Tag: MG Horror

A Gothic Retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Erin A. Craig

5/5 Star Review

September has passed, but with this entry, I am wrapping up my reviews from the month-long anniversary celebration for The Ladies of Horror Fiction. This lovely team celebrated their first full year of spotlighting the amazing ladies of horror! There was a read-a-thon taking place for the entire month of September and it featured five different reading challenges – check out this link for the details!

I read House of Salt and Sorrows for Challenge #4 – Read a Book by a YA or Middle Grade Author. This was my fifth and final “official” pick for the read-a-thon.

I realize that I began this review by stating House of Salt and Sorrows is a fairy tale retelling, and it most definitely is – but it is impossible to ignore the homages to Edgar Allan Poe scattered throughout as well.

As the novel opens, Annaleigh Thaumas, our protagonist and the seventh of twelve daughters, is mourning the loss of her sister – the fifth familial death in but a few short years. They began with her mother and four of her eldest sisters followed – each death more tragic than the last. The deeply superstitious village believes that the family is cursed and none of the daughters believe they will ever marry well, if at all. After a series of events, they discover a hidden door in the family crypt that carries them anywhere their hearts’ desire. This leads to the girls sneaking out every night to attend balls all over the kingdom. As inevitably happens in fairy tales, situations and people are not often as they appear and the girls find themselves in terrible danger.

House of Salt and Sorrows has all of the common Gothic tropes – death and decay, haunted estates, family curses, madness, powerful love/romance, and ghosts. Craig writes them beautifully and weaves them into the setting and atmosphere of this novel. The setting is its own character in House; It is a raging sea, high cliffs, salty air, and sprawling manor. It is palpable. It paints the novel in blues and greens and grays that you can see as you read.

I would also like to mention, briefly, the mythology that Craig has built into this world. She has created a pantheon of gods that are worshiped in this land and they are reminiscent of those from the Greek and Roman mythos, but they have their own unique quirks. They are embedded in the day-to-day life of the people who live in this land and are therefore quite important to the story. I truly hope the author decides to revisit this world with another story. Craig has a strong talent for world-building.

As a final note, I want to remind readers that this is a YA book. If you go in expecting anything too grotesque or dark, you’re going to be disappointed. If you know what you are walking into – I think you will really enjoy this spooky little sea gem.