Review: The Sin Eater's Daughter

Author: Melinda Salisbury
Edition: Scholastic Paperback (Early Copy)
Release: 5th February 2015
Series: The Sin Eater's Daughter #1
Pages: 333 approx.
Links: Goodreads | Author's Website | Buy the book!

I am the perfect weapon. I kill with a single touch.

Twylla is blessed. The Gods have chosen her to marry a prince, and rule the kingdom. But the favour of the Gods has its price. A deadly poison infuses her skin. Those who anger the queen must die under Twylla's fatal touch.

Only Lief, an outspoken new guard, can see past Twylla's chilling role to the girl she truly is.

Yet in a court as dangerous as the queen's, some truths should not be told...

Though this book started out well for me, after a while, there were a couple of problems which surfaced that I just couldn't overlook. However, before I go into more detail, let me just say this: I did enjoy this book and can easily see it being a big hit in the near future with a lot of different people.

Let's start out on a positive note. There were three aspects of the book which really stood out to me. These were the writing, the setting and the way the Gods came in to play in the storyline. All three of these I truly adored. The writing had an almost melodic quality to it and simply seemed to flow, pulling me through page after page. The setting portrayed a medieval feel and, being the fan of castles, big dresses and court drama that I am, well, it went down a storm. And the idea behind the Gods Naeht and Daeg also really interested me and I really enjoyed their roles in the storyline and the way they came into play.

Unfortunately, my problems were very much character based. And it's a really pity because I'm sure I would have probably loved this book otherwise. However, I do believe this all came down to my personal taste in characters so don't be put off by what I'm about to say. I started off liking the main character, Twylla, but, as time went on, I couldn't overlook her selfishness. Now, she isn't the type of selfish you're used to seeing, she's more of the subtle variety and, though I do believe she doesn't always know that she's being selfish, her actions and decisions just begun to irk me after a while. I also wasn't fond of Lief or the prince because I just didn't know what to make of them. The one character I did surprisingly like was Dorin. However, what's to say the characters won't develop and become more to my liking in the next books?

Yeah, that's another thing. I feel like this book would have worked well as a standalone but, now that I know it's going to be a trilogy, I'm really in-between about what I want to do. Should I continue? I'm not sure. Despite my problems, there were some things I really did enjoy.

Overall, The Sin Eater's Daughter was an enjoyable story. The writing was lovely and I loved the time period and atmosphere the author captured by it. And though I didn't find the characters that much to my liking, I do still recommend this book because I feel that came down to my personal tastes alone and I wouldn't want to see anyone giving this book a miss when I know a lot of people will love it.

THREE AND A HALF TOADSTOOLS TO THE SIN EATER'S DAUGHTER! :)

A big thank you to Scholastic for sending me an early copy of this book!

 

Happy Reading,

Rachel xoxo