House of Salt and Sorrows

I really wanted to love this book as this is a retelling of my favorite childhood fairytale. Erin A. Craig's writing style is poetically lyrical and pretty to read. The imagery is stunning and the world is intriguing and fresh. The characters, however, have the collective personality of wet cardboard and lack the motivation to do much of anything outside of pining and dancing. For a murder-mystery/whodunit, the stakes are quite low and it leaves the reader wading in the water, waiting for something to happen. The plot is nonexistent, despite it being a retelling of a fairytale that already HAS a built-in plot that Craig casts aside like an afterthought. The climax is a disconcerting wave of multiple twist endings that seem to be fighting to best each other. In summary, the story starts strong but then quickly fizzles into a rambling tale as boring as the sticky dregs of sea foam on a very dry beach. All in all, a disappointment.

I loved how magical and creepy this dark fairy tale is. I went into it expecting a retelling of the twelve dancing princesses, and found something much more sinister and lovely. I highly recommend this book and hope the author writes more.

I was surprised by the plot, there were characters that I liked and characters that I didn't care for and characters that I loved. The dancing and the balls behind the secret door and the mystery that follows. As daughter by daughter dies, is there a curse?