Netgalley has denied pretty much every review request I’ve submitted for the past year so I was very surprised when they emailed me with an ARC for Erin A. Craig’s newest release, The Thirteenth Child. I’ve read everything Craig has written and while I’ve had mixed opinions, I was VERY excited to dive into this book. While I can’t say that it’s a new favorite, I did enjoy it. This review will have slight spoilers.
Synopsis:
This is the story of Hazel, a young healer navigating a ruthless court to save the life of the king, grappling with a pantheon of gods with questionable agendas as she fights for agency and true love in her own life as the goddaughter of none other than Death himself.
All gifts come with a price.
Hazel Trépas has always known she wasn’t like the rest of her siblings. A thirteenth child, promised away to one of the gods, she spends her childhood waiting for her godfather—Merrick, the Dreaded End—to arrive.
When he does, he lays out exactly how he’s planned Hazel’s future. She will become a great healer, known throughout the kingdom for her precision and skill. To aid her endeavors, Merrick blesses Hazel with a gift, the ability to instantly deduce the exact cure needed to treat the sick.
But all gifts come with a price. Hazel can see when Death has claimed a patient—when all hope is gone—and is tasked to end their suffering, permanently. Haunted by the ghosts of those she’s killed, Hazel longs to run. But destiny brings her to the royal court, where she meets Leo, a rakish prince with a disdain for everything and everyone. And it’s where Hazel faces her biggest dilemma yet—to save the life of a king marked to die. Hazel knows what she is meant to do and knows what her heart is urging her toward, but what will happen if she goes against the will of Death?
From the astonishing mind of Erin A. Craig comes the breathtaking fairy tale retelling readers have been waiting for— what does a life well-lived mean, and how do we justify the impossible choices we make for the ones we love?
My Thoughts:
- Rating-
If you’ve read any of my other reviews for Craig’s previous releases, you’ll be able to guess all of my thoughts about this one. The aspects of her writing that I love, I really love and the aspects that I dislike, well… I really dislike.
Craig is incredible at setting a scene. I am always fully immersed and feel like I’m there. From the small cottage Hazel spent her childhood in, to the castle that she ended up at and everywhere in between, it was all beautifully described. Typically there is a spooky element to Craig’s stories and while this one lacked that, other than the decaying ghosts, I really enjoyed this book’s more fairytale feel. I also really liked the various deities and how they influenced the world.
I also really liked the characters, especially Hazel. As the main character, she was the most developed but I do wish the other characters would have had a bit more depth, especially the love interest.
After reading all of Craig’s books, I’ve found that I don’t enjoy the way she paces her stories, the romances or the endings. For The Thirteenth Child in particular, there was too much time spent on Hazel’s early and less interesting years instead of the more action packed events after she arrived at the castle. The most critical events of the entire book were rushed in the last 25%, including the development of the romance. The romance felt very instalove and should have started to develop much sooner in the story.
There were also many unresolved loose ends that were technically minor but I still would have liked some answers. Hazel had a dog named Cosmos and he’s only mentioned a couple of times and not at all in the epilogue. She also had a brother, Bertie, and three nieces, who were pretty important in the last part of the book but we have no idea what happened to them because they are also not mentioned in the epilogue. Once the romance was introduced, it very quickly shifted to a “they lived happily ever after” kind of ending without tying up all of the other characters storylines.
However, this book doesn’t end on a cliff hanger and I feel that everything was resolved well enough for me to be content with it.
Final Thoughts:
I can’t say that The Thirteenth Child was a favorite but I don’t regret reading it. A book with similar vibes that I do absolutely adore is Deerskin by Robin McKinley. If you want to read about a girl overcoming hardship with the help of a deity, who also has a dog that she loves, please read Deerskin. Anyways, have you read anything by Erin A. Craig? Do you plan to read this newest release? Let me know! Thanks for reading!
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