Evelyn Skye

Everyone knows the tale of the princess saved from the dragon by the brave and handsome prince who slays the beast. But what if the prince is actually the one who put her in such a predicament in the first place and she must slay the dragon herself, or die trying? This twist on the classic fantasy story endeavours to enlighten you.

A few nights ago, I watched Netflix’s recent film “Damsel”, starring Millie Bobby Brown, Robin Wright, Ray Winstone, Angela Bassett, Nick Robinson, Brooke Carter, and of course the incredible Shohreh Aghdashloo who voices the dragon.

With the film and my thoughts of it fresh in my mind, I decided to read this. I love retellings and I love dragons so I knew I would enjoy it. As a young adult book, therefore aimed at teenagers, it was a great little read, rather quick, expanding on existing scenes and building depth through new scenes. I feel that, much like the film, if I had been younger I would have loved it even more. It was reasonably similar so I could tell exactly what point we were at in relation to the film, and of course had quotes straight from the film that was nice to see.

This book answered a lot of the questions I had from watching the film but unfortunately it also created questions. I understood the changes that were made, but I preferred the film's ending to the book’s.… (more)

Representation: N/A
Trigger warnings: Death of girlfriends in the past by burning and physical illness, murder, grief and loss depiction, pregnancy and childbirth, divorce mentioned, infertility, near-death experience, fire, explosions, military violence and war themes, World War II, shipwreck, colonisation, car crash
Score: Five points out of ten.
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Oh, look, a Romeo and Juliet retelling. A person I knew picked this one up and tried to read it. Unfortunately for her, it quickly disinterested her so she gave up after a few pages. However, The Hundred Loves of Juliet intrigued me, so I picked it up and read it. When I finished The Hundred Loves of Juliet, it disappointed me. It could be better, but alas, it didn't meet my expectations (I should lower them in the first place considering the low ratings and reviews.)

It starts with the first character I see, Helene, whose last name remains undisclosed, moving to Alaska to write a novel. She wants to write a romance involving two people, when suddenly, she meets another person: Sebastien, who came right off Helene's pages. Here's the catch: Once Sebastien starts a relationship with Helene, he tells her he is immortal but every time he tries to fall in love with a Juliet incarnation, she dies. The Hundred Loves of Juliet has such an intriguing premise, but the former squanders the latter by fumbling the characters, my biggest gripe. Sebastien and Helene talk like two cheesy philosophers, making me groan inside. I've had enough of people who talk like that, because it's unrealistic, and after reading another story with that type of dialogue, I didn't want to see it again.

The Hundred Loves of Juliet's flow was hard to follow at best and chaotic at worst. The narrative can jump back a few years sometimes to show the previous versions of Romeo and Juliet where the former survives but the latter meets her demise, but that quickly got repetitive. I also noticed the lack of diversity and saw that the author missed some opportunities to add more types of characters. One member of the couple that existed during the colonisation of America could've been Native American. The twosome in the Sahara could've been Black, and the one in World War Two era Japan could've been Japanese. You get the idea. I couldn't connect or relate to them in the first place.

The conclusion is a high note, as Sebastien and Helene break the curse as the former hacked some computers so that nothing could go wrong (Why?) and the latter had her first child. The Hundred Loves of Juliet mentioned divorce, but the author quickly glossed it over, which I disliked. It was apparent that in Evelyn Skye used YA writing which didn't translate well in her debut in adult fiction. To summarise, The Hundred Loves of Juliet was a promising Romeo and Juliet retelling, but the negatives outweighed the positives, disenchanting me.… (more)