Review: Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas

Title: Ash & Bramble

Author: Sarah Prineas

Published: 15th September 2015
Publisher: Harper Teen
Source: Harper Teen via Edelweiss
Reviewed: Sapphired Dragon
Rating: ****   

My Review:

This book was an unexpected surprise. I knew it was a fairy tale retelling and I thought it sounded interesting but to be honest I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.

The things whilst it is technically a fairy tale retelling rather than actually retell, it turned the original tale on its head asking what if Cinderella didn't actually want to marry the prince? What if the prescribed happily ever after was not actually happily ever after the characters wanted? And what if story got in the way of people living their lives the way they want to.

These are some of the questions that are posed during this tale in which Pin, a seamstress in the Godmother's fortress decides that she doesn't want wants been prescribed for her future and attempts to escape picking up a shoemaker "Shoe" along the way but after being recaptured, the Godmother sets in motion Pin's story but Pin and Shoe are determined to write their own ending.

I loved the premise behind this story and they way it all unfolded. I loved that characters weren't always what they were supposed to be and the tale didn't go the way it was supposed to which meant I got to follow a whole new journey. The writing, which split between Shoe and pin's perspectives, is well crafted, flowed along nicely and was well paced. I found myself connected to the story the whole way through.

This is a fun fresh tale for fans of series such as the Inkspell series by Cornelia Funke.

I very much enjoyed this story and give it 4 stars.

Sapphired Dragon xx

About The Book:

Ash and Bramble  by Sarah Prineas

Goodreads | Book Depository | Booktopia

When the glass slipper just doesn’t fit…

The tale of Cinderella has been retold countless times. But what you know is not the true story.

Pin has no recollection of who she is or how she got to the Godmother’s fortress. She only knows that she is a Seamstress, working day in and out to make ball gowns fit for fairy tales. But she longs to forsake her backbreaking servitude and dares to escape with the brave young Shoemaker.

Pin isn’t free for long before she’s captured again and forced to live the new life the Godmother chooses for her—a fairy tale story, complete with a charming prince—instead of finding her own happily ever after.

Sarah Prineas’s bold fairy tale retelling is a dark and captivating world where swords are more fitting than slippers, young shoemakers are just as striking as princes, and a heroine is more than ready to rescue herself before the clock strikes midnight.