That feeling makes me not want to read it.Thomas%E2%80%99s debut opens with the end of a familiar fairy-tale%E2%80%94the %E2%80%9Csleeping beauty%E2%80%9D awakened by a kiss. A Wicked Thing has a sequel, but it feels like the first book is a cheap set-up to force people to read it so they can finally see something happen. I think the idea of a confused Aurora could work really well for a retelling of “Sleeping Beauty.” After all, waking up 100 years later would be very bewildering! Politics, etiquette, social conventions, technology–it would likely all be different! However, a book where the protagonist never takes true agency is not a very interesting read. She is merely fleeing from her problems and hoping she doesn’t die alone in the wilderness until something fortuitously turns up.
She has no destination and no thoughts on how to fix the political situation in her kingdom. Readers are evidently supposed to be impressed that Aurora finally makes a decision by herself after 300 pages–but she really does not.
Undecided about which is the best way to save her country, Aurora eventually makes a lackluster speech about how she needs to leave, then sneaks out of the city without a plan. (Spoilers for the end.) Aurora is torn among three choices: marrying the prince and allying with the royal family, allying with rebels, or allying with a foreign nation. The truly baffling thing about this book, however, is that it seems to believe that character development actually happens. The lack of character development makes this book feel like it should have been half a book, the prelude to a climax and real character development–not merely the set-up for a sequel. Unfortunately, however, Aurora allows herself to be lead around by strangers for the entire duration of the book. Missing her family and confused by the new court politics, Aurora finds herself being lead around by the royal family, who explain that she must marry the prince to fulfill the prophecy and ensure political stability. Rhiannon Thomas seems to be expanding on the traditional tale of “Sleeping Beauty” by imagining how disorienting it must be to wake up 100 years later being kissed by a stranger. The king who may have committed unthinkable crimes? The commoners who seem willing to kill? A foreign prince who thinks far too highly of himself? Uncertain and alone, Aurora determines to hope for the best.Īt the beginning of A Wicked Thing, I was intrigued. One hundred years after pricking her finger, Aurora awakens to find herself betrothed to a prince she does not know and beloved by a people who believe she will save them all.
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