Book Review: A Curse So Dark and Lonely
Let me set the scene: It was less than a year ago—summer was just starting, I think, and Danny and I had gone to Barnes and Noble (a.k.a: the mothership) and were browsing around without having had anything really specific in mind for what we wanted. I had gotten a copy of Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine, as I am a huge Bradbury fangirl, and had taken a jaunt into the Young Adult Fantasy section because there was a book by someone named Brigid Kemmerer that I thought might be interesting.
This was not that book.
Instead, I found “A Curse so Dark and Lonely,” after reading the back of which I realized, hey, might as well give it a shot. I love Beauty and the Beast and all of its retellings so I might as well give it a shot. Besides, the cover looks really nice.
But we’re not supposed to judge books by their covers, so let’s just pretend that wasn’t part of it.
A Curse so Dark and Lonely follows Harper, a girl in modern day Washington D.C, who is Isekai’d (Isekai (Japanese: 異世界, meaning: "different world" or "otherworld") is a Japanese genre of speculative fiction) into a fantasy world completely separate from her own.
At first, Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe, but as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against them. It will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.
At first, I didn't really click with this book. The pacing took me off guar and Harper’s character started out too abrasive for my tastes. In all the YA fantasy I like to read, I come by too many female protagonists who are just a carbon-copy of Katniss from The Hunger Games. Which, frankly, doesn’t get much better for Harper as the series goes on, which is why Harper remains until the very last book my least favorite character.
However, the story did end up growing on me and I devoured the whole thing in just a few days. It felt like A Curse so Dark and Lonely might have been one of Kemmerer’s first works, because the first several chapters feel like she was still trying to work out the vibe and how she intended to tell the rest of the story. It feels . . . off kilter, somehow, but quickly picks up its stride and holds strong for the rest of the series.
Kemmerer really understands her genre and how to relay information to the reader that is both genre appropriate and informative for her worldbuilding. When magic or, really, any worldbuilding elements need explained we don’t get a huge info-dump that slows the scene down to a slog, but instead we get information that is woven naturally into the scene.
I also really connected with her characters. Rhen quickly became a new member of my husbando list, and as much Harper still bugged me, I was rooting for her and Rhen the entire time. This is a really unique adaptation to Beauty and the Beast and overall I’m really glad I read it.
