Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: Ripples of Smoke and Water
AUTHOR: Lotus Oakes
PUBLISHER: Less Than Three Press
LENGTH: 128 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 8, 2018
BLURB:
On the day of their wedding, Adara’s fiancé and hero of the realm, Prince Rafael, is stolen away by the fairy of the lake and given up for lost. But while Adara doesn’t love Rafael, she does owe him, and so in spite of scorn and dismissal she sets out to save him.
But to win Rafael’s freedom, and her own, Adara must complete three challenges—and be careful not to end up ensnared herself.
REVIEW:
Fairy tales and retellings are pretty common these days, but it’s hard to find one that sets itself apart from the dozens before it. I think this one is a good example of an effective and intriguing fairy tale romance. It gives us familiar characters and tropes and then tweaks them just enough to keep us guessing.
Throughout the book, we have our archetypes—the prince, the princess, the fairy, the witch, the dragon. They all start with the basic core characteristics. The prince is noble, the princess is in peril, the fairy is vengeful. But soon, they all start taking on the roles of one another. The princess becomes the hero, the fairy becomes the love interest. It still feels like the fairy tales we know and love while telling a new kind of fantasy story where nothing is as it seems. The archetypes fall away, leaving us with original and well-crafted characters.
Adara is not your typical “strong” female character, even though she does kick ass and take names. She’s strong because she’s layered, complicated, and principled. She has to make a lot of difficult decisions—many of them with no clearly correct choice—and she does so after stopping, thinking, and using her wits. She’s incredibly easy to sympathize with and root for, and I’m glad this is mostly her story rather than a traditional romance. She also lets us examine princess in past fairy tales. They’ve been saved—but now what? What are they sacrificing?
There are some elements in the story that never really fell together, mostly having to do with the fantasy setting. The part with the underwater ants just seemed too silly to take seriously, and some of the longer conversations with Prince Rafael and Queen Miriam dragged down the pacing. But by the end, I was very satisfied with the story arc, and I definitely think this is an awesome example of a twist in a classic.
RATING: 
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