The Sin Eater's Daughter (The Sin Eater’s Daughter #1)

4.5 Stars!
The Sin Eater's Daughter was a really interesting novel about a girl; Twylla, whose touch is fatal.
The plot was really captivating and not everything is as it seems. With twists and secrets revealed, this book was hard to put down. And the concept of the Sin Eater was fascinating and unique .
The characters were also very intriguing. I'm eager to read the rest of the series!

"The Sin Eater's Daughter" takes place in the kingdom of Lormere, which is ruled by inbred royalty who are closest to the gods, Daeg and Naeht, who rule the day and night respectively. Naeht betrayed Daeg, laying with him and turning everything into eternal night, but she became pregnant with Daunen, who was given their powers and restored balance. She is reincarnated when the kingdom needs her and is recognizable by red hair, singing voice, and ability to drink poison without being harmed and to kill with a touch.

Twylla is young, training to be her mother's apprentice, when she learns that she is Daunen reincarnated and whisked to the palace. Her mother is the Sin Eater and as such, she eats good symbolic of the deceased's sins such that they may ascend without the burden of their sins.
Although Twylla had hoped for such a change, she soon learns her new job is not what she would have hoped, as she is at the queen's mercy and forced to kill on demand, beginning with her only friend at a young age. She is also betrothed to the prince, as even though they do not share parents, the queen and her husbands have not been able to have a second child.

This book is really fabulous, a fast paced and remarkable fairytale for a new era. Twylla is easy to like and her perspective is perfect to set up this kingdom and its problems. The romance that builds is very believable and heartwarming. There were many twists at the end that I did not see coming-it was fascinating to read. The book deals with some big issues, like the function of religion and honesty. It's a great fantasy in the vein of Maas and others who capture your attention in a world built of new fairytales. I enjoyed every second of it and can't wait to read the next!

Twylla has been blessed by the Gods. She will marry a prince and rule the kingdom with him. The blessing, though, comes with a price and for Twylla, it means her touch is deadly to anyone not favoured by the Gods. The queen uses Twylla as an executioner for anyone who angers her or she needs out of the way. Leif, a new guard assigned to Twylla, sees past the image she maintains for the court but doing so could put both their lives in danger. Some secrets shouldn’t be told.

First, the cover of this book was beautiful in its own right but now, after reading the book and knowing the context behind it, I love it even more. The concept of this book was really interesting and I really liked the world that was created. The mythology of the Gods and how it tied into Twylla’s situation was one of the main reasons I kept reading. The story overall was a little slow and a bit predictable but the action did pick up in the last part of the book.

Twylla was a character who was obviously lonely and craved approval from others, especially a parental figure. She had only one friend due to her touch being lethal and her job as the court executioner. She was miserable but she never really did anything to try to change the situation for herself. She was the type of character who reacted to things that were happening to her instead of taking charge and causing things to happen. I liked that she wasn’t cold or closed-off, even though it would have been easy for her to be that way with her job.

I did like Twylla and Leif together but I found it hard to believe in their romance when it happened so quickly. Same thing with Twylla and Prince Merek. It felt like it went right from the getting to know each other stage to the love stage. I found their relationships were more like friendships that were being mistaken as love since they were the only two age-appropriate boys to be nice to Twylla.

I thought the most interesting character of the book was the queen. She was definitely evil and enjoyed violence. She was manipulative, could be nice one second then sentencing death the next. She knew exactly what she wanted and she was going to get it no matter what the cost.

The mythology of the Gods, the Sin Eater and Daunen Embodied was my favourite part of the book. Every time the book started going into more detail, I found myself reading faster because I wanted to know more. I’m hoping the next book has even more to give us readers, even though it’ll probably be a long wait.