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A gorgeous retelling that blends elements from the beloved classic ‘Beauty and the Beast‘ and the Norwegian fairy tale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon“

Hello, everyone!
Forgive me! I’ve been feeling under the weather and, while I hope it doesn’t affect the quality of my post, I’ll ask that you be patient with any lack in coherence.

As one of the books on my ‘Absolutely must read in 2021’ list, I had decently high expectations..
and I was not disappointed. Similar to Erin Craig’s ‘House of Salt and Sorrows‘ this enchanting retelling is very likely to sweep you off your feet.

*Spoiler Alert!*
(I did my best but there are likely to be slip-ups.)

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Publication date: January 2019
Pages: 403
Genre: Epic fantasy, Fairy tale, Young adult
Standalone

Dedication:
For my mom—someday, we’re going to find the wolf’s library and explore it together, okay?

First line:
I WAS CALLED ECHO FOR MY mother, who died when I was born, because when my father took me into his arms he said he felt the echo of her heartbeat within me.

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Echo lives a modest life with her father and older brother, helping to run their small bookshop, and keeping mostly to herself. As a young girl.. a chance meeting with a wolf left Echo with terrible scarring on her face. The townspeople, superstitious and hard of heart, treat her as if cursed by the beast who marked her.

As Echo grows.. so too does a deep sense of self-loathing.
Though Rodya, her fiercely protective big brother, does what he can to embolden her self esteem and remain supportive. She remains unable to see beyond her deformity.

It comes as some surprise when their father announces his plans to remarry the baker’s widow from town and, understanding his loneliness, Echo does her best to make her new stepmother more comfortable. But soon it becomes apparent that their meager income will not cover Donia’s expensive tastes, and their father must travel far beyond the village for means to settle the debt.

Days pass into weeks with no news.. and even knowing that he may be lost to them, Echo refuses to accept the possibility, setting off to search for him on her own.

As the snow and wind batter her, she wanders ever deeper into the woods, certain he will miraculously appear.. then he does. Injured and lying unconscious beneath the watch-full eye of a terrifyingly familiar form, Echo does what she must to protect her family. She makes a deal with the devil.

Ransoming her father’s safety.. the wolf demands her oath to live with him for one year. One year to go against his wishes and possibly end the curse that plagues him. Echo believes she can do it. And so she swears to remain with the wolf for the agreed amount of time in exchange for returning her father home safely.

She’s snatched from the woods and thrown headlong into a life of magic and mystery. Impossible things, wondrous and deadly, live behind the doors of this strange home.
It’s not long before Echo finds herself becoming more attached to both the house and her new friends.
But time is not on her side.

Will Echo be able to break the curse, save her new friends, and see her family again?
or are they merely pawns.. in a tale as old as time.

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Four Stars!

A wolf..
Trapped in a curse. Bound to a mysterious magical house that seem to exists in many places and many times.
A boy..
Lost in a maze of pages and stories.
And a girl..
Destined to break the curse and free them all.
Can she unravel the secret capable of unlocking the greatest of all ancient magics.
Will it be in time to save everyone?

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About the book:

Echo‘s a compelling character. In the first half of the book I wouldn’t really call her fierce or tough.. It’s not until further on, as she grows and settles into herself, that see her really break out of her shell. It actually kind of disappointed me that for a good portion of the book she seemed to mostly wander off with her new friends.. only occasionally stopping to remind herself that she should be breaking a curse and saving everyone. She’s come to care deeply for her new life and the strange characters in it but here isn’t much urgency in finding what is needed to really save them all. It is through these adventures, however, that the answer is eventually discovered. It can be frustrating to have enjoyed a book so much and be so impatient with the protagonist’s actions.. or seeming lack of motivation.

“I’ve got research to do,” I explained.
“I could help,” he offered. “What are you researching?”
“The old magic.”
“You can’t research that. It either is or it isn’t, you know.”
“What on God’s green earth does that mean?”

