House of Salt and Sorrows

The Twelve Dancing Princesses is hard to adapt, as it has way too many characters. House of Salt and Sorrows tries to eleviate the problem by killing off a third of the girls before the story even starts. It's not enough. Only three sisters matter (and one of the dead ones.) Trying to keep track of the rest is an exercise in frustration.

The worldbuilding is where this book shines. The story centers around islanders with ocean-centric religious practices. Humans don't have magic but their gods walk the earth and magic lingers some places.

Content warnings: Pregnancy and childbirth, lots of death, mild horror

I'm still very ambivalently confused about this book. I was hoping for something spooky as we moved into the Halloween season. And barring that, I was really looking for something atmospheric and rich with gothic romance. What I got was a story that while certainly aware of those things and trying very hard to achieve them, thought the best way to do that was to throw everything in the kitchen into one pot.

House of Salt and Sorrows follows the second oldest daughter, Annaleigh, of a family of seven girls that were once twelve. In five years, Annaleigh has lost her mother and several of her older sisters, the last of which under what she sees as mysterious circumstances. As her family, especially her newly remarried father, decides to move forward and shake off rumors of a curse, Annaleigh starts seeing ghosts and comes to believe that her sister was murdered. Also, there's a magical portal to some fancy balls, because this is inspired by the story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, though it honestly could have done without that plot element as well as several others.

So, there's a lot going on here. There's a ghost story, and a murder mystery, and a romance with a handsome outsider, and a court drama, and a high fantasy magic system and world building. Its never really woven together, like, at all. I was never really sure why the story was taking the diversions it was. Why are we spending all this time on this romance when the love interest's personality is basically nonexistent? What was the point of the dancing and the balls when it took so long to get there and its introduction to the story is completely unrelated to the murder mystery at the core? Is this story about gods and monsters? Families and ghosts? A girl driven mad with grief? Its hard to call a story atmospheric when each plot point isn't given the time to create that atmosphere.

I could definitely feel the homages to classic gothic literature (there were elements that invoked Edgar Allen Poe, Shirley Jackson and Daphne du Maurier) which I have no doubt were intentional. But I don't really like hauntings (or even suggestions of hauntings) mixed up with firmer magic systems. If Craig wanted this to be about trickster gods, the idea of trickster gods should have been introduced at the beginning, not three quarters into the story. It actually took me a while to realize “Oh, when they talk about their gods, they're not talking about “God” they're talking about actual magical beings that effect their world.” I don't know, maybe I'm being very particular about my horror, but I feel like that kind of thing rips the bed sheet right off your spooky ghost. That might be why I was struggling with the way Annaleigh's family responded to her suspicions - what the story needed was non-believers, not just people with a vague disinterest in an honest investigation.

Getting out of the weeds a bit, I wish Annaleigh was more of a character. She's pretty bland at the beginning, and grows a little bit as the story goes on as a competent “second-in-line” figure, but she's still felt very undefined. Her love interest is so hollow he's practically a ghost himself. He's a mop of curly hair and good manners, but other than that he has no personality. The dialogue felt hokey and unnatural. The pacing is just not right for this kind of story - the scary bits are not tight enough, the slower moments and more contemplative plot elements are given little time to breath and flesh out. I appreciate that in the final act Craig really went all out with scary imagery, and while the detail she went into to create this seafaring culture was lovely, I thought the prose was just alright. And like many YA books I've been reading lately, while it has some mature elements, this felt like it was geared for a much younger audience.

House of Salt and Sorrows is readable but far from riveting, and everything it goes for felt weak and watered down. Points for trying, Craig is clearly a horror fan - the love is there but the skill really isn't.

2.5 Stars

Pros:
- World: I really enjoyed the world this book takes place in. I enjoyed the idea of Highmoor and the Thalmus curse. It was fascinating to see how their lives were secluded from the rest of the world but still very much involved due to their father's profession.
- Religion: I am saying religion even though that may be the wrong term, but I liked how each area of the world worshiped a different God that was based on their livelihoods. But that being said, I feel like we did not get to know enough about the Gods others than Pontus which the Thalmus girls worshiped.

