“What is broken can be fixed.”
Chanda Hahn, Of Thorn and Thread
Because my last few reads have been quite heavy and intense, I decided I needed something lighter this week. I was also feeling under the weather. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to think too hard when I’m sick. So I was looking for something easy and fun when I stumbled across the Daughters of Eville series by Chanda Hahn.
I’m going to level with you. This series isn’t brilliant, but it’s cute. Perfect for reading when you’re sick. The premise is that there’s a woman, Lorelai Eville, who is wronged by the rulers of seven fantasy kingdoms. She vows revenge and raises a group of adopted daughters to be instruments of her vengeance. As you may have gathered from the titles, each book is a fairy tale retelling that highlights a different daughter. It’s an interesting concept, which is sometimes more compelling in theory than in actual execution. That said, it’s fun and entertaining, which is all that I was looking for this week!
Of Beast and Beauty centers on Rosalie, the eldest adopted daughter of Mother Eville. She’s taken to the kingdom of Baist to be wed to their prince, sight unseen. The prince is upset that he wasn’t able to wed the woman of his choice. He’s also heard rumors that Rosalie is a witch who will bewitch him if he looks upon her, so he insists that she wear a veil wherever she goes. Meanwhile, a murderous beast haunts the kingdom. This was honestly the strongest of the series, in my opinion. I felt like the themes of of prejudice and overcoming obstacles were well done. I also enjoyed Rosalie as a character. She took crap from no one.
Sadly, Of Glass and Glamour strikes me as the weakest of this series. It’s a Cinderella retelling with Eden Eville sometimes acting as Cinderella and sometimes as the fairy godmother. It has its moments, and I liked seeing Eden portrayed with having a lot of insecurities because I think that will resonate with people. While Rosalie is kicking butt and taking names, Eden is good at only one thing—magically changing her appearance. She grows throughout the book, but honestly, this one fell sort of flat for me.
Of Sea and Song was pretty fun. If you haven’t guessed it, it’s the Little Mermaid. Merisol goes on the run after she accidentally kills someone while trying to protect one of her sisters. She pretends to be a boy and joins the crew of a ship called the Bella Donna. When the Bella Donna anchors at a mysterious island, Meri finds herself making a deal with a sea witch in order to save the crew. This, of course, does not go well. It was a fun take on the classic story.
In Of Thorn and Thread, Aura Eville is an empath who is constantly bombarded by the thoughts and emotions of everyone around her. She joins with a knight from the kingdom of Rya to save his people from a mysterious blight that’s covered the land in fog and poisonous thorns. This book has some heavier topics, such as mental illness, human trafficking, and abuse. In some ways, this made for a nice change, but sometimes the way Chanda Hahn included these issues was a little clumsy. Still, a perfectly enjoyable Sleeping Beauty retelling.
These books turn a lot of the fairy tales on their heads. They’re not too faithful to the originals, so Hahn gave herself a lot of space to play around and make the stories more character driven. I was pleased that the overarching theme of the books is that sometimes what you think is evil is just misunderstood. As we get to know the daughters of Eville, feared throughout the seven kingdoms as evil witches, what we learn is that more often than not they’re trying to right wrongs and see justice done. They’re not simply seeking vengeance; they’re actively trying to make their world better.
That said, these books all suffer from massive instalove. In pretty much every book, the hero and the heroine hate each other until they’re suddenly violently in love and pledging eternal devotion. I rolled my eyes hard several times. In my opinion, Hahn missed the opportunity to develop those relationships in a more meaningful way. It’s not ideal, but it’s forgivable if you’re just looking for a fun read.
There should be three more books in the series focusing on the three remaining daughters: Maeve, Rhea, and Honor. The next book, Of Mist and Murder, is scheduled to be published on June 22, 2021. I’m planning on checking it out when it’s released.
Happy Reading!
