Review – The Swan Kingdom by Zoe Marriott (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 272 pages
Publisher: Candlewick
Release Date: October 13, 2009
ISBN-13: 978-0763642938
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

“When Alexandra’s mother is slain by an unnatural beast, shadows fall on the once-lush kingdom. Too soon the widowed king is entranced by a cunning stranger — and in one chilling moment Alexandra’s beloved brothers disappear, and she is banished to a barren land. Rich in visual detail, sparked by a formidable evil, and sweetened with familial and romantic love, here is the tale of a girl who discovers powerful healing gifts — and the courage to use them to save her ailing kingdom.”

I have had this book on my TBR pile for quite some time. I was excited to get a chance to finally read it. This is a retelling of The Wild Swans fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. It was a very straight-forward retelling of this fairy tale and I found it to be a bit bland.

This book sticks to the Wild Swans fairytale fairly closely. It does give our heroine magic powers and twists up the end of the tale some. I enjoyed this slight departure from the original tale but it wasn’t enough to make the story really unique and engaging for me.

Some of the description was very well done and I enjoyed our heroine Alexandra. However, the relationships in the book fell a bit flat. Alexandra’s romance was a bit blah. Her relationship with her brothers also felt a bit surfacey. I just never engaged with these characters very well.

Overall this is an okay retelling of the Wild Swans fairy tale but it wasn’t unique enough or engaging enough to really capture my attention. I would recommend reading Juliet Marillier’s “Daughter of the Forest” instead of this book if you are interested in an awesome retelling of the Wild Swans fairy tale. Alethea Kontis’s “Dearest” is also a well done retelling of this tale.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
– YA Reading Challenge