andrea hartmann's Reviews > Stepsister

TW: graphic and triggering descriptions of blood and self-harm

Stepsister was brilliant. I wouldn't necessarily call the whole book utter perfection, but the concept was genius, and the overall story was great. I found this take on the Cinderella story extremely unique and unexpected as well as extremely creative. I also liked the slight mythological incorporation, although I'll get into that storyline later on.

Stepsister is a Cinderella retelling, an extremely unique take on the classic fairytale. Rather than following Cinderella in this edition, we follow her stepsister, Isabelle, who is struggling with jealousy, an inferiority complex, and the fact that she has just chopped off her toes to fit into Cinderella's slipper. An outsider may see this story as a weak attempt to make the reader feel sorry for the evil stepsisters. My mom actually saw me reading this and asked how the stepsisters were expected to be likable when they were so horrible in the original story. Surprisingly, they were actually redeemable here. Isabelle and Octavia, the other stepsister, were likable because of their struggles. They lived in a period of time where women were all being pushed down to awful "anything to marry a rich husband" archetypes that they didn't want to be, and being called ugly and presumably unable to succeed right alongside their gorgeous stepsister who was praised for her every move would quite clearly drive me mad as well. I don't condone the way they treated Ella whatsoever, but am I horrible for saying we should cut them a bit of slack.

Despite all the praise I gave it in the introduction, this book definitely had a few flaws that warranted a four-star rating. Some include:

-The boring patches: This book had a lot of portions in which I just thought...hmmm...three stars? I was simply bored at the somewhat inactivity of the plot during those moments and it made the book drag because of it.

-Fate and Chance: This story was not just a retelling of Cinderella...it included a Fate from mythology and some marquis named Chance who for some reason were both super invested in Isabelle's life...and like for what? It had no personal bearings on either of them. The Fate was entirely focused on ruining Isabelle's life because of some stupid life map and the Marquis was so concerned for Isabelle...even though they were not connected whatsoever...both Fate and Chance jusr went out of their way to interfere and work hard for nothing.

Those were pretty much all the problems I had with the book itself, seeing as there were many things I loved. First of all, I thought Isabelle was so unique, with her fierce obsession with war generals and being a general. I had never actually read about a protagonist who had that interest. Secondly, I loved Tavi, or Octavia, the other stepsister. I loved how she was a genius and that she didn't care what other people thought of her or her looks. She was easily my favorite character, likely because I could relate to her so much. Lastly, I LOVED and I mean LOVED the main romance. I think this book was my revelation to the fact that I am a sucker for the "childhood friends-crushes to estraged to newfound trust to lovers". That might just be wish-fulfillment...but Felix and Isabelle were wonderful together. I would like a Felix.

In conclusion, this book was delightful. I wouldn't call it my favorite, but it is a lovely, eye-opening read and I would definitely recommend it to you if you enjoy fairytale retellings.