Slumber, from Christy Sloat (The Slumber Duology, #1)

Hi, there! Hope you had a lovely Sunday ❤ I come back to you with another book review 😀 Today I finished Slumber, the first book in The Slumber Duology, from Christy Sloat! I received my copy from YA Bound Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the chance and let’s go 😀

from my Instagram 😀

The Story

It’s been a year since Rory arrived to Spindle Ridge Asylum. It’s been a year since everyone on that awful place tried to convince her that she was a murderer. That she had stabbed her ex-boyfriend Phillip twenty times.

The thing is Rory couldn’t see herself stabbing anyone once, imagine twenty times.

There were also Rory’s dream. She always would dream of the same scene: a huge party for a baby girl being crashed by an evil witch.

The little control Rory had over her reality completely vanishes when a new doctor and a new patient arrive, pledging they would help her remembering who she was and why she’s trapped on Spindle Ridge Asylum. And as much as Rory wants to believe the kind female doctor and the funny and charming male patient, she’s scared. What if they were just playing tricks with her?

What if they came there to break Rory for once and all?

The Analysis

Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂

As you probably have guessed, this is a Sleeping Beauty retelling and a good one at that. Rory was pretty decent as a protagonist and I liked how Sloat rebuilt Sleeping Beauty’s world and story. I already mentioned once or twice that Aurora is one of my favorite Disney princesses, so I was jumping in excitement to read this and it didn’t disappoint. Also, I really loved Sloat’s narrative choices, that switched from Rory to Maleficent to Swayer during the book. The only thing that really bothered me was the final battle scene, that sounded rushed, messy and not epic at all. All things considered, it’s a four stars book 🙂

The narrative style was really peculiar and really pleased me, as it brought the best of both worlds: Rory’s point of view was first person styled as Maleficent’s and Swayer’s were third person styled. Besides filling in a lot of blank spaces during the plot, this choice also made it easier for the reader to not mix up who was narrating ❤

Sorry, I just had to put this here.

The plot was complex and ingenious. As you start reading it already knowing that it is a Sleeping Beauty retelling, some things are pretty obvious since the beginning, but Sloat compensates her reader by building deep and delicious mysteries with the little unknown that she has and manages to surprise you out. Even at the end, I found myself gasping at one of her twists. I take my hat off for her, this girl is on fire.

Sorry, it’s been a long day. Moving on.

The characters didn’t amuse me as much as I’d like them to. I loved how Swayer was a breath of fresh air for Rory in that awful asylum and how he was easy going and funny despite everything. Unfortunately I wasn’t so carried away and he didn’t make it to My Bookish Boyfriends list. More luck on the next book, pal!

Rory was a decent enough protagonist. Not over power, not over stupid. You feel that she really wants to believe those strangers that are trying to save her, but at the same time, you feel her fear of being deceived and just end up suffering more. It’s so realistic that my heart clenched for her 😦

I generally liked these book characters, with the exception of Phillip and Aurora’s father, King Stephen. Both were jerks, haha! I mean, they were so well constructed that I hated them. Did I made any sense here? I’m sleepy. #ironiesoflife

As I commented, the only thing in this book that simply didn’t work for me was the battle/final confrontation scene, when Maleficent is discovered. I can’t say more doing spoilers, but I can say that the moment was fleeting and that there was no emotion on it at all 😦 Everything pointed to a big moment for the book, but it ended up being confusing.

Now, let’s take a moment to appreciate this wonderful cover.

Overall, if you like fairy tale retellings, mystery, good writing and cliffhangers, you have to put Slumber on your list!

That’s it, thank you for reading! And thanks to YA Bound Book Tours for the chance of reviewing this jewel ❤