Review: Stray by Elissa Sussman

 

Release Date: October 7, 2014

Publisher: Greenwillow
Pages: 384
Source:  eARC for review

ISBN-10: 0062274554

Rating: 2 Hearts

Book Description

"'I am grateful for my father, who keeps me good and sweet. I am grateful for my mother, who keeps her own heart guarded and safe. I am grateful for my adviser, who keeps me protected. I am grateful for the Path, which keeps me pure. Ever after.'

Princess Aislynn has long dreamed about attending her Introduction Ball, about dancing with the handsome suitors her adviser has chosen for her, about meeting her true love and starting her happily ever after.

When the night of the ball finally arrives and Nerine Academy is awash with roses and royalty, Aislynn wants nothing more than to dance the night away, dutifully following the Path that has been laid out for her. She does not intend to stray.

But try as she might, Aislynn has never quite managed to control the magic that burns within her-magic brought on by wicked, terrible desires that threaten the Path she has vowed to take.

After all, it is wrong to want what you do not need. Isn’t it?

STRAY is the first in a collection of intertwined stories, all set in a world where magic is a curse that only women bear and society is dictated by a strict doctrine called The Path. A cross between The Handmaid’s Tale and Wicked, with a dash of Grimm and Disney thrown in, this original fairy tale will be released October 7th, 2014 from Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins."

Review

Short and Sweet:

 While I really, really thought I was going to love this during the first half or so, I ultimately had way too many questions left unanswered/never discussed that I finished it kind of disappointed.

To Elaborate... 

Princess Aislynn has done her best to stay on her Path and not stray or give in to the magic that's so hard to control. After a particularly bad incident, she is forced to be Redirected and labeled a stray. Now, she must take up the role of fairy godmother and help out another princess. But no matter where she goes, her magic is still brimming and danger seems to follow her. 

During the first part of this book, I was SO loving it. Cool fairytale world with dresses and magic and godmothers and plots? Yes! I loved the idea of 'straying' and how the world was crafted around that. 

But soon after Aislynn got Redirected to be a fairy godmother, it started going quickly down hill for me. All the world building questions I had during the first part seemed like they were never going to be addressed (like what exactly is the curse Aislynn keeps mentioning? Why does she get welts and stuff? What exactly is the motivation behind the antagonist? Why was she freaked out when the thing with the red sheets happened? AND WHAT THE HECK IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS MIRROR?). 

All these questions and more starting piling up and by the end, not a single one was answered. Since this isn't so much a 'sequential' series, as a future collection of companions, I expected most of my questions would be answered. And most of my questions weren't even ones that you would expect answered in a second book. These answers were necessary to understand what was currently going on. I just felt like screaming, "TELL ME MORE" during the entire second half of the story.

 

This even drifted over into the romance. Thackery seems somewhat, vaguely swoony, but you know next to nothing about him. I think the story mentions that he has green eyes? This isn't completely a case of insta-love, but they somehow like each other while know nothing about each other. I'm not even sure when Thackery finds out she's a princess and not just a fairy godmother.  

Overall, this was a let down for me. I love the premise of it so, so, so much, and it kind of kills me when a story has that and then doesn't follow through in awesomeness. I might be willing to give the next companion a chance just in hopes that a better balance will happen, but it'll be a tough call.  

2 Hearts