Synopsis

In a world where anyone can create a life-destroying curse, only one person has the power to unravel them.

Kellen does not fully understand his talent, but helps those transformed maliciously—including Nettle. Recovered from entrapment in bird form, she is now his constant companion and closest ally.

But Kellen has also been cursed, and unless he and Nettle can remove his curse, Kellen is in danger of unravelling everything—and everyone—around him…

Review

I gave this a really good go but unfortunately – despite a really interesting premise and concept – I just found it really slow and boring.

There’s so much promise when it starts and Hardinge writes well, but I just didn’t engage with the characters and gradually lost interest. It feels very disjointed and it’s not clear what the underlying ‘journey’ is as they keep getting distracted with various other characters on the way who don’t really add anything to the story. If a few of these had been cut from the book, the pacing would have been much better and my attention wouldn’t have wavered.

I’m disappointed, because I was really excited about this book, but clearly it just wasn’t for me. 

Thanks to Macmillan for my advanced copy. Opinions my own.