The Seventh Bride

I always feel bad for giving a rating a book by how I enjoyed it rather than its quality. But after suspecting I wouldn't like Kingfisher's teen horror books, I bought one in a sale. And I don't like it. But it's just as well written as her other books, just creepier and more dreamlike.

I haven’t previously read anything by this author, and this fairytale-inspired story looked interesting.

I came away with the strong impression the book was really written for young readers, though I’m not sure just how young.Part of that was the jokey/cute tone and little asides. This feeling was reinforced by the plot being essentially linear and villain Crevan being unambiguously villainous, absolutely no doubt in anyone’s minds. I still have no idea why he assigned Rhea her various tasks: if it was merely to show her he was the boss, it was a convoluted way of going about it. On a related note, pretty much all the other characters (whether benign or not so much) direct Rhea’s actions and sometimes lent a hand (or paw), leaving her nearly no agency of her own.

A light and unchallenging read in a fairytale world.