from the book and realize I wasn't actually at a stormy beach. There are also these micro settings that are wonderful - like a cave the characters discover, the marketplace, magical gardens and
I'm just here for all the whimsical, atmospheric places in this book.
~The horrors that kept me awake the night after I read the book~
I wasn't like scared out of my wits?
But there are these scenes in the book that are creepy in an eerie, almost real way. The kind of creepiness that makes you
check over your shoulder for any shadows that seem out of place or
sneak a glance at the mirror to see if everything looks normal. The main character Annaleigh sees some pretty disturbing visions around their house and some of them were quite graphic.
If you're easily creeped out or super scared of the dark, definitely walk into this book with caution.
“show me debauched nightmares or sunniest daydreams. come not as you are but as you wish to be seen.”
~The 12 Thaumas sisters and the ones still alive~
The story pretty much is shrouded in death,
so much so that it literally opens with a funeral. The author doesn't pull any punches with that. The were 12 Thaumas sisters once but now 4 have died in gruesome ways. The people think the sisters are cursed and as Annaleigh says, their eyes always seem to be asking the sisters, "
which of you will be next?".
"I wanted to chalk it up to the lowbrow superstition, but as a distant aunt approached me, a thin smile on her thin lips, the same question lingered in her eyes, just below the surface, impossible to miss: Which one of us would be next?"
~The dash of mythology, culture and fashion~
The islanders primarily worship the sea god Pontus and I
really liked how the author built a wonderful culture around that. The idea of a Churning festival, change of seasons caused by Pontus stirring the sea with his trident and such little pieces added so much to the world building and made me crave for more myths and stories.
“I dwelt alone, in a world of moan, and my soul was a stagnant tide
Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride”
Also I generally don't enjoy description of dresses and accessories in books but in this book, I
LOVED it. Considering this is a retelling of the 12 dancing princesses, there is of course a focus on beautiful fairy shoes and dancing gowns which added beautifully to the imagery.
“Nestled on a bed of navy velvet were my shoes. I'd selected a jade leather, and the cobbler had added glittering seafoam and silver bits, concentrated heavily at the toes, then fading as they swept across the slipper. They would match my gown perfectly”
~The plot that slaps you in the face with twists at every turn~
This book was definitely NOT predictable. I legit never saw those twists coming. I did make a guess about a certain person which turned out to be partly true but
STILL, so many reveals in the second half of the book that left my head churning. Erin A. Craig brilliantly brings together seemingly unrelated events with such finesse that I'm gobsmacked as to
HOW IS THIS A DEBUT?
~The one thing that made me a bit sore~
I couldn't buy into the whole romance subplot. I mean there were sweet moments that were lovely on their own but as a part of the story, the romance felt kind of insta-love and super rushed to me. I'm not a fan of the whole proclaiming allegiance to someone you met a couple days ago. But many reviewers seem to have enjoyed the romance,
so I think this is a case of "It's not you, it's me"
~Overall, it is an absolutely wonderful retelling with a generous dose of the creepy, the magical and the thrilling. ~
***
Have you read this book? Any favourite fairytale retellings? Tell me in the comments below!
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