The Treachery Of Beautiful Things

by Ruth Frances Long

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

This review is also posted at Pages Unbound Book Reviews.

The beginning of this story leaves a bit to be desired. My notes on it are basically scattered words to the effect of “weird,” “ridiculous names,” and “wow.” Essentially, I thought it was a little cheesy. And, really, the main character “shines with innocence?” That just made me laugh.

But I am glad I continued.

Quickly enough, I became truly captivated by the main characters. Jenny is obstinate, but it makes her endearing rather than annoying. She is absolutely determined to rescue her brother, and no man and no strange land is going to stand in her way. She’s brilliant. Jack is more complicated. Is he good? Is he bad? Does he truly care for Jenny or is he just playing for his own rewards? The constant questioning of his loyalty was really tugging at my heartstrings, and in fact was almost too stressful for something I was reading for fun, but it did keep me on the edge of my seat! This is a case where you will be pretty sure you know what is going on, but you will never want to bet on it. There is true suspense.

The world itself is also intriguing. It is (you guessed it!) both beautiful and treacherous. But, actually, it is. No need to worry that the title exaggerates! And although Long draws heavily on folklore, I found my very general knowledge of her sources was enough to give me grounding in the book. I have no idea if other YA books use these elements “better,” but they work here.

The plot, after the slightly silly beginning, is truly exciting. In addition to the ever-looming question of who is on whose side, there is simply a lot of action, a lot of running, and a lot of plotting. And it is worth noting that there is a climax truly deserving of the name. Yeah, things go down.

The ending is a little neat, but after the trauma of the preceding pages, I personally would not want it any other way. It makes me happy to think that things might finally fit together in Jenny’s life, my life, the world at large. Long brings an idealized fairytale ending to a fairytale that had previously been bleak. So, readers get the best of both worlds, and that is satisfying.