Great fairy tale reimagining!

Sand wakes up inside a fireplace inside a castle surrounded by thorns, in which every single thing is violently torn in two. He's an enterprising young man, who yearns to be a blacksmith, so he sets about mending what he can, and that action causes the story to unfold.

I particularly enjoyed the medieval French setting and the magical, mythological, and historical details. There is a princess, eventually, but she's far more interested in astronomy than anything else. A magical tale, but more one of finding your passion and finding a way to achieve it without tearing your family asunder.

Advanced reader copy provided by edelweiss. ( )

3.5 stars really. The first chapters are rough... For a while it is unclear what sort of audience this story is for and what type of universe Haskell is trying to create. But, at the end, I liked it. ( )

I loved reading this as an ebook because I could select a name and read a Wikipedia entry about that person. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known that some of the character and places in the book were based on real people, or at least real legends (though I never figured out the faceless woman or the dark haired woman as they didn't have names).

I started reading without knowing what the book was about. Unless there's a blurb in the front of the book, you can't simply flip to the back of an ebook to read the synopsis, and I had forgotten why I wanted to read it in the first place. I read the first few pages and thought, "Oh, Sleeping Beauty." But then after he finds the body of a dead girl and doesn't kiss her, I was very intrigued at where the story was going to go. I was not disappointed.

It was very original, real despite the magic, and had a great message that was believable and inspiring without being preachy. ( )

Waking up in the fireplace ashes of an unfamiliar and very broken castle, Sand discovers that nothing lives here, except the huge, dense thorny brambles that enclose the whole exterior, making it impossible to leave. He begins mending broken objects and soon discovers Perrotte, a girl his age and heir to the castle who has awakened from the dead. They become friends as they uncover secrets about the castle’s history and search for freedom. This enchanting fantasy is a wonderful story of friendship, magic, hope and love. Tweens and others will love it.

Sharyn H. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

( )

Sand, the son of a blacksmith wakes to find himself in the ruins of a castle that lies on the edge of his town. He meets Perrnotte who has been lying dead in the castle and is awakened by Sand. Together they "mend" the castle. ( )