Synopsis:
One hundred years after falling asleep, Princess Aurora wakes up to the kiss of a handsome prince and a broken kingdom that has been dreaming of her return. All the books say that she should be living happily ever after. But as Aurora understands all too well, the truth is nothing like the fairy tale.Her family is long dead. Her "true love" is a kind stranger. And her whole life has been planned out by political foes while she slept.
As Aurora struggles to make sense of her new world, she begins to fear that the curse has left its mark on her, a fiery and dangerous thing that might be as wicked as the witch who once ensnared her. With her wedding day drawing near, Aurora must make the ultimate decision on how to save her kingdom: marry the prince or run.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟
I went into this novel with pretty low expectations. I had seen the bad
reviews, but bought it anyway because the cover was gorgeous. I was pleasantly surprised by how I enjoyed this novel.
A lot of the negative reviews criticize how much of a passive character Aurora is. I'm not much of a fan of the damsel in distress trope, but I dislike it because I see YA authors try to pass off a poorly written, weak character as some sort of strong, badass heroine. This wasn't the case with Aurora. Yes, she was naive and meek for the majority of the novel, but she was self-aware of her naivity and meekness. Rhiannon Thomas didn't pretend that Aurora was strong or brave or clever. Aurora certainly spent time wishing she were those things, but was in full acceptance of the reality of herself.
Plus, can you really fault her for being so passive and weak? She literally wakes up 100 years in the future with absolutely zero clue about the culture or technology of the time. She has no power, in physical prowess or political authority or even knowledge. You may argue that she's a celebrity, but even that doesn't grant her any tangible power. I thought, considering her circumstances, Aurora was a believably written character. Perhaps a little exaggerated, but most YA novels do that. I can't hold them to the same expectations as I would, say, a Patrick Rothfuss novel.
No spoilers, but Aurora does grow "stronger" by the end of the novel. It felt like a good character progression, and I was into it.
The world-building is nothing special. It's a pretty generic YA fantasy novel setting. But I also didn't feel like the world tried to be anything more than bare bones and basic, and I can appreciate that. I think it's worse when a YA author tries to make this great, original world and completely fails. I see it happen a lot in YA fantasy.
I thought the characters were well-developed enough, but there were too many characters. I can think of at least four semi-major characters that boiled down to be nothing more than plot devices, which made me wish the time Thomas had spent developing them was instead put toward the characters that actually matter. I still feel a little too lukewarm towards the main characters, instead of being fully invested in them.
Overall, this was a quick, light read and I enjoyed it. I love reading giant fantasy volumes with lush, complicated worlds and dense prose, but sometimes I need a chaser between novels like those. This was the perfect book for that. I liked A Wicked Thing enough to want read the second book.
A lot of the negative reviews criticize how much of a passive character Aurora is. I'm not much of a fan of the damsel in distress trope, but I dislike it because I see YA authors try to pass off a poorly written, weak character as some sort of strong, badass heroine. This wasn't the case with Aurora. Yes, she was naive and meek for the majority of the novel, but she was self-aware of her naivity and meekness. Rhiannon Thomas didn't pretend that Aurora was strong or brave or clever. Aurora certainly spent time wishing she were those things, but was in full acceptance of the reality of herself.
Plus, can you really fault her for being so passive and weak? She literally wakes up 100 years in the future with absolutely zero clue about the culture or technology of the time. She has no power, in physical prowess or political authority or even knowledge. You may argue that she's a celebrity, but even that doesn't grant her any tangible power. I thought, considering her circumstances, Aurora was a believably written character. Perhaps a little exaggerated, but most YA novels do that. I can't hold them to the same expectations as I would, say, a Patrick Rothfuss novel.
No spoilers, but Aurora does grow "stronger" by the end of the novel. It felt like a good character progression, and I was into it.
The world-building is nothing special. It's a pretty generic YA fantasy novel setting. But I also didn't feel like the world tried to be anything more than bare bones and basic, and I can appreciate that. I think it's worse when a YA author tries to make this great, original world and completely fails. I see it happen a lot in YA fantasy.
I thought the characters were well-developed enough, but there were too many characters. I can think of at least four semi-major characters that boiled down to be nothing more than plot devices, which made me wish the time Thomas had spent developing them was instead put toward the characters that actually matter. I still feel a little too lukewarm towards the main characters, instead of being fully invested in them.
Overall, this was a quick, light read and I enjoyed it. I love reading giant fantasy volumes with lush, complicated worlds and dense prose, but sometimes I need a chaser between novels like those. This was the perfect book for that. I liked A Wicked Thing enough to want read the second book.
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