Having spent so long being ostracized because of her face, Echo’s come to doubt herself greatly, letting her scars define her. Letting pain and bitterness hold her back. It was wonderful to see her development as a character as she learns that not everything can be judged by it’s surface.. and that sometimes the answer is never so complicated as we may think.

She is finally able to accept that her scars are only a small part of her story.. and not who she is.

“I can make them vanish. I can make you beautiful.”

I stare straight into her fire-eyes. “My scars don’t control me anymore. I don’t need to get rid of them to be beautiful.”

Wolf.. I liked wolf. His gruffness and firm personality towards Echo in the beginning slowly turn into something more gentle.. We glimpse staggered moments of vulnerability that will truly endear you to this sad, brave creature. But the curse causes memory lapses and blackouts that quickly change his demeanor, sending him snapping and lashing out at Echo. His violent reaction to Echo’s invasion of(what she calls) the ‘bauble room’, found behind an intimidating obsidian door, stir a fair amount of curiosity and I would have liked to see more done there but it’s not necessary to the story.

And, oh, how you feel for the wolf. His sorrow. Trapped. Hopeless.

“Once, I had something precious. I should have held it tight, should have guarded it with my last breath, but instead I let it go. I will regret that until the end.”

Hal seemed remarkably similar to Peter Pan to me. On one hand we see a lively, fun-loving boy with a desire for adventure. On the other.. we witness the deep emotional trauma that being imprisoned so long has caused. I feel like Hal was the most contentious character for me. Many of his actions throughout the book had me questioning his motives and I’m still not sure his reasoning for some of the decisions made were justifiable in the end.

What a strange boy..

“Where are you from?” I asked Hal, trailing my hand over the tops of the grass. It was feather soft, but it itched.
“From?” He raised an eyebrow at me, as if that was a difficult question.
“Where are you when you’re not reading?” I clarified.
“Oh, I’m always reading.”

Mokosh was an interesting conundrum. She was written wonderfully for the part she played.. a beautiful butterfly flitting from one story to the next, never quite meeting Hal, somehow just a little(a lot) suspicious. We’re shown small snatches of her personality that raise Echo’s defenses but it’s not until later that we get to see the extent of her duplicity.

She’s so obviously deceitful and manipulative.

“I feel I should put you on your guard,” she said. She touched my knee, her brows creased with concern. “You don’t know what he wants from you.”
Her tone irked me. “He doesn’t want anything. He’s my friend.”
“Then why isn’t he honest with you? How did he get trapped in the books in the first place? Maybe he’s dangerous. Maybe the books are his prison.”

Rodya, her brother, is her greatest supporter. He sees the beautiful, intelligent, and kind young woman beneath her scars. Constantly encouraging her to dare to dream, he’s the first person who gives her the hope that she can be something greater than her disfigurement.

I’m in love with Echo and Rodya’s relationship. So fierce and loving. Her brother props her up, reminding her of the good, and that her scars aren’t what defines her.

“No matter how much you might deny it, Echo Alkaev, you are extraordinary. You have been since the moment you were born.”

There are entire portions of this book that I simultaneously would have liked to move along and others that I would have liked more of but..

The writing was stunning.

The story? Gorgeous.. I’m so glad to have been introduced to this re-imagining. I had never heard of “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” and I would love to find a copy of the original folktale if possible.

And it’s this line that almost sends me to tears. Goodness.

“Hal, I let go.”
He shakes his head. “No you didn’t.”
And I glance down and see my left hand still curled tight around his ankle.

A love story should always end like this. Not with just a happily ever after..
But through a lifetime of fighting for one another to come out on the other side victorious.. And in love.

One of the most exciting things(for me) about the popularity with fairy tale re-imaginings is that I wasn’t much a fan of the princesses.. I grew up a hardheaded tomboy who wasn’t interested in being saved.
I wanted to be the prince.
I wanted the adventure.
Why shouldn’t a princess be able to also be a knight?

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What’s your favorite fairy tale?

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