ASH & BRAMBLE by Sarah Prineas

Rating: F
Synopsis:
A prince.

A ball.

A glass slipper left behind at the stroke of midnight.

The tale is told and retold, twisted and tweaked, snipped and stretched, as it leads to happily ever after.

But it is not the true Story.

A dark fortress.

A past forgotten.

A life of servitude.

No one has ever broken free of the Godmother’s terrible stone prison until a girl named Pin attempts a breathless, daring escape. But she discovers that what seems to be freedom is a prison of another kind, one that entangles her in a story that leads to a prince, a kiss, and a clock striking midnight. To unravel herself from this new life, Pin must choose between a prince and another—the one who helped her before and who would give his life for her. Torn, the only thing for her to do is trade in the glass slipper for a sword and find her own destiny. 

My thoughts on the book:
Ash & Bramble had a lot of potential, but it fell flat for me in many areas. A lot of good ideas and theories went into the creation of this novel, but none of them was explored deep enough to really make an impact. The characters were confused and under-developed, and so was the story itself. I feel like if the author had picked one theme and explored it in depth, then the novel would have turned out much better. Instead this book was a mishmash of ideas with vapid characters and strange pacing. 

Pin, or Pen - unless they're from the Midwest, I'm not even sure how they could tell the difference in who was saying which - was extremely boring and a bit dumb. I know that the Godmother was controlling everything, and her memory had been erased and altered, so I get that she didn't know a ton of her past, but she was just such a sheep. Shoe was also really obnoxious and ridiculously stupid. I feel like if he and Pin had had more personality, then I would have enjoyed the book more. Apparently the Godmother stole personalities along with memories, though, because no character in this book had anything interesting to offer.

The plot was extremely convoluted, and the author touched on a lot of themes, but didn't stick to a single one. The idea of free will was prevalent throughout the novel, but it was never really explored. The idea of true love was also addressed vaguely, as well as the idea of self. However, nothing was discussed or explored deep enough to have any meaning. The writing switched between first and third person and was ridiculously simple. It almost felt as if I were reading a Middle Grade novel instead of a YA book. I didn't like the switching of perspectives, either. When I finished the book, and it had a strange ending, mind you, all I could think was why was this written and why did I waste so much time reading it? I was left with nothing. No feelings, no ideas, nothing. 

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this novel to anyone. I kept reading thinking that maybe the author would decide what she wanted to say and stick with it, but I was sorely disappointed. Chances are you will be, too.