Menna Van Praag

The Sisters Grimm

Menna van Praag

The critically acclaimed author of The House at the End of Hope Street combines love, mystery, and magic with her first foray into bewitching fantasy with a dark edge evocative of V.E. Schwab and Neil Gaiman. Once upon a time, a demon who desired earthly domination fathered an army of dark daughters to help him corrupt humanity . . . As children, Goldie, Liyana, Scarlet, and Bea dreamed of a strange otherworld: a nightscape of mists and fog, perpetually falling leaves and hungry ivy, lit by an unwavering moon. Here, in this shadowland of Everwhere, the four girls, half-sisters connected by blood and magic, began to nurture their elemental powers together. But at thirteen, the sisters were ripped from Everwhere and separated. Now, five years later, they search for one another and yearn to rediscover their unique and supernatural strengths. Goldie (earth) manipulates plants and gives life. Liyana (water) controls rivers and rain. Scarlet (fire) has electricity at her fingertips. Bea (air) can fly. To realize their full potential, the blood sisters must return to the land of their childhood dreams. But Everwhere can only be accessed through certain gates at 3:33 A.M. on the night of a new moon. As Goldie, Liyana, Scarlet, and Bea are beset with the challenges of their earthly lives, they must prepare for a battle that lies ahead. On their eighteenth birthday, they will be subjected to a gladiatorial fight with their father’s soldiers. If they survive, they will face their father who will let them live only if they turn dark. Which would be fair, if only the sisters knew what was coming. So, they have thirty-three days to discover who they truly are and what they can truly do, before they must fight to save themselves and those they love.

A Novel

no need to ever read this book. You wouldn’t understand it anyways.

Lydia Enge

Eryn Bradshaw

I really wanted to like this book, but it's so slow. I genuinely felt like I was dragging my feet through mud trying to read through this book.

There are 5 main PoVs, one of which is told in first-person (Goldie). And if Goldie is a part of another's PoV story, then it's also told from Goldie's first-person PoV, which got really confusing. Throw in the mix that there are 5 PoVs for the present day and 5 PoVs from their childhoods, with the occasional random PoV from Wilheim Grimm, an aunt, or just a description of Evermore, it's just too much to keep up with.

My head hurts and I'm bored. I'd suggest giving this book a hard pass.

Sabetha Danes

I am going to caveat this review with this: I love books that have multi POVs, break the 4th wall, and have erratic timelines. These are books that I seek out. The issue comes when these type of books are poorly executed it is painfully obvious. There is no saving the plot because it depends too much on these specific qualities to be done perfectly.

By all accounts, this book should have been amazing. The basis of the story was fascinating, the plot was strong, but if I hadn't known better I would have thought this was a debut novel by an indie author that needs a strong developmental edit. 

The 6+ POVs should have been written stronger, really sucked you into to all of their worries, and had you rooting for characters by the end, but the abrupt short scene cuts were jarring, like flipping channels on a tv just catching snippets of conversation. Many of the characters didn't get enough time for you to even remember their name much less qualities about themselves to make you want to root for them. The forth wall breaks were strange and didn't really add to the plot over all, I would have rathered more time with the characters. Learning more about their magic, more about their mothers, just more to make us want them to survive and better understand the dynamics of the world.

I feel like the author was trying to write literature. I personally am a strong believer in the fact that a person can't sit down and try to write literature, it is only through reader acknowledgement that a fiction book can become literature. When someone tries to specifically write literature it turns out much like this book. Confusing, boring, and lacking in all the wrong places. There are good bones here, just not an enjoyable, engulfing story that leaves you book drunk contemplating life meaning etc.

The entire book was building to what seemed would be a very climaxing life shattering ending, but it ended up being very lackluster. One chapter later and business as usual, no major shake ups or lasting outcomes from what they discover on their birthday.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. I received this book via NetGalley.

Sophia 

Magical realism set in London. 
Features: WLW, diverse main characters, feminism, sisterhood, inner power
CW: self harm, abuse, rape

danielle bush

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for the free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
I had really liked the first page, then had a really hard time getting into the story. I felt like I was dropped into the middle of a series and had no idea what was going on. 
I liked Leo, and Goldie. Everyone else I kinda of plodded through to get back to Leo and Goldie.. I don't mind reading books with different character perspectives, or ones that change timelines, but in this book it was just to much.. 
The last few chapters, and the epilogue even though it wasn't labeled as one were really enjoyable. Lots of action and was def. faster paced.
I think other people might enjoy this story and the world was really cool. I just couldn't really get into the story..

