Written by: Maureen McGowan
Released: April 1, 2011 by Silver Dolphin Books
Summary: In this thrilling story full of adventure and romance, Sleeping Beauty is more than just a lonely princess waiting for her prince—she's a brave, tenacious girl who never backs down from a challenge. With vampire-slaying talents that she practices in secret, Sleeping Beauty puts her courage to the test in the dark of night, fighting evil as she searches for a way to break the spell that has cut her off from her family. In a special twist, readers have the opportunity to make key decisions for Sleeping Beauty and decide where she goes next—but no matter the choice; the result is a story unlike any fairy tale you've ever read!
Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer is an entirely new type of fairy tale–one that will keep today's kids guessing and offer them hours of magical fun.
So if you were to ever mix Buffy with a fairy tale princess, I’m pretty sure that this is what you would get. In fact, the more that I think about it, the more I can relate this to Buffy in weird ways. For example, the vampire-human-human love triangle, the trained slayer turned boyfriend (a la Riley), and the good vampire helping to defeat the evil one. Thankfully, I love Buffy and this was more than original enough that it’s only upon reflection that I notice the similarities.
I liked Lucette as a character and in the role of the ‘sleeping beauty’ I thought she was perfect. I loved the twist on the classic version of the princess and with the entire story the author really made it her own.
In fact, if you took out the opening scene with the bestowal of the curse (the only part that really stayed true to the classic version – aside from the vampires), I think that it might take a little while to pick up on how this is a retelling. Ok, that and the whole finger pricking bit. Still, what I mean is that the base of the fairytale remains the same in several ways, but the surface is so unique that it’s what you really get into without necessarily delving deeper.
I really enjoyed how this was also a “choose your own adventure” novel like Cinderella before it. It also follows the same format and seeing as though this is the second Twisted Tales novel from this author, I really can’t wait to see what else she comes out with in the future. I would love to read her interpretation on Rapunzel of Red Riding Hood.
In all, I’m giving this a 7/10 and would recommend it to anyone who loves different takes on fairytales. I really enjoyed this one (even though I’m a little jaded on the whole vampire movement in YA).
Thank you to everyone who made it possible for me to read an advanced copy of this novel from netGalley.
No comments:
Post a Comment