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The Kingdom Of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal
The Blurb On The Back:
It is while I stitch together the Queen’s gown, on the night her eldest daughter is to die, that I first sense an uneasy power.
On the eve of Princess Sophia’s wedding, the Scandinavian city of Skyggehavn prepares to fete the occasion with a sumptuous display of riches. Yet beneath the veneer of celebration, a shiver of darkness creeps through the palace halls. A mysterious illness plagues the royal family, threatening the lives of the throne’s heirs, and a courtier’s wolfish hunger for the king’s favours sets a devious plot in motion.
Here in the palace of Skyggehavn, things are seldom as they seem – and when a single errant prick of a needle sets off a series of events that will alter the course of history, the fates of seamstress Ava Bingen and mute nursemaid Midi Sorte become irrevocably intertwined. As they navigate a tangled web of palace intrigue, power-lust, and deception, Ava and Midi must carve out their own survival any way they can.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Susann Cokal’s historical fairy tale is marketed as YA but other than the fact that one of the protagonists is 17, I don’t understand why. Cokal’s attention to period detail and the lives of ‘ordinary’ people in late Medieval times is meticulous but the themes of sickness (particularly the gritty details of syphilis), insanity, sexual assault and rape and power don’t (for me) seem relevant to teen readers, neither Ava or Midi are particularly likeable (despite the fact that both are victims of other people) and the plot is somewhat predictable. The writing’s fine and if marketed as a literary read I think this would reach a wider audience who would appreciate it more.
THE KINGDOM OF LITTLE WOUNDS was released in the United Kingdom on 8th October 2013. Thanks to Walker Books for the free copy of this book.
On the eve of Princess Sophia’s wedding, the Scandinavian city of Skyggehavn prepares to fete the occasion with a sumptuous display of riches. Yet beneath the veneer of celebration, a shiver of darkness creeps through the palace halls. A mysterious illness plagues the royal family, threatening the lives of the throne’s heirs, and a courtier’s wolfish hunger for the king’s favours sets a devious plot in motion.
Here in the palace of Skyggehavn, things are seldom as they seem – and when a single errant prick of a needle sets off a series of events that will alter the course of history, the fates of seamstress Ava Bingen and mute nursemaid Midi Sorte become irrevocably intertwined. As they navigate a tangled web of palace intrigue, power-lust, and deception, Ava and Midi must carve out their own survival any way they can.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Susann Cokal’s historical fairy tale is marketed as YA but other than the fact that one of the protagonists is 17, I don’t understand why. Cokal’s attention to period detail and the lives of ‘ordinary’ people in late Medieval times is meticulous but the themes of sickness (particularly the gritty details of syphilis), insanity, sexual assault and rape and power don’t (for me) seem relevant to teen readers, neither Ava or Midi are particularly likeable (despite the fact that both are victims of other people) and the plot is somewhat predictable. The writing’s fine and if marketed as a literary read I think this would reach a wider audience who would appreciate it more.
THE KINGDOM OF LITTLE WOUNDS was released in the United Kingdom on 8th October 2013. Thanks to Walker Books for the free copy of this book.