I received this book for free from a fellow blogger (thanks for sharing!) in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury Series: The Sin Eater's Daughter #1
Published by Scholastic on February 24, 2015
Genres: Fantasy YA
Pages: 320
Format: ARC
Source: a fellow blogger (thanks for sharing!)
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I am the perfect weapon.
I kill with a single touch.Twylla is blessed. The Gods have chosen her to marry a prince, and rule the kingdom. But the favour of the Gods has it’s price. A deadly poison infuses her skin. Those who anger the queen must die under Twylla’s fatal touch.
Only Lief, an outspoken new guard, can see past Twylla’s chilling role to the girls she truly is.
Yet in a court as dangerous and the queen’s, some truths should not be told…
I was pretty excited to read THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER by Melinda Salisbury, friends. A fantasy with a pretty promising synopsis is always going to snag my attention, although anytime I hear the name “Twylla” I think of that scene in The Birdcage where Robin Williams is demonstrating the well-known dance moves of famous dancers, including Twylla Tharp. Anyway. I’d been hearing good things about THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER, and that in conjunction with my own anticipation made me pretty excited. I enjoyed it quite a bit, you guys.
So THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER takes place in a world where the faith of the land dictates that there will be a girl born who is the daughter of the old gods of morning and night (or possibly sun and moon. I can’t remember), and that this daughter will have great powers and a great destiny: She will serve as the land’s justice, able to kill people with a single touch of her skin. She will also be promised to the prince and one day become queen. Twylla takes her role as the daughter of the gods seriously. She seeks out the solace of the gods when she struggles, she believes wholeheartedly in her deadly gifts, but is also haunted by the lives she’s taken. Her betrothed, the prince, returns from a long study abroad around the same time that a new guard is assigned to Twylla’s service who comes from a neighboring kingdom. One that was once the recipient of Lormere’s wrath. Very slowly, Twylla begins to get to know the prince, fall for her guard, and uncover life-altering, BIG secrets about her life, her gifts, and her future.
I have to say, guys, that the thing I liked and appreciated the most about THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER is that Melinda Salisbury got me good. She really did. I’m not necessarily a cynical reader who claims to always be able to figure things out and then not be impressed by them, but I do read a lot, and so it doesn’t happen that often anymore that I don’t have some idea of what’s coming. This didn’t happen. Like, not really at all. I believed what Twylla believed about being the daughter of the gods and what that meant for her ability to be around other people (almost never) and the gravity of her role in the kingdom. So when things got turned on their heads with shocking speed, this was my face:
I was really pleased with this. I love being surprised! I love shocked face! It’s always worth a few bonus points when an author is able to pull a fast one on me.
Speaking of Twylla, I liked her quite a bit. Perhaps there were times when her devotion to the gods and her gift seemed a little disingenuous on her part–she believed it, but sometimes seemed to do so only because someone had told her she must–but I really enjoyed when she finally started questioning her role as the daughter of the gods because even though it scared her, she didn’t hide from it. Her relationships with the prince and with Leif also drew her out a little bit, which made me glad because her isolation was so extreme. And I LOVED the way things ended with her. She changed so much from the obedient, trusting girl we met at the beginning of THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER and took control of herself. Big fan, and am really looking forward to what this means for the future.
Twylla is obviously the central character in THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER, but other characters stood out as well, but not always for good reasons. The Queen, for instance, is horrible. Like, a horrible person. She’s vindictive, rash, gruesome, and manipulative. People are understandably terrified of her because she’s sneaky and mean. The drama is always high because the Queen is so unpredictable.
But let’s not give the boys short shrift, hmm? Because as different as they are, they both brought different things to the story. The prince is not the easiest person to get a handle on. Twylla doesn’t know him well and he always seems kind of gruff. But he also stands up to his mother, so I dug that. Leif is very special to Twylla. I liked their relationship a lot. He had a great sense of humor and Twylla was comfortable around him. Enough that they were able to talk to each other about important things. My favorite thing, though, about both guys was that things were so up in the air at the end of THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER and I didn’t mind it at all. So many things have changed.
If I had to point out some things about THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER that weren’t as awesome, I’d point to some world-building confusion. For instance, since the title is THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER, I thought that some explanation of what this meant would be prominent. But it wasn’t, and so I found myself distracted by the absence of this explanation for a decent amount of time. There’s also some political shenanigans with Lormere and their neighbor, Tregellan, and I sometimes found myself longing for more. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, though. It really was interesting, and it will clearly (hopefully) have lots of bearing on what’s to come.
I zipped through THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER, you guys. The pacing was great, the twists were LEGIT, the romance was good–once I started, I couldn’t stop. I can’t stress to you all enough how much things are flipped on their head by the end. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen with Twylla next. Solid debut, Melinda Salisbury!
You’ve completely sold me on reading The Sin Eater’s Daughter! (As in I just went to the library website to put a hold on it). I was very curious about it initially, but somehow, I never got around to reading it when it did come out. Definitely looking forward to reading it and hopefully, I’ll be surprised by it like you were!
I’ve heard nothing but glowing reviews for this one Amy, so this was already on hold for me at my library, but you’ve made me even more excited for this. Everything – the twists, the romance and the characterization – all sound fantastic. Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! Can’t wait to start reading this one!