Stepsister

by Jennifer Donnelly

'In an ancient city by the sea, three sisters - a maiden, a mother, and a crone - are drawing maps by candlelight. Sombre, with piercing grey eyes, they are the three Fates, and every map is a human life . . .'

Stepsister takes up where Cinderella's tale ends. We meet Isabelle, the younger of Cinderella's two stepsisters. Ella is considered beautiful; stepsister Isabelle is not. Isabelle is fearless, brave, and strong-willed. She fences better than any boy, and takes her stallion over jumps that grown men fear to attempt. It doesn't matter, though; these qualities are not valued in a girl. Others have determined what is beautiful, and Isabelle does not fit their definition. Isabelle must face down the demons that drove her cruel treatment of Ella, challenge her own fate and maybe even redefine the very notion of beauty . . .

Cinderella is about a girl who was bullied; Stepsister is about the bully. We all root for the victims, we want to see them triumph. But what about the bullies? Is there hope for them? Can a mean girl change? Can she find her own happily ever after?

• ISBN10: 1471407977
• ISBN13: 9781471407970
• Publish Date: 15 May 2019 (first published 1 May 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Hot Key Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 480
• Language: English

Reviews

[Emma (SCR)]

This review was originally posted on Star Crossed Reviews 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.I love a good fairytale and I am very partial to a retelling too. I originally requested this book on netgalley but I listened to the audiobook which I borrowed vias my library app Borrowbox.

The book's main character is one of the 'ugly' stepsisters from Cinderella. Isabelle has spent her whole life being told what she can't do and has now got to the point where she believes she is rotten and ugly. Over the course of the book, Isabelle is shown that she is not rotten and ugly and she can do anything she likes. It's so empowering to see Isabelle realise her full potential.

Jennifer does an excellent job of turning Isabelle from a villain to hero. Jennifer makes it really easy to root for Isabelle and the others to succeed. This book has such a strong moral message.

I enjoyed Jennifer's writing style and I look forward to reading more of her books in the future.

[jeannamichel]

Here I was expecting a dark reimagining of what happened after Cinderella becomes a princess. Stepsister follows the ugly stepsisters. And its borderline middle grade tone took away most of the darkness. The book went for a much lighter, whimsical tale which is not what I expected.

[stressedrach]

I had great expectations of Stepsister and it didn't let me down at all. From the very beginning, it had me hooked. I liked the idea of the tale being told of Isabelle, Ella (Cinderella's) ugly stepsister. She was horrid and cruel, we all found that out in the original fairytale but after a while the dislike of Isabelle that I had started to change. In fact, I started rooting for her and the whole moral to the story was a prominent one that may be more people should think about.

This was a fast-paced and well-written book, Jennifer Donelly has done a fantastic job here with the characters and details. It felt like I was actually in the book with them.
I am hoping that with the ending as it was, that there will be another person or people whose life map needs a little helping hand and a nudge in the right direction.
Definitely a 5 out of 5, a fantastic read.

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

~*Check out all my reviews over on The Bent Bookworm!*~

“Have you forgotten what I am? I am the heart’s first beat and its last. I am the newborn lamb and the wolf that rips out its throat. I am the bloodsong, crone.”

Stepsister is the story of what happens to Cinderella’s family after she marries her prince and leaves them for the palace life. I was SO excited for this book, and I loved the cover, and the premise! So, while I enjoyed it and finished it pretty quickly, this was unfortunately one of those books where I really felt like I read a different book than what other reviewers read. I saw several reviews that said it was incredibly dark, and gritty, and feminist…and while it definitely tries to be all of those things, it doesn’t quite pull it off. I think one of the main issues I have is that the book is simply too short to successfully BE what it was aiming for. I was quite surprised when it arrived, as it seemed like a very slim volume for the tale I was expecting – it comes in at 352 pages, in a book shorter than your usual hardcover. It feels rushed, and as a result I wasn’t able to fully believe in the characters or their feelings.

HOWEVER. I was still extremely curious all the way through, as it isn’t ever exactly clear how Isabelle and Octavia (the other stepsister) will reclaim themselves and their circumstances. I expected a lot more darkness, but to be honest the most horrifying thing happens in the first chapter (and isn’t a surprise) when both sisters mutilate their feet in an attempt to wear the glass slipper.

