House of Salt and Sorrows

I recently read House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin Graig, and it was the first Fantasy book I’ve read in a while that I thought was kind of… eh. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of things in the book that I liked (particularly in it being a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses), but the ending didn’t sit well with me. When the ending is off, it throws off the whole book.

However, let’s start with the beginning. Erin Craig sets the scene, and she sets it fairly dark and dreary. It took some time, and I had the smallest amount of trouble getting into her writing style, but I was interested enough. The darkness—the salt—the death (it literally starts with a funeral… I promise I’m not giving anything away) were all things I could get behind, and get behind I did.

By the middle of the book, I was invested… dare I say entranced! The darkness got darker, the magic madening. The middle of the book was creepy and fascinating, yet also beautiful. I almost got swept up in it (and I nearly read past my bedtime!… Okay, I DID read past my bedtime, but not THAT far past it…).

And then came the beginning of the end, for both for the book and my interest in it. It wasn’t like the ending was awful, because it wasn’t. But it wasn’t satisfying either. First of all, the pace was too fast. For how slow the beginning was, and how perfectly paced the middle was, the end came in a tumble—too fast to fully comprehend. Too much happened at once. Too many twists and turns, and far too much beguiling, as the book would say. Except the book didn’t quite use the word in the right context. 

I honestly have never been so utterly dumbfounded at the end of a book. It wasn’t in a good way, either, which is a shame. The first 330 pages set the book up to be fascinating, and it crashed and burned in the last 70 pages.

Also… the very last page was just too far. I think it could’ve been even just a little better if that last page hadn’t been a thing. But, we can’t all get what we wish for.

I don’t know. Like I said, I didn’t hate this book, but I doubt I’ll be rereading it, and I don’t think I’ll be putting it on my recommendations list either.

If you want to give the book a shot:

My next read: