Thursday, February 26, 2015

A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas {review}


A Wicked Thing
by Rhiannon Thomas
♦publisher: HarperTeen
♦release date: February 24th, 2015
♦hardcover, 352 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: A Wicked Thing, book 1
♦source: from publisher for honest review
One hundred years after falling asleep, Princess Aurora wakes up to the kiss of a handsome prince and a broken kingdom that has been dreaming of her return. All the books say that she should be living happily ever after. But as Aurora understands all too well, the truth is nothing like the fairy tale.

Her family is long dead. Her "true love" is a kind stranger. And her whole life has been planned out by political foes while she slept.

As Aurora struggles to make sense of her new world, she begins to fear that the curse has left its mark on her, a fiery and dangerous thing that might be as wicked as the witch who once ensnared her. With her wedding day drawing near, Aurora must make the ultimate decision on how to save her kingdom: marry the prince or run.

Review: I went into this book knowing it was a Sleeping Beauty story, nothing really beyond that.  I was immediately intrigued with the grim twist on the classic: what if Sleeping Beauty was awoken not months or a year after falling under the curse, but one hundred years?  Aurora wakes to find her family long dead and a whole new world around her. While I loved the idea, I couldn’t help but think this would have been fun to take this even further into the future, where she really would have been immersed in a changed world—the 20s maybe, or the 40s WW2 era?  Still, this was a good story. 

The prince that wakes Aurora belongs to the new royal family of her homeland, and they are not good people:  a cruel king, willing to take desperate measures to keep hold of a kingdom on the verge of rebellion, and his cold and conniving wife.  The prince seemed a bit clueless at first, but you soon find out that he has a good heart, is a loving big brother, but he's a bit spineless when it comes to his parents. 


While at first I feared not a love triangle, but actually a love square (?) with Aurora softening to the Prince, meeting a handsome rebel in the town when she sneaks out, and having some flirtatious tension with a prince from a neighboring land,  there sort of turned out to be not much in the way of romance at all---which, actually I was fine with. After an attack on the castle, she is holed up in her room, and really not a lot happens for a while, leaving the story dragging a bit.  Aurora just seem to be floating along, torn between who she wants to be and what is expected of her as the legendary Sleeping Beauty.  She's powerless to make any change or any decisions, but she doesn't seem to do much to fight for it either. It was hard to know who to root for and I felt a disconnect from the story.  


I pressed on, though, and I’m glad I did!  The ending pulled me back in. We finally see Aurora open her eyes to her own secrets, the kingdom’s secrets, and she grabs the opportunity to make a stand for herself. It’s left on a bit of a cliffhanger, but with a few important and unexpected twists at the end, I’m definitely drawn in enough to pick up the second book! 


Find Rhiannon Thomas online: Website  •  Twitter

Purchase A Wicked Thing:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon

21 comments :

  1. I love love love books that are based on fairy tales! I can't wait to pick this one up, and I'm glad to hear there's no love triangle or anything like that lol

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  2. Retellings are my favourite type of books, but I've never heard of this one before, so thanks so much for the review. Off to add it to my wish-list. Are you enjoying The Sin Eater's daughter?

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  3. Ooh, good! I've seen a lot of mixed reviews for this, but so long as it gets better, I can get through it. I love your idea of making her wake up in a vastly different time, rather than a similar one with everyone she knows gone. Someone should write that!

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  4. I was also not sure what A Wicked Thing was about, just that it was a retelling, but since there's been quite a few lately I just didn't know what to think. I'm glad I learned more from your review though. The one-hundred-years later part definitely got my interest. But the middle part dragging didn't, so now I'm hesitating about wanting and not wanting to read this story. I think I'm going to have to think about it a little more. :/

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  5. I was feeling the same way, but towards the end of the book, I was completely into it. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book…I'm glad that Aurora gained some confidence/gumption. Great review, Becky!

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  6. I love the idea of traveling between worlds! And magic!

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  7. Great review Becky :D I'm glad you enjoyed this book, despite some issues in the beginning of it. <3 But yay for awesome ending :) I'm not sure this would be for me :p The romance sounds WAY TOO BAD. And kind of love square? Ugh. It would bother me, lol. So not for me :) But glad you ended up liking it. <3 Thank you for sharing sweetie :)

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  8. Everything about this book is really intriguing. I'm looking for it here in the Philippines but I guess it is not yet here that's why I would love to win. Thank you so much for this giveaway!

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  9. I love the synopsis of this book: magic, parallel worlds, LONDON. Really hope to read it soon*---*

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  10. I've always been a sucker for alternate realities, seeing what's different about each world and seeing how those differences have ripple effects that change larger things. Very curious to see how that's done here!

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  11. i love reading books with parallel universes soo cool :D

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  12. The magic and how it works <3 I want to see how the different areas work and how everything runs. Thank you so much for the chance to win <3

    Rafflecopter: Elizabeth Holme

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  13. I like the idea of parallel universes and The Londons, especially Black London. Thanks for the giveaway!

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  14. I am a huge Doctor Who fan and love when he goes to parallel universes. Very interesting to see what could have possibly been your world.

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  15. I like the time traveling and the idea of grey, red and white London - it´s absolutely amazing! I´m really curious about the black London - I did a quiz - in which part of London should I live and my result was black London, it would be great to know what was in this one :)

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  16. The worlds intrigue me most- and second best would be Kell's coat :D

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  17. I love the whole multiple Londons idea! Parallel universes are the best and I'll read any book about it!


    -Nicole Layug

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  18. I like that there is different London's and all the magic. It sounds like a fun read. Thanks for having the giveaway.

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  19. I'm intrigued by this story bc I love fantasy and this sounds soooo intense. The world building sounds so interesting!

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  20. I have never read a parallel universe novel and I'm really looking forward to it. Also, I have an obsession with London so I think that will make it even more interesting for me. (:

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  21. I first heard about this from my friend, and I loved the idea of the parallel universe traveling. Fun fact, though, I thought the cover was an upside-down gnome until last month :) Thank you!

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