Hello everyone!
I am back with another review, The Wish Granter by C.J. Redwine.
This book follows Arianna, a twin born to the king of Súndraille and a servant. Banished from the kingdom after the queen finally has a child, Ari and her broth Thad are content to live their lives with their mother. But when the queen sends bounty hunters to kill them and secure her infant son's succession, Thad makes a deal with Alistair Teague, a Wish Granter who, in exchange for putting Thad on a throne he doesn't want and negotiating his turning a blind eye to Teague's nefarious doings, he will ensure Ari's safety. It's more than Thad wanted but he won't turn down an opportunity to protect his sister. Finding out about the deal, Ari enlists the help of Sebastian, the palace's new weapons master, to help protect her brother and stop Teague before he can take Thad's soul.
This book is technically the companion to The Shadow Queen, and while there is a very brief cameo of a couple of those characters, you don't really need to have read that book in order to read this one. Each book is meant to stand alone, although I'm not sure if the final book will bring them all together or not.
I really liked Ari's character. She was extremely quick-witted and intelligent which I really appreciated! The last couple of books I've read haven't had the most dimensional of female leads so I was quite happy to read Ari's character. She was raised in the palace, as a servant, not a princess, and it really shows. She doesn't want to do princess things and she doesn't want people to treat her differently because of it. I've read a lot of fantasy books that involve a feisty princess, but none like Ari. I also really loved the relationship - although brief - we see with her and her brother. They are both fiercely loyal to one another and will do anything for the other, though this becomes one of their downfalls.
Redwine really knocked it out of the park with the romance on this one - I wasn't sure we were going to get one at first but I was not disappointed. It was a slower burn than I'm used to but I was definitely on board every step of the way. Sebastian is super sweet and caring while also proving that he can handle himself well in a crisis.
As plots go, I don't think I could tell you how closely this story was to the original Rumplestiltskin story. We do see a short cameo of Hansel and Gretal so perhaps they have their own story coming up as well? Either way, I did enjoy the storyline regardless of if it was true to the original or not.
The story itself is told from three perspectives, all in third-person POV, which can be a little tedious sometimes, though that didn't as much in this book. Generally, I'm more of a first-person kinda reader, but I understand that will the multiple perspectives, it makes more sense to write it in third-person.
Overall, a solid addition to this series, and I'm looking forward to the next book.