Cobweb Bride

Cobweb Bride is an enthralling story reminiscent of a dark fairytale. Set in 17th century Europe, Death has provided the world with an ultimatum: until his Cobweb Bride is found, no one will die. This promise of eternal life sounds appealing at first, but Death’s proclamation is not without its share of horror — soldiers mutilated on the battlefield bleed out yet do not die; animals prepared for slaughter who won’t be slain; people waiting on their deathbed to take their last breath, which just won’t come. Across the land, inhabitants are trapped in this perverse imitation of “life,” and while many wish to restore the balance between life and death, there are others who are determined to remain in the realm of the living show more regardless of the cost.

The first third of the story is very slow paced, allowing for the development of multiple main characters and their associated story lines: Percy, the unappreciated daughter who embarks on a quest to become the Cobweb Bride, finding herself and her purpose along the way; the murdered princess who truly becomes alive after her death; and the dead duke’s son whose loyalty is tested when he is charged with capturing the aspiring Cobweb Brides. As these seemingly unrelated story lines intersect, the characters find themselves inextricably bound together by the same purpose: to return death to the world.

Nazarian’s writing is evocative, and beautiful. The descriptions were so detailed and lush that I found myself hanging on to every word, as opposed to skimming through the paragraphs of description in favour of the action like I do with Lord of the Rings. When the writing isn’t creating stunningly vivid images in the reader’s mind, it raises excellent points about immortality, life, death and suffering.

“It is life that fights and struggles and rages; life, that tears at you in its last agonizing throes to hold on, even if but for one futile instant longer… Whereas I, I come softly when it is all done. Pain and death are an ordered sequence, not a parallel pair. So easy to confuse the correlations, not realizing that one does not bring the other.”

Overall, Cobweb Bride is a brilliant start to a new fantasy series. Nazarian’s vivid, lush writing makes for an enjoyable read, even in the slowest portions of the book.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

One day, Death stops. He will not resume his tasks until his Cobweb Bride is found and brought to him. The dying linger, their last breaths forever gurgling in their throat, the murdered seek to understand their murderers, and the only nourishment is that which was harvested before Death withdrew.

From all across the lands they come. Potential Cobweb Brides, asked by their rulers to save the world. Some are ordered; some volunteer. Some hope to be chosen; some pray to be spared. But all head north to the forest in search of Death's home. And some in the kingdom, pleased with their reprieve from Death, desire to stop them.

This book is beautiful and sorrowful, hopeful and tragic. The writing is poetic; I found myself reading some parts out show more loud just to hear them spoken. From the moment I picked this book up until the moment I finished it, I was immersed.


5/5 stars

Note: I participated in the Kickstarter for this book. show less

Cobweb Bride with theme about Death looking for a bride and the fact that main heroine is called Persephone fooled me into thinking it will be a retelling of a famous greek myth about Persephone and Hades. But Vera Nazarian didn't do this, instead she created a different and completely unique story.

Set in an imaginary European country, Cobweb Bride takes place during Renaissance, one of my favorite historical periods. There will be glittering courts and their intrigues, intricate wigs and fashion, but also we will get a glimpse of how the poor lived in this time, because the heroes of Cobweb Bride are from different social groups.

As I already said, Cobweb Bride is about a peculiar subject. Death appears and declares that there will be show more no more dying until his cobweb bride arrives to his home in Northern Forest. A lot of horrible things happen because nobody can't die: mutilated soldiers in battles never get relief, old sick people are endlessly tortured by disease, even animal can not be killed anymore... The plot of the book unravels slowly. Vera Nazarian does not want to miss anything and in great detail shows us how absence of death influences all spheres of life and of course different reactions of people.

This is one of those times when it's better if you skip reading the book summary, because they wrote all events from the first part of Cobweb Bride Trilogy. So if you have read the summary, you might feel that the book ended without much happening or that it was boring. Since I skip reading book summaries exactly for the reason of not spoiling something, I didn't have this problem.

I enjoyed reading Cobweb Bride, although it was slow at times. I liked that Persephone aka. Percy is ordinary girl and not some awesome beauty and I enjoyed reading about her adventures. I expected much more romance because Cobweb Bride is advertised as fantasy romance, but the love story is very subtle and starts developing only at the end of the book.

