Review Detail

Never having read the original story of Bluebeard, this is the second retelling that I have put my hands and eyes upon. I liked Sophie's snarky, yet sweet personality. Her curious nature endeared her to me, because she refused to just blindly accept whatever Bernard told her and what everyone else wanted her to do. The gradual descent into total isolation, dependence and abusive behavior is chilling in just how believable it is written. The depiction of the slaves and the treatment of them is unfortunate, but more than likely true in most cases of 19th century slavery. Sophie's attitudes were great, but I echo similar sentiments to other readers that sometimes the slaves just seemed like plot devices and extra bodies for Sophie to meet/converse with. Her relationship with the Reverend was intriguing and the developing of feelings for him was sweet and very old fashioned - in other words, tonally perfect for the novel. The climax of the novel chilled my blood and was definitely gruesome enough to fit what little I know of the original tale. One of my few complaints is the clinical nature the last few pages of the book took on, kind of 'where are they now' type of thing to try and tie up loose ends. Overall, an interesting retelling and definitely one of the better offerings of recent YA fairy tale re-tellings.