Honestly, it was like reading Pride and Prejudice at times, as the Thaumas sisters get excited when they are able to dress up for a dance, or Camille frets over finding a husband someday. I also loved that Craig has given her story a Jane Austen vibe. We only see glimpses of the other islands, and I would have loved to learn more about them and their customs. Their lives revolve around the sea, they mark important occasions by drinking seawater, and even their dead are eventually relegated back to the sea. The story takes place on Selkirk Island, where people worship the sea god Pontus. Craig has created a wonderful world called Arcannia, made up of a string of five different islands. By far my favorite part of this book was the world building. I want to start this review with the elements I enjoyed. Her investigation leads her to a mysterious man named Cassius who is determined to help her find the truth. And so she begins her own investigation, questioning the men at the docks who may have seen what really happened when Eulalie “fell” to her death from the cliffs. She’s convinced that someone is killing off her sisters, even though the deaths all appear to be accidental. The family has been in a constant state of mourning due to all the recent deaths, but the Thaumas triplets-Rosalie, Ligeoa and Lenore-are about to turn sixteen, and so they convince their father to let the sisters come out of mourning in order to celebrate their birthdays with an extravagant ball.īut Annaleigh is not in the mood to celebrate. Her sister Camille is the eldest, and because of that she is first in line to inherit the family estate of Highmoor. The story is told from the perspective of Annaleigh. There used to be twelve daughters, but a string of bad luck has befallen the family and now there are only eight left. The Thaumas family is mourning the death of Eulalie, the fourth daughter to die in a matter of months. I knew that four of the twelve daughters are already dead when the story starts, but it gets worse (sorry, minor spoiler).

I was expecting more of a fantasy, fairy tale vibe, but folks, this book falls more in the “horror” genre than fantasy. Unfortunately, even though there is a lot to love about this book, as a whole there was something missing for me. I had read some glowing reviews of The House of Salt and Sorrow, so I jumped into this with rather high expectations. The nitty-gritty: Evocative world-building combined with an overstuffed plot left me with mixed feelings about this YA fantasy debut. Published by Delacorte Press on August 6 2019

This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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