Scan barcode
A review by whitneymouse
Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas
3.0
"Stories, I figured, offered people different endings--not death, but the possibility for happiness in the time that we have to live. That is why we like getting caught up in stories. They are bigger than we are. They help us understand the shape of our lives and the nature of our own endings."
I loved this quote. I find it to be true to my love affair of books. Books and stories do help us to understand our own lives in a more meaningful way.
I just wish I had loved this book as much as I loved this quote.
Ash & Bramble is by no means a bad book. However, it's also not a great book. It's a thoroughly decent Cinderella retelling, but in a world where books like Marissa Meyer's Cinder series exist, it's just not the best retelling you can read.
The story follows two narrators: Pin (or Pen) and Shoe (or Owen). Pin is a fiery, assertive, headstrong Cinderella stand-in. Shoe is a cautious shoemaker and the love interest. Both have been captured by the Godmother, who is the villain of this novel. They are both enjoyable as characters. However, the plot and the Godmother are where this book loses me.
We start with Pin being a slave to the Godmother, working in her fortress as a Seamstress. She has no memory of what her life was like before and doesn't understand how she ends up in the fortress. All she remembers is that a thimble she has in her apron is important and that she mustn't let anyone know she has it. She ends up being a foot model for Shoe and convinces him to escape with her. They do escape, but in the escape, she accidentally ends up allowing the Godmother to track her. Pin gives Shoe the thimble, urges him to continue without her, is caught and carted off to part two of the narrative. Shoe is "caught" by a Huntsmen gone rogue and is spared being killed.
After this happens, Pin wakes up as "Pen" and the Cinderella narrative is gone through. This section was full of ideas that could have been excellent, but somehow, seemed to just drag. For example, the stepsisters have hidden talents that they aren't allowed to express due to the narrative forced upon them by the Godmother. This was a clever way of humanizing the stepsisters and rounding them out as characters. They have aspirations. However, they don't really add to the plot. They just serve to show that Pen "doesn't belong" in their society for suggesting that they use their talents.
The Godmother becomes "Lady Faye" at this point (a clever name that I appreciated). She controls all the people of the city, but Pen can't figure out why. There's a scene where Pen escapes after her Stepmother starts abusing her that ends with her at Lady Faye's house. There, she meets a couple that are supposed to be an "example" to her of what happens when people resist going along with the story. This was a weird, unnecessary, empty threat of a scene. Basically, the woman, who I can only assume was one of the previous Cinderella stand-ins, has become a blank shell who plucks out her hair and begs for death. That's it. She later commits suicide and this is kind of glossed over. There isn't enough backstory on who this character is to make you feel more than a passing bit of remorse for her death.
The Cinderella plot continues as Shoe tries to rescue Pin, forcing the oh-so-stereotypical YA love triangle between him, Pin and the Prince. They end up escaping again, moving us on to part three of the story, in which there is SO much exposition and plot that it'd be easier to list it in bullet points.
-The threesome meet up with the rebels, or "storybreakers"
-They find out that the Godmother serves something called "Story", which forces her to find people to live out fairy tales over and over to make it stronger.
-Pen finds out she's the daughter of a witch who's an "antagonist" to Story
-They stage a take over of the Godmother's fortress and free her slaves
-Pen uses her magic thimble to restore everyone's "before".
-The boys get captured and dragged back to the city
-Pen goes to rescue them
-Pen realizes she loves Shoe and "breaks" story
-Pen takes the Godmother's memories
-The Godmother ends up as a kindly grandmother character who works for Shoe in his shop.
-Shoe and Pin are kind of a couple.
While I found this idea of the story needing to be played out over and over interesting, I felt I needed more explanation of some things and less of others. How exactly did the Godmother get swept up in this? Her role is barely touched on and not explained very well. Just she's the "antagonist" who serves story. I didn't need multiple explanations of what a "storybreaker" was. I understood the first time. Same with examples of what happens if the story isn't broken. It's reiterated multiple times that the "gears" of story (which isn't a physical thing, but rather some extrasensory feeling they all have of gears moving) will crush them if it isn't broken. I would've liked more of the Godmother's backstory. I would've liked for at least ONE character to have been able to explain who Pen's mother is and why a thimble was the weapon of choice. Pen's thimble becomes an ex machina weapon that she uses without any real understanding of it anytime they're in trouble.
