Cinder And Ella by Melissa Lemon
ebook, 208 pages
Expecting Publication at Nov. 2011 by Boneville Books
REVIEW:
First thing the author says to you at the prologue, is that there is no prince, no happy fairytale, no fairy godmother. I could say there is nothing in common. Only the name which is actually two names. You can easily see it as a total different story, no related with Cinderella.
The author actually tells the story as a fairytale. It's written in third person and following almost all characters and not only the two girls. It's easy to read, though i wouldn't mind more description at some certain parts. I was wondering a lot about the tree in the cover, and i can tell you that is explained in the story. It's a really nice idea actually. The whole story is an adventure with bits of romance and action.
While i liked the characters in general, i have to say they weren't developed enough. Except Ella, all of them had a naive and sketchy way of thinking. Everyone could make do Cinder what they wanted. She barely judged them, or had an opinion. The other sisters were just mean. The knight was too honorable. It was almost creepy for me. The evil guy, wasn't something special and i hated everyone in the kingdom for doing nothing about it. The king at the end, just exile the evil prince but all the previous time..for years..he had him there to rule and looking without doing a thing, even though he knew everything about his evil acts. I still can't understand why he didn't do it sooner since he could.
I did enjoy the story but the characters ruined it for me. Except that, it was a really original idea and a fast read into a darker fairytale world.
Thanks Netgalley and the publications for a digital copy of the book.
Both Maxine and I read this book recently. I have to agree that the characters should have been better developed.
ReplyDeleteSorry this one didn't totally work for you. The idea sounds so original, so it's a shame that the book needed to be fleshed out so much more.
ReplyDelete@Misha: i've read Maxine's review i believe. Maybe you should post yours too ;)
ReplyDelete@Small: And it is original as an idea. Some years back, the publishers were thinking more or were taking more time to what to publish. Now, they just publish almost everything.
how can it be original with that title? this is not a book i would read, but the title makes me want NOT to read it more, i hate it when people take advantage of something famous just to sell more copies by misleading the readers..
ReplyDelete@athanasia: they don't take advantage of anything. it's re-telling. they never mislead anyone actually. there is a whole "genre" for re-telling of stories. i didn't see you had that problem with True Blood or Red Riding Hood though XD
ReplyDelete@yiota: you are right i haven't thought of those XD and i didn't know there was a whole "genre" for re-telling of stories, it is quite interesting actually.
ReplyDeletebut why True Blood?
@athanasia: True Blood plays with the usual myths on werewolves,vampires, witches, etc as well ;) it's like re-telling in a way.
ReplyDelete