Review: House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

ARC provided by publisher through NetGalley.

I have been reading this book for well over a year. Not actively obviously, just like I read the beginning hundred to two hundred pages in a frenzy, left the physical book in America, would occasionally read a few pages as an ebook, tried the audiobook (was not a fan of the narrator), went back to the physical book and finally decided too actually finish this book. This is all to say that I think I need to revisit this book in the future to give it another shot.

House of Salt and Sorrows (an amazing title with the most beautiful cover) is a twelve dancing princesses retelling with a murderous twist. Well, maybe the original Grimm story has a murderous bent, I don't think I have actually read it; my exposure to this story comes from the animated HBO series Happily Ever After from when I was a little kid; that one didn't have any of the princesses being murdered. Annaleigh is one of 12 daughters, her mother and multiple of her sisters have died one by one; it would seem that the family has been cursed, or that there is someone murdering the women who live at Highmore.

I really really enjoyed the beginning of this book; it is fun and fast and creepy. I liked watching the story build on itself, and I enjoyed being surprised by where the story was going. I clearly got bored by the middle, hence putting the book down so many times for such a long time, but something about the story still compelled me to finish it even after all this time. I think having such a large cast of characters who weren't always clearly established as their own person made some of the mystery lose my interest. Why should I care who is murdering everyone if I can only be sure who some people actually are? I was constantly switching the step-mother's name with the eldest sisters, the little sisters all blurred together, and not just 'the graces' or the triples who were grouped by the author. I actually think that grouping made is more confusing when the girl's names were actually used. I have been considering making a crossword puzzle for this book, but it might be too confusing? I am unsure.

The romance also didn't work that well for me. I loved its beginnings, but I found it a bit saccharine and melodramatic by the end. I also just thought they were from 'wow, you are cute and mysterious, and I like you' to 'i would die/kill for you' very quickly, and I wanted a few more interactions between the two to build to that feeling better. After the misunderstanding conversation, things snowballed, and I was thrown off guard by it.

I also thought the end was rushed. I know it needed to be fast because a lot was happening, but it didn't seem like it really had the time needed. I felt the end was too fast for me to really have any sadness at the bit that probably should have made me sad. Also, the villain just kind is revealed (thought was obvious from about a quarter of the way into the book), gives an evil speech to two characters, then dies. I really wanted more form that ending. I didn't want a 'this is why I was evil' speech; I wanted to see the emotional toll the reveal would have on certain characters who were not there.

The novel's tone was certainly a stand out factor! It is deliciously creepy, and no matter what time you are reading, it makes you feel like it is night. I felt the tone became less consistent towards the end, things leaned to just being gross or became a bit convoluted, so I didn't have the same delicious atmosphere, but most of the book holds it very well. If you are looking for a creepy fall/winter book, I recommend this.

I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph. I would recommend this book to people! Clearly, lots of other people have positive feelings about this book, and there are many things that I had issue with that are obviously subjective. If you are looking for something spooky, a fairytale retelling, or a YA mystery in a fantasy setting, you should probably check it out. I plan to come back to this at some point; when that happens, I will certainly update my feelings just in case they shift.