Cons:
-Twist: I predicted who was going to be the cause of her sisters' death way at the beginning and I never wavered with this guess, even when the author tried to get us to believe it was someone else. I feel like she picked the next obvious person after the one that is implied in the summary.
- Pacing: This book struggled to move the story forward. I feel like everything happened in the last 15% of the book and it took forever for things to happen that are stated in the summary. That is something that really irks me lately in YA when a summary tells you something that as a reader you do not actually find out about until way into the book.

Overall, this book was a disappointment. I wanted so much more with the mystery of her sisters mysteriously dying off, this mysterious stranger, and these magical balls the sisters were attending. But I feel like I did not quite get that and instead got this overly drawn out story that took way too long to pick up and grab my attention. It took me 12 days to read this and that was mostly because I never felt the need to pick this up to see what would happen. Eventually, I just told myself I needed to finish so I could start the next books on my TBR for the month.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy of this book.

I jumped back and forth about giving this book 4 or 5 stars but I'm sticking with 5 stars. I got from this book what I was expecting from a book a read a few books back..AND I DIDN'T GET. AT ALL....and I wasn't even expecting from this one. So win for me.

I'm not well versed in the story of The Twelve Dancing Princesses but I remembered enough that I knew what it was. And I was excited for 1. a retelling and 2. a retelling that wasn't Beauty and the Beast ( I love BatB retellings..but there are SO MANY).

This book was a YA retelling, gothic horror, murder mystery with a little slow burn romance thrown in. What? That's a lot. And you know what...YOU KNOW WHAT...it was well done. For a debut novel? Shut up. WHAT ELSE YOU GOT, ERIN??

At one point, I didn't know what was real and what wasn't. What was a lie and what wasn't. Definitely had a creepy atmosphere to it. I can't say that the first half was fast paced....But I was already drawn in by the spooky vibes. I'm not going to lose sleep but I'm also not the target demographic. All in all...definitely worth the read if you ask me. And if you didn't ask me..then why are you here? O.O

I liked the twist and the horror that came from this. I liked the character of Annaleigh. We really see the struggle that she has throughout the book. The ending was not my favorite, but I don't hate it. It did seem to take awhile to get to the horror part as well. I am interested to read the next one.

[7.5/10 Rating] [2nd paragraph is NOT spoiler-free!]

This book was a delight to read, mainly because of the eerie atmosphere. I loved the way the author set the tone of the book– I believe that this book would be best suited to read on a dark and stormy day whilst curled up in a quilt. I enjoyed the writing and each of the characters, and especially loved the gruesome images the author painted of the things that were happening. I loved the whole horror aspect of Verity being able to see things (I loved how vivid the descriptions were for all the horror scenes). The book hooked me in quickly and overall I really liked it. So why did it get only a 7.5/10 from me?

[MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD]
I was quite disappointed to find out that the whole mystery about the deaths of the sisters was resolved the way it was resolved. The way it was built up made me expect some really mind-blowing
dark and emotional plot twists, so it was really disappointing to discover at the end that everything was due to some supernatural being. I understand that this is supposed to be fantasy and fiction but I felt that it would be way more impactful if the mystery did not delve into supernatural explanations for the things that were happening. It got extremely unrealistic (I know it's fiction but it just seemed really weird that suddenly OOh Cassius is some child of a deity and that all these killings were a result of the sisters' stepmother's bargain with yet another supernatural being). To me, it felt quite funny to read that as the book went from “oh man this is gon be creepy” to “its original eerie atmosphere is completely gone now.. what even is this development..?”

I also felt that the author's pace went from really good to kinda rushed. Suddenly everything was happening at once (the whole twins birth thing and suddenly the place is on fire and burning down at the same time?), and it was a bit difficult to understand what was going on in some parts (The line between reality and ‘dreams' was hard to distinguish (which can be a good thing but I felt the author could have elaborated and explained more about the whole dancing thing in a better way.) Also since we are on this topic, the ‘magic' gateway to the balls was kinda underwhelming to me. The whole book was slowly building up its eerie atmosphere and suddenly it kinda went poof when they found the magic gateway thing :/ Was really disappointed about it). I also disliked the fact that supernatural beings were so easily accessible? It's cool and all but it made the story feel extremely unrealistic (Random mortals are able to strike deals and bargains with supernatural beings so easily??).