Rosie Qua

Loved the characters, layout was awesome a little confusing to begin with but after a few days I got it. Ending was a little rushed but all in all i really enjoyed this book.

'Absorbing and beautiful - a great achievement.' BRIDGET COLLINS, bestselling author of The Binding There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of sisters Grimm on Earth. You may well be one of them, though you might never know it. This is the story of four sisters Grimm - daughters born to different mothers on the same day, each born out of bright-white wishing and black-edged desire. They found each other at eight years-old, were separated at thirteen and now, at nearly eighteen, it is imperative that they find each other once again. In thirty-three days they will meet their father in Everwhere. Only then will they discover who they truly are, and what they can truly do. Then they must fight to save their lives and the lives of the ones they love. Three will live, one will die. You'll have to read on to find out who and why . . . ___________________ 'A darkly beguiling delight that's perfect for fans of rich and imaginative fantasy books akin to Erin Morgenstern and Neil Gaiman.' CULTUREFLY

A gorgeous fantasy that portrayed a fantastic blend of magic and realistic fiction. There was something unique and fresh in the way this story has been crafted in such an overarching and detailed way. At times, this complexity and detail made the story feel quite dense and erring this book away from a possible young adult audience. The expansive amount of POVs within this story only adds to this. 

Despite the complexity and detail, there was an overall sense of lacking explanation at times. This took away from a smooth reading experience for the reader.

But for readers looking for an intense and captivating fairytale-esque story, this is a fantastic read with countless elements to applaude.

Heather Killeen

Rating: 2/5 sisters with shitty Dads

Format: paperback. I’d like to thank NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What it's like: It reminded me of Practical Magic in some ways, with sisters coming together and trying to help solve each other’s problems, and the basic dilemma for these characters is the same as Sabrina (Netflix show), where they must make a choice between good and evil, protecting their sisters, or themselves.

To sum up: This story features four sisters by the same evil Dad (Wilhelm Grimm), each bestowed with control over an Earthly element (earth, air, water, and fire). The sisters grow up in different families with different mothers, but they are able to get to know each other and their abilities in the magical world of “Everwhere” which they access during their dreams/when they are asleep. When the girls turn 13 however, they lose all memory of Everwhere and spend the next 5 years living their lives and vaguely trying to remember what they lost. Their powers rarely manifest during this time in the real world, but then start to intensify the closer the girls get to their 18th birthday. Will the girls remember each other, and their powers, before they must face their father in Everwhere, and choose once and for-all between a life of Evil or death?

What I loved: The descriptions in this book were really lovely. I enjoyed the diversity of the girls’ personalities, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. I also generally enjoyed the themes of sisterhood and elemental magic.

What was meh: Initially what I struggled with the most was the length of the POVs. We hear from all four sisters, as well as a handful of other characters, and sometimes each POV is only a paragraph. I think the longest was at most a few pages, but they were usually around a page in length, which for me was super frustrating. I hated constantly being pulled out of a POV to be forced into another one so quickly. It made the writing feel really choppy and disjointed. 

I also had a problem with the pace and plot. The entire book takes place over a relatively short period of time (33 days to be precise, there is a countdown), and in that time there is very little plot and a whole lot of flashbacks that tell us the same things over and over again. The girls have power. They’ve forgotten they had it. I don’t need to be told 23 times this is the case. Their personal lives in the present are all very turbulent and falling apart, but it’s not really clear what each of them needs, other than to remember each other. So why do I care if one of them loses her grandmother’s cafe, or another one loses her job? Why would that affect whether or not she remembers her past? The majority of details the author gives us about their present really don’t matter to the overall arc of the story so they just feel like a waste of time. Even when we find out characters have been placed in each of their paths to betray them, I just want the story to hurry up and get to the betrayal or to be convinced better why we care if they are betrayed. 