In The End...
If you like reading about realistic heroines, alternate history, noble knights and quests, then Vera Nazarian wrote a perfect book for you. If you are looking for a classic retelling of Hades and Persephone myth or a lot of romance, you might be disappointed.

Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. This text is also posted on my blog Bookworm Dreams in a little bit more styled edition. show less

I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley(dot)com. I really enjoyed this beautifully written and creative historical fantasy. It is the first of a trilogy, so not everything is resolved in this book. The second book will be called The Cobweb Empire.

Death has decided to stop doing his job until the humans find him his Cobweb Bride. Soldiers are dealt mortal wounds in battle...but don't die. Animals slaughtered for food never actually die and nothing living (plants or animals) will cook properly. People are walking around with mortal wounds and illness, suffering endlessly. Then the ruler of the lands issues a degree; all women of marriageable age shall journey to Death’s Keep to determine whether or not they are the Cobweb show more Bride.

Through this book we follow the stories of multiple characters. The first is Percy, a peasant girl who can see Death and has decided to journey to his keep to see if she is the Cobweb Bride. The second is the Infanta, daughter of the Emperor, who was assassinated but of course did not quite die...she is also determined to journey to Death's Keep. The third is Beltane, the son of Duke Hoarfrost. Duke Hoarfrost was killed in battle and is determined to make sure Death never resumes his duties, as such he sends Beltane to prevent any of the girls from getting to Death's Keep.

The writing and imagery are very beautiful. I enjoyed the descriptions and felt like they really made the story come alive. The book was easy to read, it is a bit wordy but I enjoyed the extra description. This is supposed to be a retelling of the Persephone myth, sort of. You can tell that the Myth of Persephone definitely influences the story.

Having the different POVs worked really well for this book, the story flowed well and it was interesting to see things from multiple perspectives. All of the characters were very engaging. Percy is an interesting characters because of her practicalness and the fact that she can see Death. The Infanta is intriguing because of her incredible sickness before death and her stoicness after death.

Beltane was the weakest character of the bunch. He had a lot of trouble standing up to his father, Duke Hoarfrost, as a result he does some awful things. He comes off as weak, despite being a powerful knight. He did start to change towards the end of the story though, so I am eager to see what happens with his character in future books.

The premise was very creative and I enjoyed the idea of Death boycotting his job. The idea of this does get a bit campy at times. For example when all the nobles figure out their meat can’t be cooked and try to eat it anyway...this was pretty comical. There are some parts that made me laugh a bit with the silliness of it all.

I actually wasn’t expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. It was very engaging and I was dying to know what would happen when the girls all got to Death’s Keep.

Overall an excellent read. The premise is creative, the characters are engaging, and the descriptions are beautiful. The book does a get a bit wordy at times and there are a lot of character names thrown at you. There is an index of characters in the back of the book to help you deal with this. I just found the story incredibly intriguing and I can’t wait to see what will happen in the second book. Recommended to fantasy lovers. show less

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

This novel is the first in an epic series, but unlike most epics, it is not about knights in shining armor (though there are knights), or kings, queens, and nobility (though those are present as well) but rather it is the tale of an overlooked, homely peasant girl who finds her place in the bigger scheme of things.

The Cobweb Bride starts, like many of the great tales, with an Event (capital E required). The beginning may feel slow to those of us used to the modern format of jumping into the story and struggling to keep up, and I’ll admit to having trouble with the broad cast introduced as an aspect of the Event at first. However, every person you meet in the beginning has an important role to show more play, no matter how small. It might take a bit for the lines that link each piece to become clear, much like how a spider builds a web one thread at a time, but once enough of the structure is visible, it’s too late. You’re caught in the web of this story.

The Event is simple: Death informs one group he will no longer collect souls until his cobweb bride is brought to him. And all dying, no matter how grievous the injury or illness, ends.

Vera Nazarian offers a complex, deep look at how people respond to both death and duty. She gets into the true nature of humanity in all its grace and flaws by focusing on the little events that come to pass because of the Event.

Cobweb Bride is the story of Percy (full name Persephone) and how she discovers her own value despite being raised by a mother who had married down and two sisters who are all that is beautiful. Hers is the main thread, and Percy the main character, but running in parallel are tales of loyalty, trust, greed, obsession, hope, and hatred to name a few, each given a face and a reason.