Another complaint I have is the romance in the story. I like Cassius a lot but the romance was too predictable (saw it coming from miles away..) and also quite unnecessary. It didn't add a lot to the story, and it was a bit underdeveloped. It could've been written and developed in a much better way so it's quite disappointing. More things could've been done with Fisher as well– the relationship could've been developed more + his death, tho gruesome and painful, seemed underwhelming due to how it was set up. Right away when they wanted to find Fisher I knew he probably died. There could've been more development to the lore and plot surrounding Fisher's character and the balls.

OVERALL: I think anyone who likes eerie atmospheric novels with good descriptions should give this one a go! It was a great read overall and I enjoyed it a lot despite my complaints.

O.W.L. Readathon - Defence Against Dark Arts
read a book set at or in the sea

This is a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses and I don't know what to tell you, I loved the Barbie movie and loved this book. It was gothic and creepy and amazing and yes, the main character had the personality of a shoe but to be honest, just like in Warcross I had too much fun to care.

Still would love to actually have an interesting main character sometime soon.

3.5 stars. This was a fun, occasionally spooky, retelling of the 12 dancing princesses. It was gripping and easy to read. I only had two issues with it.

1) The Romance - yuck (but then again, I'm not a fan of romance and I'm not the intended audience for this book - I am sure my 15 year old self would've swooned over the stolen kisses and declarations of love.... but as an adult... just no)

2) The Horror - It wasn't dark enough for me. There were some amazing, spine-tingling scenes, but overall it didn't terrify me the way I expected. Once again - could this be because it is a YA book? Probably.

But the positives outweigh these minor gripes. It takes you on a journey filled with Gods and Monsters, ghosts and murder, secrets and love. Suspend your disbelief and have fun!

I really enjoyed this! It's creepy without being necessarily scary.
Very interesting! Will definitely need to reread in the next few years because it messes with your mind.

One part at the end was kind of wack, and I was like what on earth is happening right now. Still a very fun read, and it definitely takes you on a weird ride.

Ik was er van overtuigt dat ik dit boek de max ging vinden: een gothic aandoende hervertelling van een ietwat obscuur sprookje gedrenkt in mysterie en duisternis. Helemaal mijn ding!
Jammer genoeg ben ik toch een beetje teleurgesteld.

Het verhaal kende een sterke start en vooral de atmosfeer steelt de show. Ergens halverwege echter begon ik mijn interesse te verliezen, ondanks het feit dat de auteur wel heel intrigerende aspecten introduceerde. De wereld waarin het boek zich afspeelt klinkt heel interessant en ook al worden sommige dingen overdreven gedetailleerd uitgelegd, over andere zaken wordt dan heel snel gegaan, terwijl net die zaken uitdieping nodig hadden om me in het verhaal te houden.
De ontrafeling van het mysterie moddert eerst ook maar wat aan, om dan opeens in een sneltrein ontknoopt te worden op een gebrekkige, doch interessante manier.

Al bij al vond ik dat dit verhaal heel wat unieke, verfrissende ideeën introduceert, maar de algehele uitwerking en samenhang ontbrak om het verhaal te verheffen tot echt iets opmerkelijks.

3.5 stars

I really enjoy fairy tale retellings. I have never read one about The Twelve Dancing Princesses before.

I enjoyed it. It was a little slow in spots. But I loved the characters and the setting. It is very creepy and atmospheric. I kind of wish I would've waited until October to read it. It is just what I look for in a fall read.

I received a copy from Net Galley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I, figuratively, could not put this down. I finished it in one day, 400 pages inhaled like the salty brine of the sea! If I'm being honest if felt weak and maybe a little immature in some places, perhaps it could have been matured but that's my only reason to not score it higher. It was such a nice book, even with the horror and the tension and the fear it was NICE. It was good, I loved it, I'm so glad I found it. Definitely recommend for anyone who loves a bunch of Poe references and loves the idea of a moody little macabre mystery by the sea

This books started off atmospheric. The coastal vibes were lovely on a rainy day, but as the story progressed, the plot became unclear and all over the place. I couldn't remember who all the sisters were or tell them apart. Felt like I needed a key.
It was also quite slow and I lost interest half way so I stopped reading it.

I'm a believer that if a book isn't interesting anymore, it's time to stop and read something else that might be more enjoyable. There are too many great books out there to read one that's just meh.