*insert Jeopardy theme song*

I kept waiting for something else bloody and awful to happen but it really…didn’t. And yes, I know, what kind of a person does this make me…I’m trying not to think too hard on that. 😛 I also loved the idea of the wolf within, slumbering under the heart of a girl who had been told to be quiet and still and stay in her place.

More Things I Liked

Both sisters have very unconventional interests (Octavia is a mathemetician, and Isabelle is a tactician) that have been smothered by their mother and society in general. I loved how they grew and blossomed and came into themselves as the story progressed.
There are some real zingers in here,too…

“The feeling that you want to own someone body and soul, spirit them away from everyone else, have them all to yourself forever and ever and ever,” Hugo said dreamily. “It’s called love.”

“No, it’s called kidnapping,” said Tavi.”

The bet between Fate and Chance was pretty interesting. I wish there had been a little more explanation of how they came to be in their current form and the mapwriting…etc.
THE FAIRY GODMOTHER!!!! OMG. I don’t want to spoil anything but holy crap this is my favorite fairy godmother interpretation of all time.


Overall 3.5/5 stars, rounded up.

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[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Initial Thoughts: Fabulously original and such an engrossing story. It's a little heavy-handed with the message--I don't need someone to make a "Girls can't do x" speech in nearly every chapter--but I hope maybe that was toned down in the final story because I read an ARC. Highly recommended otherwise.

[tweetybugshouse]

This is the perfect kind of retelling of a classic fairy tale story, why because it rooted in the original Grimm fairy tale. The first part of the story is right at the part where the prince is coming to find the mysterious lady from the ball who will fit the glass slipper. True to the original we have the two ugly stepsisters disfiguring their feet to fit into the glass slipper and Ella locked away. Of course, the story goes that Ella gets the prince and the two ugly stepsister and evil stepmom are left to their own devices.

This is where our retelling comes into play this story focuses on Isabella and Tavi, I like that this story hits the nail on the head on all kind of girl personality’s that the world deems as ugly. There, of course, is a lesson to be learned buried in this story and it centers around the ugliness that is buried inside Isabella who makes a bargain with a fairy to become pretty.

This story interweaves fate and chance into the story and makes you really examine how you see yourself. Fate tests you with negative feelings of self-doubt and Chance gives you opportunities to think again and try again. Their a few humorous parts involving cheese and how a disgusting experiment will save the day in a very smelly way. If your feeling like your less then what you are or that the world has condemned you as not pretty pick this book up your sure to see yourself in another light when you are done.

[Joséphine]

May 9, 2019

Full book review is now up on Word Revel.

_________

May 2, 2019

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

Initial thoughts: I love that this retelling took the form of an extended fairytale. After Ashputtel had her "happily ever after," her stepsisters were left behind to take care of their wounds. Jennifer Donnelly reimagined what happened after the royal wedding and spun a feminist story, which I found quite a joy to read. Stepsister stayed true to the gruesome version in which a stepsister cut her heel and the other her toe, which adding another layer with the warring Fate and Chance tugging at Isabelle's life trajectory.

_________

Note: I received an advanced reading copy from a local distributor in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[Jo]

I received this eProof for free from Hot Key Books via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Trigger Warning: This book features discussion of considering suicide, threat of sexual assault, dead bodies, and war.

I had been so looking forward to reading Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly ever since first hearing about it. A feminist retelling of Cinderella, a sequel from an ugly stepsister's point of view! What could be better?! Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed with this one.

The positives first. Stepsister is very feminist. The reason the stepsisters, Isabelle and Tavi, were cruel to Ella? Jealousy. They all live in a world where women are meant to be good and kind and pretty. All things Ella was and is, and charms the people around her. They adore her. But being into fencing and horse riding and the great generals of the past, like Isabelle is, or into maths and science like Tavi is, isn't very ladylike. Plus, they're not very pretty, and what man is going to want to marry a woman who isn't pretty? Both Isabelle and Tavi have been hurt by the things people say about them because of how they look and their interests, and that they're not particularly feminine, yet see Ella constantly being praised and told how pretty she is, so they took their hurt and anger out on her. Time and again, throughout the novel, Isabelle, and Tavi to a smaller degree, are pretty much told that who they are is wrong, because they are women. Stepsister is all about Isabelle learning to embrace who she is, learning to like who she is, and being herself unapologetically, despite the world trying to force her into a box she clearly doesn't fit in, and, honestly, doesn't really want to fit in. Stepsister took a really interesting look at gender roles, and what beauty actually means, what beauty actually is.