There is a second book. I am planning to read it just to see if any of this gets explained. This series could be so much better. I just need Prineas to better decide what information the reader needs instead of hammering home things that really don't need more than one explanation.
I loved this quote. I find it to be true to my love affair of books. Books and stories do help us to understand our own lives in a more meaningful way.
I just wish I had loved this book as much as I loved this quote.
Ash & Bramble is by no means a bad book. However, it's also not a great book. It's a thoroughly decent Cinderella retelling, but in a world where books like Marissa Meyer's Cinder series exist, it's just not the best retelling you can read.
The story follows two narrators: Pin (or Pen) and Shoe (or Owen). Pin is a fiery, assertive, headstrong Cinderella stand-in. Shoe is a cautious shoemaker and the love interest. Both have been captured by the Godmother, who is the villain of this novel. They are both enjoyable as characters. However, the plot and the Godmother are where this book loses me.
We start with Pin being a slave to the Godmother, working in her fortress as a Seamstress. She has no memory of what her life was like before and doesn't understand how she ends up in the fortress. All she remembers is that a thimble she has in her apron is important and that she mustn't let anyone know she has it. She ends up being a foot model for Shoe and convinces him to escape with her. They do escape, but in the escape, she accidentally ends up allowing the Godmother to track her. Pin gives Shoe the thimble, urges him to continue without her, is caught and carted off to part two of the narrative. Shoe is "caught" by a Huntsmen gone rogue and is spared being killed.
After this happens, Pin wakes up as "Pen" and the Cinderella narrative is gone through. This section was full of ideas that could have been excellent, but somehow, seemed to just drag. For example, the stepsisters have hidden talents that they aren't allowed to express due to the narrative forced upon them by the Godmother. This was a clever way of humanizing the stepsisters and rounding them out as characters. They have aspirations. However, they don't really add to the plot. They just serve to show that Pen "doesn't belong" in their society for suggesting that they use their talents.
The Godmother becomes "Lady Faye" at this point (a clever name that I appreciated). She controls all the people of the city, but Pen can't figure out why. There's a scene where Pen escapes after her Stepmother starts abusing her that ends with her at Lady Faye's house. There, she meets a couple that are supposed to be an "example" to her of what happens when people resist going along with the story. This was a weird, unnecessary, empty threat of a scene. Basically, the woman, who I can only assume was one of the previous Cinderella stand-ins, has become a blank shell who plucks out her hair and begs for death. That's it. She later commits suicide and this is kind of glossed over. There isn't enough backstory on who this character is to make you feel more than a passing bit of remorse for her death.
The Cinderella plot continues as Shoe tries to rescue Pin, forcing the oh-so-stereotypical YA love triangle between him, Pin and the Prince. They end up escaping again, moving us on to part three of the story, in which there is SO much exposition and plot that it'd be easier to list it in bullet points.
-The threesome meet up with the rebels, or "storybreakers"
-They find out that the Godmother serves something called "Story", which forces her to find people to live out fairy tales over and over to make it stronger.
-Pen finds out she's the daughter of a witch who's an "antagonist" to Story
-They stage a take over of the Godmother's fortress and free her slaves
-Pen uses her magic thimble to restore everyone's "before".
-The boys get captured and dragged back to the city
-Pen goes to rescue them
-Pen realizes she loves Shoe and "breaks" story
-Pen takes the Godmother's memories
-The Godmother ends up as a kindly grandmother character who works for Shoe in his shop.
-Shoe and Pin are kind of a couple.
While I found this idea of the story needing to be played out over and over interesting, I felt I needed more explanation of some things and less of others. How exactly did the Godmother get swept up in this? Her role is barely touched on and not explained very well. Just she's the "antagonist" who serves story. I didn't need multiple explanations of what a "storybreaker" was. I understood the first time. Same with examples of what happens if the story isn't broken. It's reiterated multiple times that the "gears" of story (which isn't a physical thing, but rather some extrasensory feeling they all have of gears moving) will crush them if it isn't broken. I would've liked more of the Godmother's backstory. I would've liked for at least ONE character to have been able to explain who Pen's mother is and why a thimble was the weapon of choice. Pen's thimble becomes an ex machina weapon that she uses without any real understanding of it anytime they're in trouble.
There is a second book. I am planning to read it just to see if any of this gets explained. This series could be so much better. I just need Prineas to better decide what information the reader needs instead of hammering home things that really don't need more than one explanation.