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A review by renuked
Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
3.0
Enchanted by Alethea Kontis is another fairy-tale retelling. This one is about the Frog Prince. But there are so many more tales entwined here, such as Jack and the Beanstalk etc. All of the sisters are so different, and truly fascinating. Except Sunday, to be honest.
The book starts nicely. Sunday, the overlooked seventh child makes a connection to a talking frog. They strike up a conversation and become best friends. And then they fall in love? And the frog turns into the despised Prince Rumbold, who realizes he needs to make a fresh start and atone for his earlier mistakes. This book isn't really about Sunday Woodcutter. It's about the frog, in my opinion. He's the one I felt more connected to. And his story was actually a little darker than I expected. On the surface, the story is a cute tale. But delving a little deeper, his family history is pretty twisted. It wasn't quite what I expected, which I liked.
However, the plot was a little confusing at times. Too many things were woven together, and it wasn't as clean as I would have liked. For example, I don't think I ever understood why Prince Rumbold was turned into a frog. He was cursed for something? But no one noticed he'd even disappeared. It was all very strange to me. But it did give an interesting effect. But, overall, there was a lot that could have been improved. Plot lines should make sense, and at some points, I wrinkled my nose in mild confusion. There were many odd moments.
Which brings me to why I wasn't paying attention. The protagonist was boring. B-O-R-I-N-G. Sunday Woodcutter is a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. She is supposed to be powerful and awesome. Instead, I think I liked her sisters more. The pirate one. The poet. The fiercely independent hard-worker. The seamstress. They had so much more substance. Sunday did nothing but fall in love with a frog. And some random magic. She didn't even help at the final battle! She was all sad and in love or something dull.
Overall, I really liked the Prince and Sunday's sisters. But the plot was lacking and so was the main character. I wish it had been done a little differently and maybe I would have been more invested in the plot. There are far better fairy-tale retellings out there, many done in more interesting ways.
PS. Book two in this series sounds far better because Saturday stars in it!
The book starts nicely. Sunday, the overlooked seventh child makes a connection to a talking frog. They strike up a conversation and become best friends. And then they fall in love? And the frog turns into the despised Prince Rumbold, who realizes he needs to make a fresh start and atone for his earlier mistakes. This book isn't really about Sunday Woodcutter. It's about the frog, in my opinion. He's the one I felt more connected to. And his story was actually a little darker than I expected. On the surface, the story is a cute tale. But delving a little deeper, his family history is pretty twisted. It wasn't quite what I expected, which I liked.
However, the plot was a little confusing at times. Too many things were woven together, and it wasn't as clean as I would have liked. For example, I don't think I ever understood why Prince Rumbold was turned into a frog. He was cursed for something? But no one noticed he'd even disappeared. It was all very strange to me. But it did give an interesting effect. But, overall, there was a lot that could have been improved. Plot lines should make sense, and at some points, I wrinkled my nose in mild confusion. There were many odd moments.
Which brings me to why I wasn't paying attention. The protagonist was boring. B-O-R-I-N-G. Sunday Woodcutter is a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. She is supposed to be powerful and awesome. Instead, I think I liked her sisters more. The pirate one. The poet. The fiercely independent hard-worker. The seamstress. They had so much more substance. Sunday did nothing but fall in love with a frog. And some random magic. She didn't even help at the final battle! She was all sad and in love or something dull.
Overall, I really liked the Prince and Sunday's sisters. But the plot was lacking and so was the main character. I wish it had been done a little differently and maybe I would have been more invested in the plot. There are far better fairy-tale retellings out there, many done in more interesting ways.
PS. Book two in this series sounds far better because Saturday stars in it!