Some books are fun reads but nothing more.

Cobweb Bride might start in a style unfamiliar to most, but once it catches hold, you’re thrown into a kaleidoscope of people and events, some frozen for a twist of the barrel so you can appreciate the pageantry and some savored in all their brilliant colors and amazing patterns.

Why yes, this story throws me into metaphors. It’s that kind of tale, with that level of complexity. At the same time, the actual writing is most times clean and clear, with occasional forays into heavier description than I prefer which is not to say it’s poorly written, and there’s no confusion as to what is happening or why.

Cobweb Bride is a novel full of questions and answers, full of characters wanting to understand, wanting to know. This is not a story in which people are pushed along by events (little e) against their will, though there’s an aspect of that. It is a story where even in the face of no options, choices are found and decisions made.

A touch of Russian folklore, an opening style that isn’t even listed in the Point of View catalog, and a huge cast of characters (which narrows down past the opening to a smaller number of key characters). These are the elements that make Cobweb Bride different than most epic fantasy I’ve read, and these, along with characters who each have a compelling reason for the actions they take, are what make Cobweb Bride such a good read. And if you’re worried about predictability, don’t be. While nothing felt like it came out of nowhere once it had happened, there were several times where I’d predicted a path based on my understanding of events and the traditions of the format only to have the story twist aside at the end with something even more compelling and no less true to what came before.

I read Cobweb Bride as a NetGalley ARC in return for an honest review, which means it hadn’t gone through final edits. There were some typos and like that I hope are fixed in the final version, but even that did not disrupt my enjoyment of this title, which is saying something because those things bug me.

Cobweb Bride is not the style of writing found most commonly in modern novels, but its style suits the nature of the story, and works together with wonderful characters to draw me in. show less

Cobweb Bride ARC provided by netgalley.
 



 
“Bring to me my Cobweb Bride. Bring her to the gates of Death’s Keep that stands in the Northern Forest. Only then will I grant relief and resume taking your kind unto me. Until then, none shall die.”
 

"What if you killed someone and then fell in love with them?"
 
As soon as you start reading, you know this book will be amazing.The use of language is delightful: Death's first appearance, coalescing into form out of smoke, darkness, and garlands of ice cobwebs, is so incredibly vivid and beautiful you can't help being hooked right there. There is talent here, descriptions abound, but they do not show up on the page as the usual scene building for the plot, instead, it's as if the reader's show more eyes can't help but being arrested by a multitude of singular details that merge to form the most illuminating pictures.
 
The worlbuilding and characters are fantastic, but not only that, the premise of the story, while being based on the Persephone myth, is wonderfully original. Adaptations of the myth tend to focus on how Demeter's grief keeps the world from flourishing and how death soon ravages untamed. In the Cobweb Bride the dying remain in agony in their deathbeds, or bleeding from gaping wounds in the battlefields, or freezing in the murky darkness at the bottom of icy lakes - but Death will bring them no relief. Not until his bride is brought to him.
 
In the quest to deliver Death's Cobweb Bride several stories are told: the old queen whose death rattle keeps the castle awake, the three frivolous nobles who decide to make of this quest an amusing adventure, the dead duke's son charged with capturing all potential cobweb brides from reaching their destiny so his father may stay undead, the princess and her murderer (my personal favourite subplot), and Percy and her carriage full of would-be cobweb brides. Each story is captivating in its own right, and their characters all have the same purpose: to allow the dead to truly die, for, as the book says, "to be dead is not such a bad thing when it is your time to be dead, to be relieved of pain and suffering."
 
Fans of Patricia A. McKillip will surely love this book, but I recommend it to everyone who likes fantasy. show less

It's hard to find a fantasy novel with a unique and fresh premise, so you can imagine how happy I was when I found Cobweb Bride. I found the plot gripping and interesting because it hadn't been done before (to the best of my knowledge, anyway). The characters were well written, and while the plot slowed down somewhat at times, it definitely kept my interest throughout. I loved the ending, as well, which set book 2 up nicely, and I can't wait to read that one to find out where the story goes.

5/5 stars.