Early Review – The Thirteenth Child by Erin A. Craig (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 512 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: September 24, 2024
ISBN-13: 978-0593482582
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley for Review
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Hazel Trépas has always known she wasn’t like the rest of her siblings. A thirteenth child, promised away to one of the gods, she spends her childhood waiting for her godfather—Merrick, the Dreaded End—to arrive.
When he does, he lays out exactly how he’s planned Hazel’s future. She will become a great healer, known throughout the kingdom for her precision and skill. To aid her endeavors, Merrick blesses Hazel with a gift, the ability to instantly deduce the exact cure needed to treat the sick.
But all gifts come with a price. Hazel can see when Death has claimed a patient—when all hope is gone—and is tasked to end their suffering, permanently. Haunted by the ghosts of those she’s killed, Hazel longs to run. But destiny brings her to the royal court, where she meets Leo, a rakish prince with a disdain for everything and everyone. And it’s where Hazel faces her biggest dilemma yet—to save the life of a king marked to die. Hazel knows what she is meant to do and knows what her heart is urging her toward, but what will happen if she goes against the will of Death?”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got a copy of this on ebook to review through NetGalley..
Thoughts: This book ended up being quite a bit different from what I thought it was going to be, but I still enjoyed it. The synopsis makes this sound like Hazel spends most of her time navigating the royal court. In reality, nearly half the book is spent following Hazel as she learns her healing skills and grows up. She does spend time at court in the second half of the book. The book is more about navigating the will of the gods and how little gods understand humans than anything else. Before reading this, I had also read Craig’s “The House of Salt and Sorrows” (which I thought was okay), and “Small Favors” (which I liked).
Hazel is unwanted by her parents and, as a thirteenth child, ends up given to a god Merrick….the Dreaded End. Much of her early life is spent in destitution, being ignored and abused by her parents. Her parents expected Merrick to take her when he claimed her, but he has disappeared, and no one has any idea when he will show up to claim her. As a result, Hazel’s parents see her as an unexpected burden. When Merrick finally does show up, he has plotted out Hazel’s whole life; she will be an amazing healer. Of course, Hazel doesn’t have any say in the path her life is going to take, and she must tread carefully so she doesn’t anger the god of death himself.
The synopsis makes this sound like most of the story takes place at court. Instead, this story follows all of Hazel’s life, not just her years at court. We watch her grow up from one of many children (and an unwanted one at that), to a pre-teen struggling to meet Merrick’s expectations and fight through solitude, to a young adult learning to work and heal people, to an adult navigating the royal court.
There are a lot of very well done characters in here, and I enjoyed the story overall. I do wish Hazel had done more to take control of more of her life…I found that a bit frustrating, but she is in a tough position. I did enjoy the look at a god, Merrick, who thinks he is trying to do good by his human but is being very heavy-handed with decisions in her life. The contrast between Merrick’s viewpoint as an immortal god and Hazel’s perspective as a human was incredibly well done and explored in an intriguing way.
This is well written and easy to follow. While it wasn’t at all what I came in expecting, I did enjoy it.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this. There are some wonderful characters here, and I loved how the different perspectives of an immortal god and a human were contrasted. I was surprised at the long breadth of time that this explored and expected this to have more intrigue. I wasn’t expecting a story of a girl whose life is planned out by a god. I continue to have somewhat mixed feelings about Craig’s books, there are things I like about them and things I don’t enjoy as much.
