Going through your archive I saw a post you made a while back about the book disenchanted by brianna sugalski and I just really want to know if you've read the rewritten version of book 1 and if so, what did you think of it?? I read her debut arc when it first came out but I saw some negative reviews of the rewrites she did and was wondering what your take on it was. I loved the first book, it was super fun. Should I bother to keep reading the series?
Note: Sorry for spaming your notifications btw 💞🫂
XOXO
hiii !!! no need to apologize at all <3
ok so i'm kinda the resident disenchanted stan around here so i'm very biased when it comes to this book and series lol. i personally love both versions for different reasons. the ya edition is pretty nostalgic for me at this point since i read it around the time it first came out in 2020 and it's my most read book to date. the rewrite, however, follows many of the same beats as the original version but i felt it fleshed things out just a biiiit more, character and lore wise and if anyone knows me they know i loooove lore. the world feels richer to me like it has more depth. i wish i could ramble on more but if i'm being honest, it's been a hot second since i've read this book and i'd need a refresher to try and attempt something that could be considered a review
something important to note is that, if i remember correctly, disenchanted started as a series of poems that was then turned into a book, then it was turned into a series, hence why we had that scene with garin and the duchess at the end of it. brianna said she wanted to make it clear there was more to the story that was originally a standalone. she started writing the sequel i think a little after her debut's release and struggled with it for a long time, trying to make things work before she made the decision to rewrite the first book. so i understand people can have some frustrations with a rewrite but brianna said it was important for the series going forward and i fully believe it was for the best
overall, in my completely biased opinion, i'd say it's definitely worth it to continue the series. i'd also recommend reading the rewrite if you haven't, it's kinda like visiting an old friend you haven't seen in awhile. like you know them but they've also grown a bit, they're more sure of themselves and it's a refreshing change
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Disenchanted
by Brianna Sugalski
Disenchanted #1
High Fantasy | Paranormal Romance | Horror
A Breton princess at the peak of the French Renaissance, Lilac lives prisoner in her parents' castle after a wicked secret is revealed on the eve of her tenth birthday soirée. Years later, her coronation ceremony looms, and between the riotous townsfolk and scheming nobleman bent on snatching the throne, Lilac prepares for the worst... Until a mysterious letter arrives from The Witch of Lupine Grotto, detailing a curious offer to cure her darkness forever.
Lilac begrudgingly trades her coronet for a cloak and ventures into the forest Brocéliande in pursuit of the impious enchantress at the edge of town. With only the protection of an inherited dagger—and unsolicited help of the sardonic stranger who inserts himself on her quest—she must traverse Brocèliande and return in time to claim her rightful position as sovereign monarch.
This is the story of a cursed princess,
A crestfallen killer,
The town that wants them to burn,
And the witch that can save them both.
Goodreads
Note: I received this book from the author and I voluntarily give this review, it is my honest opinion.
I wasn't sure what to expect from Disenchanted, in some ways the story went like I thought it would and in another way I was surprised. What surprised me the most is that while it was a high fantasy filled with the supernatural it kinda read more like a fantasy that didn't have any.
Let me explain, while the story has all the things I could want from a variety of supernaturals, magic and a deadly forest the story also had a lot of history and seem to be somehow focused on characters all the while giving details about the supernatural world. The real world and supernatural blend so seamlessly in this story that the supernatural doesn't overshadow everything else. There are vampires and ogres, curses, evil villains, a royal coronation and a runaway princess. However, the focus is on what Lilac, said princess, and what she is willing to do to become the monarchy that her people need. She knows what the people think of her curse, and yet she is willing to brave the dark forest, Brocèliande, to become who she needs to be. Then she meets Garin who may is one of those dark creatures that her people fear and she goes on this epic if not incredibly dangerous journey with him.
The relationship between Garin and Lilac is hilarious at times, neither of them really trust the other and at times that can be so open to each other and then at other times they lie to each other's faces, both find amusement in each other all the while driving each other absolutely crazy. Lilac is a character who is more humanized than most, she has so many flaws but she is trying and Garin is accepting of most flaws while trying to push her into being a better version of herself, he is Lilac support even when she is being rude and stubborn but then he has his flaws too, the guy is one of this best liars/manipulators I have ever seen. While their relationship is flawed I like them together and there is one scene about three-fourths in where they work so perfectly together and it has it's hilarious moments, that's when you can see how good they are together.
In high fantasy, politics is always at play and it was interesting to see the separate supernatural politics working and then interacting with human politics. People are either trying to get more power or keep the power they have. While human politics are pretty par-core it's when Lilac starts getting to the supernatural politics that get my interest. She has to solve the problems of the korrigans (smaller supernatural type creature) to the vampires and their leader then there are the fae and god knows you have to watch out for them.