Also, even though it says on the back flap that their father birthed them to corrupt humanity, it ultimately seems pretty trivial to the overall story. This big choice they have to make that is looming for the whole book is something the reader knows, but the characters don’t know until the last like 20 pages? So it just felt like there were no stakes. Why do I care if they choose evil? What does choosing evil even look like? I still have no idea. We don’t really know anything about their father Grimm, except that he was absent for their whole lives and generally acts like a huge creep (visiting them in their bedrooms randomly and then at one point kissing them on the lips and talking about a reward? Uhhh huge nope. 

Generally, there was a theme of abuse, both physical and verbal/emotional across the backstories, which at a certain point started to feel tacked on and callous. I feel like the backstories she gave to some of these characters were so awful and ultimately, it was just used to justify their amoral behavior and later seen as strength to their father. I mean, there are so many things wrong with that. I see many stories using the idea of trauma as a source of transformation and power but this just felt disconnected to me, and wrong. I think maybe it was because the girls never really face their own darkness, never really accepted their pasts in a satisfying way to really feel inspiring or hopeful. There was really very little to feel hopeful about in this story overall. There is a whole lot of tragedy and then they face their father in the last 20 pages and it’s over. How the outcome of this final battle ultimately affects their world is not explained so why it’s important is still unclear to me. 

Trigger warnings: Sexual abuse of a child, rape, incest, emotional and physical abuse of a child.

Anyaconda

Sadly not one for me. I was highly anticipating this book, but I was quite disappointed it didn't turn out the way I expected it to be.
First of all, us it always necessary to put sexual assault and abuse in the story to make characters more evil and show that the main character has a hard life?
I was honestly not prepared for this in the first few pages and it did immediate damage for me not liking this book.
I couldn't connect with any of the characters and I found the story quite confusing and having some pacing issues. It reminded me a bit of The Shrike that I recently read and also disliked. It seems I have had some bad luck with fairytale re-tellings lately.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the opportunity to review this book. Sadly this is not my cup of tea.

'Absorbing and beautiful - a great achievement.' BRIDGET COLLINS, bestselling author of The Binding There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of sisters Grimm on Earth. You may well be one of them, though you might never know it. This is the story of four sisters Grimm – daughters born to different mothers on the same day, each born out of bright-white wishing and black-edged desire. They found each other at eight years-old, were separated at thirteen and now, at nearly eighteen, it is imperative that they find each other once again. In thirty-three days they will meet their father in Everwhere. Only then will they discover who they truly are, and what they can truly do. Then they must fight to save their lives and the lives of the ones they love. Three will live, one will die. You’ll have to read on to find out who and why . . . ___________________ 'A darkly beguiling delight that’s perfect for fans of rich and imaginative fantasy books akin to Erin Morgenstern and Neil Gaiman.' CULTUREFLY

The darkly beguiling fantasy escape of 2020

Coralie | she/her

2,5/5

I am a bit disappointed. This book was long. I often wanted it to go faster and sadly I connected with a few characters only (Leo, Goldie and Scarlett). For the others, I didn't really care. The basis of the story was really interesting, but I was confused by the frequent change of point of views. We also get from present to past so it really was confusing. 
So yeah, I liked the idea, but I find it a bit boring. Guess it was not a book for me.

There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of sisters Grimm on Earth. You may well be one of them, though you might never know it. You think you're ordinary. You never suspect that you're stronger than you seem, braver than you feel or greater than you imagine. But I hope that by the time you finish this tale, you'll start listening to the whispers that speak of unknown things, the signs that point in unseen directions and the nudges that suggest unimagined possibilities. I hope too that you'll discover your own magnificence, your own magic . . . This is the story of four sisters Grimm - daughters born to different mothers on the same day, each born out of bright-white wishing and black-edged desire. They found each other at eight years-old, were separated at thirteen and now, at nearly eighteen, it is imperative that they find each other once again. In thirty-three days they will meet their father in Everwhere. Only then will they discover who they truly are, and what they can truly do. Then they must fight to save their lives and the lives of the ones they love. Three will live, one will die. You'll have to read on to find out who and why...

Manon van Heumen

This was one, wonderful hell of a book! I could connect with most of the characters, I loved the world-building, but the writing style was what gripped me most: it was easy to follow, yet profoundly lyrical, something I really loved.
However, this was not what I expected. I expected there to be more magic, more action, more adventure. I only found this in the last 50 pages, and that bothered me. 
In any case, I will still recommend this book, as I think it leaves some powerful messages.

The Sisters Grimm

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