Allerleirauh

De: Chantal Gadoury

Narrado por: Isobel Smith

In the kingdom of Tranen, a king makes a promise to his dying wife that he'll only remarry a woman who possesses her golden hair. In time, the king's eyes are turned by his daughter. Realizing her father’s intentions, Princess Aurelia tries to trick him by requesting impossible gifts: dresses created by the sun, moon and stars, and a coat made of a thousand furs. But when he is successful, Aurelia sacrifices her privileged life and flees her kingdom, disguised by the cloak and a new name, Allerleirauh. She enters the safe haven of Saarland der Licht, where the handsome and gentle Prince Klaus takes her under his care. Hoping not to be discovered by her father’s courtiers, Allerleirauh tries to remain hidden under her new identity when she finds unexpected love with Prince Klaus, even though his arranged marriage to the princess of a neighboring kingdom approaches. Risking everything, Allerleirauh must face her troubled past and her fears of the future along her journey to self-acceptance in this triumphant retelling of the classic Grimm Fairy Tale.

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Decent story but inconsistent character

The book could have been a pretty good story if executed better. The prose was fine and the story could have been interesting. However, there were some consistency errors and far too much internal dialogue. The dialogue seemed to be a method to convince the reader of things that didn't actually hold up to what was happening in the story. She also in some cases refuted her own internal dialogue statements regularly.

As I thought back on my rating of this book, one issue stood out - Do I dislike the story because the main character is spoiled, bratty, and lacks self-preservation and lies to herself? While she once in awhile does something brave, this character overall has no ability to really advocate for herself. Is this because she grew up a princess? Was she coddled too much by her maid? Possibly.

There is rape by a father in this book. That's very relevant to the story and I felt it was handled well. I also technically thought the author did a decent job with showing the repercussions in her interactions with males after. Unfortunately in her internal dialogue she makes it clear that this happening to her is a worry, but then on and off acts as if it never occurred to her. Same with her maid. As a princess who desires a father/king's love, could she fall into that trap? Possible.

I didn't really feel consistency in the way the whole part went in the prince's castle. She claims to be a peasant but they treat her like a lady. She certainly doesn't seem to pass as a peasant and from time to time brings out her fancy dresses and people shrug it off. She's also really bratty so that should have been a clue. The prince also seems so overly gentle with everyone that it's hard to see him ruling anything. Crestwood was also inconsistent. I also didn't really feel the falling in love thing felt completely mapped out but it was fine overall.

The ending I really liked with the nailbiter of everything coming down on her. I could understand why she avoided telling people her full story and was very curious how it would all come out. In the end, she's not really a likeable character in general but it's a good attempt at a difficult plot.

I honestly felt the narrator's accent (?) very distracting. She has a lisp or that's part of her accent and I tried to not get hung up on it but it was a bit difficult. Otherwise it was fine.

I wouldn't recommend this book.