I'm getting tired of fantasy. Especially dark, ominous stories. So I had misgivings when I picked up Stain. But I had never read anything by Howard, and I wanted to.
Stain is its own story; a mashup of fairytales retold, which made it even more appealing. Even though you know the prince and the princess will eventually get together, you aren't sure how that's all going to play out. Howard includes The Princess and the Pea story at the end of the book, but I saw elements of Cinderella too. (Evil stepmother and stepsisters -- aunt and cousins in this case.) Although there is the bed of nails thing, and the prince needs to find her before he dies. Doesn't really matter. Just don't worry about what story this is supposed to be.
And about the Prince and Princess--Stain is full of peril and pain, but because it is written like a fairytale, you know there is a "Happily Ever After" (or, Hopefully, as Howard writes) in store for the ending. The characterizations are great--the evil characters are vile. And the heroes are...well, heroic! The writing is uplifting and compelling. At over 500 pages, I flew through Stain.
If I have to say anything negative about Stain, it would probably be that there are a lot of characters to keep track of. I did get confused once or twice, like, "now wait, who is that again??" But that's my own thing and might not apply to other readers.
Maybe Stain was just the right book at the right time for me, but I found it refreshing and fun. I'll be donating this to my high school library and can't wait to recommend it.
Published by Harry N. Abrams, January 15, 2019
Copy obtained from a freebie!
512 pages
Rating: 5/5
Fairytale retellings can be so much fun and it sounds like this one hit the mark.
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