Sunday, November 2, 2008

The Rose Bride: A Retelling of "The White Bride and the Black Bride" by Nancy Holder


The Rose Bride: A Retelling of "The White Bride and the Black Bride" by Nancy Holder

This story was not as easy for me to read as some of the others in the Once Upon a Time series. I was not very familiar with the story of the White Bride and the Black Bride so that might have had something to do with it.

I found the story to be a lot like Cinderella but without the fairy godmother. Despite the abundance of magic Rose did much of the "work" of the tale on her own which was good. I did find her character to be strangely unlikeable as she spent much of the 1st half of the book weeping and much of the next quarter of the book being beaten down. Only towards the end when she believes the message of the roses does she really improve as a character.

I also found the king to be lacking. I was more than a little weirded out that he could replace his wife in his affections with another that looked just like her. To have married three people that all look exactly the same was more than a little strange to read even if Desiree only borrowed the form.

It certainly wasn't my favorite of the series of fairy tales.

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