Book Review: The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess

The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess by Lucy Tempest

Fairytale Retelling. 200 Pages. 3 Stars

Synopsis:

A usurped princess. A mercenary sorcerer. A fate neither expected.

As a crown princess, Ava has always anticipated betrayals—but never from her own twin.

The unspeakable treachery comes the night Ava meets her true love, when Lina hires the infamous sorcerer, Dietrich Von Rothbart, to turn Ava into a swan, and takes her place.

Kept across the mountains in Dietrich’s castle lake, Ava’s repeated attempts to escape, to return to her prince and life, keep failing. But in the last time Dietrich recaptures her, she gets close enough to glimpse the terrible truth of what she left behind—starting with that of her prince.

Yet, it’s Dietrich’s true motivations and the unique bond that forms between them that shock her the most.

Will she reject their burgeoning feelings and trust to undo his efforts and reclaim her kingdom? Will he risk the consequences of freeing her from his curse? Will their love survive the demands of duty, and the toll of resentment and threats? Or will it fade away with the moonlight at sunrise?

The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess is one of twelve short novels in A Villain’s Ever After, a collection of standalone stories featuring villainous twists on some of your favorite classic fairytales. Read the series in any order for magical adventures . . . and fall in love with villains as you’ve never seen them before. Who said villains can’t have happily-ever-afters?

My Review:

Eep! Getting closer to the end! Only a few books left to go!

Admittedly, the Swan Princess is one of my favorite fairy tales. So, I was definitely curious about a Rothbart/Swan Princess pairing.

I’ve read a few works by Tempest before, and unfortunately she’s not really my cup of tea. But there were elements of this story I liked. The twin sister was a cool idea and the twist on the tale that provided could have been really epic, I think. I do feel like the execution of the character was a little cardboard. From the first page, the twin was a brat, so there was really no surprise that she was behind it all. It had the potential to be a neat twist, but she just had no dynamic to her.

Honestly, the other characters really didn’t feel that rounded out either. Ava started out the graceful, sweet, kind princess (or so we were told she was), but then she kind of turned into a brat too XD I mean, I 100% admired her effort to try to escape and absolutely understand from her perspective being upset with her captor. (In fact, I thought it was kind of odd she let him off so easy in the end and pretended like he was some hero.) But she didn’t really exhibit any of the patience or cleverness I would have thought she had based on her opening scene and what we were told. She didn’t really seem graceful or strong when she was throwing insults and tantrums with Rothbart. It just seemed like a strange juxtaposition to me.

And Rothbart spent half the book as a piece of eye candy for Ava. It was all clean and mellow, but I got a little sick of hearing about his russet locks and broad frame. Those electric blue eyes and spectacular eyebrows. Spectacular eyebrows?! It just jerked me out of the story. He was given a super sympathetic backstory that Ava, of course, refused to acknowledge until he tried to tell her a thousand times. And when she finally listened (and of course had the chance to cry into his broad chest), then she was so smitten with him that she didn’t acknowledge the fault in what he’d done. Although, ironically, he did. It was like they flip flopped positions on the issue. Overall, I think I found him the more interesting character, though. I loved what he was trying to do and felt like his sympathetic backstory was actually pretty compelling. But what made it work for me was that he never denied the wrong he’d done. He admitted to being willing to do almost anything to meet his goal and he walked through a change in his character where he adjusted his non-negotiables, which I admired.

I also actually really liked that Ava was a dancer and I liked the way flight played into the story. The comparison of birds to dancing and the ballet references were fun. Rothbart’s magic played a cool part in the story and was a neat nod to the original with a unique flair. The plot didn’t necessarily draw me in and keep me engaged, but neither was it disinteresting or irksome necessarily. It just kind of was. I did like how she brought the threads together in the end and how the different characters came together and sorted out. The climactic confrontation was satisfying.

There’s no swearing and some fantasy violence and a clean romance (nothing more than a kiss and definitely some ogling, though nothing inappropriate. Mostly just his hair and height and eyes). I’d probably give this to a 14/15 year old.

A Villain’s Ever After Book 1 is The Beast and the Enchantress (3 Stars)

Book 2 is The Sultan and the Storyteller (4 Stars)

Book 3 is Bluebeard and the Outlaw (5 Stars)

Book 4 is The Stepsister and the Slipper (4 Stars)

Book 5 is The Goblin and the Dancer (4 Stars)

Book 6 is Hansel and the Gingerbread Queen (5 Stars)

Book 7 is The Dark King and the Eternal Dance (4 Stars)

Book 8 is Gothel and the Maiden Prince (4 Stars)

Book 9 is The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess (3 Stars)

Book 10 is The Baker and the Wolf (4 Stars)

Book 11 is The Prince and the Sea Witch (5 Stars)

Book 12 is Carabosse and the Spindle Spell (5 Stars)