Lenka S. reviewed on 12/19/2015 + 829 more book reviews

I can't understand all the good reviews for this book. This is one of the most depressing books I have ever read. It features the rape of a twelve year old virgin who is a mute (I hesitate to say by choice)--can you imagine the psychological damage this could do to a young girl, she can't even verbalize what happened? Also featured is the torture of a teen boy. Though it never spells it out, it infers (in my opinion, I don't know if anyone concurs) that the boy was also castrated during his torture. He is so damaged by this that he is suicidal and eschews human contact. Add in a couple of companion animal murders and you get a nice melting pot of hopelessness and misery.

The main characters end up with a tiny window of happiness that cannot in anyway shape or form makeup for the travesties of all their lives. No one really gets any happiness or peace(certainly not the six brothers). Besides the depressing subject matter, I found the folktales in the book boring and would skim them or skip them. It was not a fun read for me. I don't expect all sunshine and rainbows in what I read, but nothing in the story made it worth reading over the dismal subject matter. And as a further kick in the who-haw you find out that all the characters' pain and terror is caused by the whims and machination of capricious fairies. Wtf?!

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