Author: Stephanie Burgis
Rating: 2/5
Silke has always been good at spinning stories. She gets hired by Princess Katrin to do some cheeky spy work when the fairies come to visit.
Spoilers ahead.
Detailed Summary
Silke is hired to spy on the fairies from Elfenwald who have come to visit the kingdom. Crown Princess Katrin wants Silke to figure out what the fairies want. Silke is assigned to be one of Princess Sofia’s ladies-in-waiting. Six years ago, Silke’s parents had travelled through Elfenwald as refugees and had been taken captive while Silke, her older brother Dieter and the other refugees had made it across. Aventurine, Marina and Horst are asked to make chocolate for the fairies and stay at the palace for a bit too. Silke learns that the fairies are after the dragons. She also realises the animosity between fairies and dragons is all due to a lack of communication. The fairies catch Silke and Aventurine spying on them (the goblin guard caught them). Princesses Katrin and Sofia come to the scene and it’s reveal Sofia was going to be engaged to one of the fairy princes. Aventurine turns into a dragon and flies away with Silke and Sofia. They go to Silke’s home. It’s revealed that Silke’s parents made a deal with the fairies and agreed to be their slaves so the other refugees could cross. Silke had also noticed two fairies had kept buzzing near her–those were her parents. Silke, Dieter and the others go back to the palace and Silke brokers an agreement with the fairies, threatening to get the dragons to attack unless they release the prisoners and leave in peace. Silke also realises that home for her is The Chocolate House and decides to work there full-time. She rejects Katrin’s job offer of becoming a spy. Silke and Dieter are reunited with their parents.
Plot and Pacing
Have I just outgrown middle-grade stories? Surely that can’t be the case. I wanted to like this book so much especially because I found Silke to be quite charming in the first book. However, the whole tragic backstory thing and the fairy plot was a bit much and I just couldn’t get into it. I liked that Burgis brought in refugees and explained the adversities they face–that was quite clever–but everything else felt a little on the nose and very rushed.
Characters
Princess Sofia really grew on me in this book.
Princess Sofia didn’t have her father’s reddish hair or pale complexion; like her sister, she had light brown skin, shaded in between their father’s pinkish white and their late mother’s deep, warm brown, and they both shared their mother’s beautiful black, curling hair. But Sofia had the king’s short, stocky build, square face and uptilted nose…
I was definitely rooting for Sofia because that’s description resonated with me so much it’s not even funny.
Writing Style
There was just too much telling! That was my biggest issue. So many infodumps about how Silke had such a difficult past that she didn’t want to tell anyone about. And I felt like things were blown out of proportion quite a bit like Silke’s breakdown midway through or how she couldn’t believe Aventurine wanted to be her friend when it was Silke who had proposed the friendship in the first book (or maybe that’s just me having the emotional range of a teaspoon).
Well, one more book to go! 🙂
(Also, someone get me some hot chocolate, I am craving it like CRAZY.)
Earnestly Eccentric 