The Ugly Stepsister

by Aya Ling

• ISBN10: 1511956720
• ISBN13: 9781511956727
• Publish Date: 11 June 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 452
• Language: English

Reviews

[tweetybugshouse]

This retelling was amazing in the fact that it does not remind me of any Cinderella story i ever read. I like that you have to figure out all the clues of who the fairy godmother is, who the prince is, and even who Cinderella is. I like that it different and that Kat has to do all the work to make the story play out the way it suppouse to. I also like how she trys to fight for what she feels is right and totally starts turning this Story World upside down. I do wish that we would of gotten to know what happen to the characters in Story World at the end maybe their can be a book two with a glimpse into how things played out. In all the author did a great job with this retelling.

[Silvara]

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I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.



When we're first introduced to Kat, she's in the modern world. And seems to be a fairly shy girl, especially around boys. But then when she gets flung into the story world, she suddenly grows a backbone. Not all at once, true. But she suddenly gets this stubborn streak to her, and starts doing things that almost seem out of character compared to when we first meet her.

Some of this is explained by her needing to force the story world to give her the Cinderella happy ending so she can go home. And as she starts trying to make pieces fit the story, she starts making friends with the characters. And then she gets totally caught up in the world.

The beginning of the book was a little slow, but once Kat starts actively trying to bend the story, I just got sucked in. I wanted to know how she was going to achieve the 'happily ever after' ending the goblin king required. Some of the things she did made me laugh, and some things she finds out about were pretty horrible. Like an 11-year-old girl who not only works sweatshop hours for pittance, but was gotten pregnant as well.

I liked Kat, Edward, Poppy and Elle, Bianca was evil enough she was easy to hate. Most of the rest of the characters weren't fleshed out enough for me to care about one way or the other.

The ending bugged me a little bit. It made me happy because of the hints you get about the boy, but it bugged me too.

 

I didn't like that when she arrived back in the real world, she had no memory whatsoever of any of her time in the story world. Nothing that happened to her, none of the people she met. Zip. And yet, she was suddenly this super-confident girl who had no issues talking to boys anymore. Even her friend noticed the change in her.

And while it seemed to be hinting that the new boy she had met in the beginning of the book, before she fell into story world, was Edward, it didn't make up for her losing all those memories.

 

If you like fairytale retellings, with humor and twists, you should try this book.

 

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon