A prince cursed to sleep.
A princess destined to wake him.
A kingdom determined to stop them.
High Prince Alexander has been cursed to a sleep like unto death, a curse that will end the line of the high kings and send the Seven Kingdoms of Tallahatchia into chaos. With his manservant to carry his luggage and his own superior intelligence to aid him, Alex sets off to find one of the Fae and end his curse one way or another.
A hundred years later, Princess Rosanna learns she is the princess destined by the Highest King to wake the legendary sleeping prince. With the help of the mysterious Daemyn Rand, can she find the courage to finish the quest as Tallahatchia wavers on the edge of war?
One curse connects them. A hundred years separate them. From the rushing rivers of Tallahatchia’s mountains to the hall of the Highest King himself, their quests will demand sacrifices neither of them could imagine.
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Greetings everyone! I joined up with the blog tour for Tricia Mingerink. Though events decided to conspire against me, I still managed to finish reading Dagger’s Sleep and get my review up on time. So without further ado, here we go….
Dagger’s Sleep takes the story of Sleeping Beauty and reinvents it with twist. In this tale, it is the prince, not the princess, who is in need of awakening.
Our main characters are Rosanna, the princess chosen for the task, and Alex, the prince in need of saving. The world is populated by Fae and human, but the magical elements are few. For the most part, the world has a decidedly Native American/frontiersman theme going for it.
So first I’ll list my likes. Ms. Mingerink is a good writer and it shows in Dagger’s Sleep. Her writing is clear, and she knows how to effortlessly take the smallest scenes and stretch them into vivid detail without going overly wordy on them. Her characters for the most part are fleshed-out well, particularly her male characters Jadon and Alex, and I loved her take on the Fae. The allegorical elements woven into the story are amazing and, dare I say, even enough to rival Anne Elisabeth Stengl (who happens to be one of my favorite authors :D).
And now we come to the list of dislikes. I really admired how Ms. Mingerink was able to bring to life the trek through the woods, the handling of the canoe, and just the general feel you would get from actually going out there in the wilderness on a dangerous quest. My quibble comes in that it went on for a good chunk of the book without much going on to break up the monotony aside from a couple fights.
My other quibble is the jumping back and forth in time. Personally, I think the story would have worked better for the main protagonist, Rosanna, if we’d kept the scenes featuring Prince Alex few, and started them at the beginning. Instead we start with Rosanna, and then on chapter 4, we’re swept a 100 years back in time to view the journey of Prince Alex. Who also happens to be going on a quest of his own to seek a cure to the curse haunting his steps.
Ironically, it is Prince Alex’s tale I ended up enjoying more, even though he too is trekking through the wilderness. I found the character to have more personality than Rosanna, which made for a more interesting read. Yes, he’s arrogant and will get on your nerves probably with some of his pomposity, but it was fun watching him grow on the journey. And Jadon definitely deserves a medal for being one of the most loyal and dependable bodyguards ever.
Rosanna…honestly, I didn’t really connect with her character until perhaps midway through the story. She’s dependable and quite skilled holding her own without being unrealistic (like Anna in Frozen). And I enjoyed watching her embrace the role she was meant to carry.
So my thoughts? While it’s got a few rough spots, particularly that jumping back and forth in time, it’s an enjoyable read with a great allegory running through it. Definitely looking forward to the next book in the series! 😀
(I received a free copy of the book from author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.)
Blog tour schedule can be found here: https://triciamingerink.com/2018/05/22/dissociate-daggers-sleep-blog-tour/
And here’s something fun for all of you, A giveaway of Dagger’s Sleep, as well as another book, Dissociate by Sarah Addison-Fox. 😀
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Tricia Mingerink is giving away a paperback of Dagger’s Sleep. The giveaway is open internationally where such giveaways are permitted and where Createspace or the Book Depository ships. The book may or may not be signed depending on where the winner lives. To enter, click the link below.
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Sarah Addison-Fox is giving away a paperback set of the first three books in the Allegiance Series. The giveaway is open internationally where such giveaways are permitted and where Createspace ships. The books may or may not be signed depending on where the winner lives. To enter, click the link below.
Heart of Light 