I really enjoyed the story, it would've gotten a higher score from me if I could have submerged myself in the story but I just couldn't get that deep and at times it seems a little long but it was still really interesting. I loved the ending, it had one of my favorite scenes in the book and the story could have ended there but with a few questions and I would have been okay with that but I'm one of those readers who loves a series and guess what there is gonna be a sequel and I have so many things I would love to see happen in it but I'm gonna have to wait to see if they will.
If you are looking for a high fantasy that has a bunch of supernatural and history then I would suggest giving Disenchanted a try. I mean supernatural bars, a horrible fiance, a dark forest, curses and a princess who is determined to take matters into her own hands, it is sure to be entertaining.
Overall 3.5 stars
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Books I Read in 2021
An incomplete list of general recommendations, in no particular order (certainly not chronological), of literature and poetry that I found entertaining, edifying, or impactful.
Note: Unlike last year, I tried not to include anything I listed last year, (though I have definitely reread at least once a fair amount of what I've listed here.)
Fiction:
For the Wolf - Hannah Whiten
The Last Graduate - Naomi Novik
Green Rider - Kristen Britain
First Rider's Call - Kristen Britain
The High King's Tomb - Kristen Britain
Blackveil - Kristen Britain
Mirror Sight - Kristen Britain
Firebrand - Kristen Britain
Winterlight - Kristen Britain
Fairy Godmother - Mercedes Lackey
Night's Master - Tanith Lee
Death's Master - Tanith Lee
Within These Wicked Walls - Lauren Blackwood
Vespertine - Margaret Rodgerson
Inker and Crown - Megan O'Russel
Ember and Stone - Megan O'Russel
Mountain and Ash - Megan O'Russel
Ice and Sky - Megan O'Russel
Carry On - Rainbow Rowell
Girl, Serpent, Thorn - Melissa Bashardoust
The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden - Catherynne Valente
The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice - Catherynne Valente
House of Salt & Sorrow - Erin A. Craig
The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison
The Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
The Queen of Attolia - Megan Whalen Turner
The King of Attolia - Megan Whalen Turner
A Conspiracy of Kings - Megan Whalen Turner
Thick as Thieves - Megan Whalen Turner
House of Hollow - Krystal Sutherland
The Magician's Guild - Trudi Canavan
The Novice - Trudi Canavan
The High Lord - Trudi Canavan
Even the Darkest Stars - Heather Fawcett
Thief in the Castle - Beatrice B. Morgan
Mage in the Undercity - Beatrice B. Morgan
Dreams in the Snow - Beatrice B. Morgan
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
Dance of Thieves - Mary E. Pearson
Vow of Thieves - Mary E. Pearson
The Queen's Rising - Rebecca Ross
The Queen's Resistance - Rebecca Ross
Dreams Lie Beneath - Rebecca Ross
A Thousand Nights - E.K. Johnston
Nemesis - Anna Banks
Ally - Anna Banks
We Hunt the Flame - Hafsah Faizal
We Free the Stars - Hafsah Faizal
Disenchanted - Brianna Sugalski
The Child Thief - Brom
The Prison Healer - Lynette Noni
The Gilded Cage - Lynette Noni
Crown of Coral and Pearl - Mara Rutherford
Kingdom of Sea and Stone - Mara Rutherford
Small Favors - Erin A. Craig
The Shadow in the Glass - JJA Harwood
A Face Like Glass - Frances Hardinge
The Phantom Forest - Liz Kerin
The Harp of Kings - Juliet Marillier
A Dance with Fate - Juliet Marillier
Silver in the Wood - Emily Tesh
Drowned Country - Emily Tesh
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
Shimmer and Burn - Mary Taranta
Splendor and Spark - Mary Taranta
Nonfiction:
Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths - Helen Morales
On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears - Stephen T. Asma
The Lore of the Forest - Alexander Porteous
Ecce Homo: The Male-Body-in-Pain as Redemptive Figure - Kent L. Brintnall
The Inner Scar: The Mysticism of George Bastille - Andrew Hussey
Trauma and Transcendence: Suffering and the Limits of Theory - Eric Boynton & Peter Capretto
Symbolic Exchange and Death - Jean Baudrillard
Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology - Jess Zimmerman
Poetry & Short Stories:
A Hunger - Lucie Brock-Broido
The Midnight Court & Other Poems - tr. Frank O'Conner
Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri - Arthur Sullivan
Men in the Off Hours - Anne Carson
Swallow: Poems - Miranda Field
Her Body and Other Parties - Carmen Maria Machado
Choking Back the Devil - Donna Lynch
The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning - Maggie Nelson
Tonight I'm Someone Else - Chelsea Hodson
When My Brother Was An Aztec - Natalie Diaz
Some Say The Lark - Jennifer Chang
Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems - Joy Hario
Open Letter to Quiet Light - Francesca Lia Block
Fox: Poems 1998-2000 - Adrienne Rich
Obit: Poems - Victoria Chang
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