I love a good fairy tale about a girl who finds herself in trouble and ends the story with the prince and the crown. One of my favorites is Sleeping Beauty. This may be why I didn't fall in love with this retelling. The story is good and I can understand wanting to put a unique twist on it. However, I prefer the Disney version. This version is one part Sleeping Beauty, one part yellow brick road and one part Quantum Leap.
My favorite version of Sleeping Beauty begins with the infant princess receiving a curse. This version is no different. It diverges from the ordinary by taking you through Aurore's childhood, instead of jumping to her life right before the curse falls. I had some trouble as the author seemed inconsistent on the age difference between her heroine and her cousin. At one point he is 10 years older than Aurore, at another 8 years separate them and again she starts a flashback as a 10 year old, only to switch in the middle to an 8 year old. Maybe it was part of the time traveling aspect of the story or maybe not.
Instead of a beautiful, perfect princess, I found a young girl who didn't quite fit and was allowed to behave as a working class girl. This caused a schism with the nobles of her kingdom, who preferred her male cousin. The 16 year-old Aurore decided to take a journey of self-sacrifice to save her kingdom. She travels to a forest that has a mind of its own and often reminded me of the craziness of Oz. Here she meets a young man who seems to be telling her about herself and yet he keeps telling her that the princess has already met her curse and slept for 100 years.
The end of the story, which was a little too easy for me to predict, involves my Quantum Leap comparison. Without ruining the conclusion, I found it difficult to embrace the author's time traveling solution and outcome. I didn't think I was difficult to please when it came to the fairy tale genre, but I no longer can say that all I want is a happy ending. I think I will stick with the Disney version for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment