A Sea of Stars

I wasn't impressed. It isn't bad by any means but it's not that good.

Woah, hold up there, Hamlin. You can't go around issuing unrealistic decrees that you break no less than two pages later, that everybody breaks with no consequences at the ball, and that apparently no longer matter till it's necessary for the story again. This really annoys me. Majorly. You don't mention something that seems important and then have it no longer pertain in any way no less than two pages later. He breaks it, Rupert breaks it, Gunther breaks it, I'm betting all the boys of this town break this rule that Hamlin imposed "for love of Rose" but that apparently doesn't matter in the slightest.
SHODDY/FRUSTRATING WRITING DOES NOT MAKE A HAPPY READER.


And the romance? I'm so sick of Insta-love, honestly. And the constant mooning did not only cause heavy eye-rolling, there was even actual facepalms.

Rose: Oh my gosh, he's so masculine but he also is really nice and a noble and pays attention to me and...and he is really good looking.

Hamlin: She occupies my thoughts at all times. I must stop thinking of her beauty and grace because I cannot ever have her, but I can't.

And then all that (x14) is added to Rose semi turning her affections over to Rupert. Why?? No one knows. He's a lecherous jerk. But then switch back over to Hamlin. *rolls eyes*

Oh, and so stick one element from Sleeping Beauty and you can call it a retelling?? How does that work? Just because he has to kiss her to wake her up from the "demonic spirits"(Oh, I have more on that later) doesn't automatically make it a retelling.

On to the villain -
Sooo no motivations beyond "demonic voices tell me I've got to ruin her life"??? That is just not acceptable. And so Rose is forced to drink this potion, which gives her "evil spirits"? Firstly, she would have had to be open to all that jazz for the spirits to be able to take over so that doesn't work. And guess what Hamlin's approach to all this is?


Not even kidding. It doesn't quite work that way. But apparently it does. And why does the kiss wake her up?? At least in the fairytale, and remember that these were notorious for not making sense, it made sense cause of the curse.


The Christian aspect, while admirable, was not that well done. It pays to be subtle. No one wants the heavy handed SHE'S CHRISTIAN. DO YOU SEE? CHRISTIAN. SHE MENTIONED GOD 24 TIMES THIS CHAPTER AND SHE PRAYED A LOT. CHRISTIAN. CHRISTIAN!!!!!!!!!


Let their examples and minimal prayer (Heck, throw in a "She's Christian") lead us to that conclusion. Don't shove it in our faces. Hopefully, we'll be smart enough to deduce that.

There are far better fairytale retlellings out there (Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George, Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George, Cinder by Marissa Meyer, The Storyteller's Daughter by Cameron Dokey, and Waking Rose by Regina Doman) that you'd be better off reading.