Review: The Wish Granter by C.J. Redwine

The Wish Granter

C.J. Redwine

(Ravenspire #2)

Publication Date: February 14, 2017

Hardcover, 432 pages, Balzer + Bray

Genres: YA, Fantasy, Fairytale Retellings

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The world has turned upside down for Thad and Ari Glavan, the bastard twins of Súndraille’s king. Their mother was murdered. The royal family died mysteriously. And now Thad sits on the throne of a kingdom whose streets are suddenly overrun with violence he can’t stop.

Growing up ignored by the nobility, Ari never wanted to be a proper princess. And when Thad suddenly starts training Ari to take his place, she realizes that her brother’s ascension to the throne wasn’t fate. It was the work of a Wish Granter named Alistair Teague who tricked Thad into wishing away both the safety of his people and his soul in exchange for the crown.

So Ari recruits the help of Thad’s enigmatic new weapons master, Sebastian Vaughn, to teach her how to fight Teague. With secret ties to Teague’s criminal empire, Sebastian might just hold the key to discovering Alistair’s weaknesses, saving Ari’s brother—and herself.

But Teague is ruthless and more than ready to destroy anyone who dares stand in his way—and now he has his sights set on the princess. And if Ari can’t outwit him, she’ll lose Sebastian, her brother…and her soul.

My Review

I’ve been reading C.J. Redwine’s books since she first released Defiance oh-so-many-years ago. So, it’s no surprise that I picked this one up. What is a surprise is why it took me so long to actually sit down and read it. I knew I was going to enjoy it, yet, I still kept putting it off.

What I liked about this book mainly had to do with the romance aspect of the storyline, not because the other aspects were bad, I just really enjoyed reading a fantasy/fairytale retelling that A) didn’t involve a girl falling for a prince, and B) two young characters who grow to care about each other after having been friends first. It was so cute to see Ari the princess put Sebastian in his place, and vice versa. They have a good dynamic going.

While their relationship strongly carried the story, I also loved how each character had a well-written backstory. I very much enjoyed how complicated Sebastian’s past was. His arc throughout the book feels so real. Ari, on the other hand, doesn’t have as real of a backstory, but how complicated her family history is as the bastard daughter of the king was fascinating.

As for the plot of the book, that’s where things went slightly downhill for me. And when I say slightly, I mean only enough to keep me from reading the entire book in one sitting. I just had to parcel my reading out in chunks of 50-100 pages versus binge-reading it all.

Alistair Teague, aka Rumpelstiltskin, wasn’t the best villain. He was okay, but his overall schemes didn’t pack as much wallop as I was hoping. Thus, the fight against him was a little less impactful than The Shadow Queen’s. He’s still terrible, but less terrible than I wished for.

All in all, if you’re looking for a fairytale story to fill in some of your Once Upon a Time gaps, this book and its predecessor are definitely for you. You’ll root for the main characters and curse C.J. Redwine for ever causing them harm.

*Note: I purchased a copy of this book for myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.