Let me start by mentioning how much I love Nadine Brandes’ books! I loved all five of them, the depth, the characters, the spiritual lessons and themes included. However, I ended up merely liking this book, which means I think it was OK, just not mind blowing. And that makes me a bit sad, when my expectations were so high! I’m gonna explain why I liked it less, and why you should still read it.
The story opens with Myrthe, whose tears can grant wishes. She lives with her grandmother, who takes advantage of her, and has a friend named Anouk who pushes her to seek freedom. After Myrthe gets cursed and will die the next time she cries a tear, she finally leaves in search of the Well to see if she can get the curse lifted. Meanwhile Bastiaan, a man with a Talent that can stop time, is searching for the Well as well, just as many other, including Myrthe’s ex boyfriend, who only wants her because of her gift. There is also a lot of policital intrigue going on, with the new king who pushes Banes unto people, the opposite of Talents, influenced by Coraline who seeks revenge for her boys.
I really like Bastiaan, he’s made some choices in the past that had grave consequences, and has to learn to live with those. Runt, his sort of adopted brother, is someone you’ll definitely root for. He’s been abandoned a lot, and even Bastiaan doesn’t hold unto his promises all the time which hurt him but he accepts it with grace. Myrthe grew on me, she starts out as a bit of an unlikable character without back bone, but she grows into someone who makes confident choices and sees people for who they really are, especially when they’re using Myrthe for their own profit.
This story is mainly a character driven story. The world building isn’t very elaborate, I have the feeling it is a very small world, as all characters meet each other quite regularly. There are mostly Dutch and some German words thrown in, which took me out of the story (especially as some words were wrong), I had a déjà vu to Six of Crows where this happens too. Being Dutch myself it was a bit weird and I constantly had to switch languages in my head. It might add to the Medieval feeling for English readers though.
I absolutely love character driven stories, so this should’ve been my thing, but for me a lot of the characters fell a bit flat. I didn’t realize it’s a Christian analogy/fairy tale, and that means the characters are evil or good, there is hardly an in between. That was the entire idea behind this story, the two Wells, the Talents and Banes, and while I did like the theme of good and evil, I feel that there could’ve been a little more nuance to the characters themselves. Myrthe and Bastiaan have their moral greyness at times (though in the end I feel it’s going a bit too much toward self sacrifice only), but the others are simply very evil (I do love to hate Sven) or very good hearted.
I loved the idea of the Wells and the trials, but the story itself felt a little disjointed, also because some things and rules would change in the story, and towards the end the wonderful subtlety of the Christian themes were unfortunately not so subtle anymore. However, it still read very fast and it was hard to put down.
I did love a lot in this story, especially the struggles of the main characters, the friendship between Bastiaan en Myrthe, the allegory of the Well and while the end fell a bit rushed and I was at times confused about what was actually happening, the actual ending I loved. I would definitely read a sequel if there was one.
This is a story about choices, who the tiniest one can have big consequences. How you can choose love over hate time and time again.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Yellow Mockingjay 