The Seventh Bride

By: T. Kingfisher

Narrated by: Kaylin Heath

Young Rhea is a miller's daughter of low birth, so she is understandably surprised when a mysterious nobleman, Lord Crevan, shows up on her doorstep and proposes marriage. Since commoners don't turn down lords - no matter how sinister they may seem - Rhea is forced to agree to the engagement.

Lord Crevan demands that Rhea visit his remote manor before their wedding. Upon arrival, she discovers that not only was her betrothed married six times before, but his previous wives are all imprisoned in his enchanted castle. Determined not to share their same fate, Rhea asserts her desire for freedom. In answer, Lord Crevan gives Rhea a series of magical tasks to complete, with the threat "Come back before dawn, or else I'll marry you."

With time running out and each task more dangerous and bizarre than the last, Rhea must use her resourcefulness, compassion, and bravery to rally the other wives and defeat the sorcerer before he binds her to him forever.

©2015 Ursula Vernon (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Ursula Vernon is a national treasure.

Delightful story, skillfully read. Convince your friends and family to buy T Kingfisher books. Hopefully we can encourage her to write more.

Wildly Imaginative!

A wildly imaginative and very original story in the magic/fairy tale genre by a very talented author. And, speaking of talented, Kaylin Heath, the narrator, is very much so, and more.
Loved it, loved it!! Will be looking for more works by this author.

meh

There was no great story building and the main character came off as an idiot more than innocent. The antagonist's reasons aren't well explained/flushed out. The story just seems like a bunch of random events the protagonist bumbles through with the help of friends. Lame.

Decent Enough

The book was no page turner for me and I never got particularly attached to the characters. Not sure if I would recommend to a friend, but I don’t regret the purchase either. Its been a decent book to listen to in the background and the narrator did well.

Sheer perfection!

The synopsis promises a delightfully sinister plot and oh does the author deliver! Rhea, the main character, is young, but intuitive and hilarious. She's in a predicament being faced with marriage to a man her father's age in a class much higher than her own. If she refuses, he can punish her family and take their livelihood.

Resigned to her fate, she tries looking at the bright side...servants and a nice big manor. But after a short period of time, Rhea discovers that her suitor is far more devious than she imagined. She picks up some unusual friends during her attempts at thwarting her evil fiance that comprise a highly entertaining cast of supporting characters.

As for the audio- The narrator is absolutely perfect for this novel; she gave a flawless performance! I recommend the book and I also recommend the audio. It was easy listening and I didn't want it to end.

Exciting, interesting, and yet cute story

This story was a truly enjoyable surprise. I really liked the main character. It was mysterious and kept me interested through the very end. The performance was great. She did a great job portraying the character.

The Narrator…

The narrator has a lisp, and enough of one to be distracting. Also, the accents she attempted were… not strong. It felt like watching a Disney sitcom rather than reading a fantasy novel.

Interesting

Perhaps the thing that makes this story rather remarkable in YA is that the protagonist does everything for herself. As in, no men come in and sweep her off her feet to save her.

She and the wives eventually group together to get themselves released.

But that still doesn’t really GET them released. That’s more hubris does ole Blackbeard in.

Any way, a charming twist to the Blackbeard story, for once. Somewhat grim, but it IS a Grimm fairytale.

Marriage is highly scoffed in this, which I approve of as too many girls and young women think that’s the endgame for their lives. There’s so much more.

Basically, this was an oddly feminist piece, and Rhea’s courage is what makes her a great protagonist. I liked this. I hope more YA are written like this.

I took away one star for the occasional oddness to the narration and speech. It might be her storytelling style or the fact it’s YA that bothered me. Regardless, it lacked a complete smoothness of narration in parts, but it was still very enjoyable.

Surprisingly good, love the narration!

Got it for free from Prime! Expected a more or less straight up horror version of Bluebeard, but this is more of a classic fantastical adventure with a strong heroine with a varied cast of other characters, but it did start off slightly boring.
The narrator is stellar in her performance, her voice made the boring parts bearable, and really added a lot to building up the personalities of the characters. I looked her up and... can't believe that this is the only thing she narrated!

This is Weird. I Enjoyed That.

This was weird, which is the biggest vote in its favor. It has a middle grade voice, with a YA main character, and most of the other characters are adults. It's a strange blend, but I enjoyed that. I really liked the hedgehog, and I don't always enjoy animal side characters.