I loved how the story is about a fight for Isabelle's life, not just from her, but from one of the Fates and from Chance. The three Fates - the maiden, the mother, and the crone - draw maps for every single person's life, and Isabelle's map is destined to end violently. Chance is a young man who steals Isabelle's map from the Fates, believing that people shouldn't have their lives mapped out for them, ad should be able to decide on their own path. He steals the map to give Isabelle a chance to change her fate, and the crone and Chance bet on how Isabelle's life will end up - and then interfere with her life to get the outcome they want. I've read this kind of story before - where beings take an interest in particular people's lives, and compete with each other, bending the lives of these people who have no knowledge of how their lives are being manipulated, like The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough - but it was really fascinating to see this kind of story melded with a retelling. It was quite an interesting twist.

However, Stepsister was written for what felt like a much younger audience, which generally isn't for me. There's not a problem with it, I just don't like MG books, and this felt like, throughout, a book that would make a great MG/YA crossover novel. But then there would be moments where it was quite clear that this was definitely a YA novel. It got quite dark in places; there's a time when Isabelle confronts a thief trying to steal her chickens, and the thief notices her eyeing the rake and trying to figure out how to get to it, and he suggest she should use "my tool" instead, quite threateningly. Stepsister has an omnipresent narrator that talks to the reader; sometimes, they're pointing things out to us that the characters have missed, other times, they're almost advising the audience - and to be honest, it did feel a little heavy handed at times, a little preachy. But there's one point where Isabelle is despairing at the situation she's in, and the narrator talks to the reader, and says, pretty much, if you want to hang yourself, wait to get the rope until the morning, because you might change your mind. And it's so blasé. And it just felt so wrong. The narrator is talking to the reader about the reader hanging themselves! That just really didn't sit right with me at all. Am I over reacting? But this and the threat of sexual assault - making this book very much a YA novel, and potentially a bit older than the younger end of YA - did not fit the way in which the story was written, where Stepsister felt like it was aimed at quite a younger audience.

And I just wanted more from the story, I think. In the great scheme of things, not a huge deal actually
happens. Perhaps it's because I've read a number of other retellings, but I was expecting a more complex story. And while, yes, Chance and the crone's interfering put obstacles and opportunities in Isabelle's path, apart from the odd time or two, nothing really major happens. And some of the relationships I just didn't find to be that believable. With the romance, it's nothing to write home about; we never really know why the two like each other (not giving names because of spoilers). Hugo, who Isabelle and Tavi have to spend time with, can't stand either of them, but he is like such a child; his problems regarding them are based on what I've said above - neither Isabelle nor Tavi behave the way women are expected to - but how he insults them is just bloody ridiculous. He's like a five-year-old! So the hate to something like friends relationship that develops is just irritating. I couldn't stand him.

And then there's Isabelle and Tavi themselves. I mean, Isabelle thinks back over some of thing they have said or done to Ella in the past, and while, yes, they were mean, apart from locking her in her room when the prince came with the glass slipper, they never really did anything that I would consider to be monstrously cruel; it was more like the kind of fights that happen between siblings when they're young. Isabelle and Tavi weren't mean, cruel people - they just had moments where they weren't very nice. But otherwise they're pretty normal? Fairly decent human beings? They're just not the ugly stepsisters I was expecting. I know we get villain origin or sequel stories where they're written so that we come to understand and maybe even sympathise with them as we get the story from their perspective, but they're still the characters we know, we just find out why they are the way they are. Isabelle and Tavi are unrecognisable as the ugly stepsisters we've grown up loathing.

So Stepsister turned out to be quite a disappointment, sadly. It really wasn't for me, but it might be for you, so do read a few more reviews before deciding whether or not you'll read it yourself.