The Sisters Grimm - Menna Van Praag

Description

'Absorbing and beautiful - a great achievement' Bridget Collins, bestselling author of The Binding

There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of sisters Grimm on Earth.
You may well be one of them, though you might never know it.

This is the story of four sisters Grimm – daughters born to different mothers on the same day, each born out of bright-white wishing and black-edged desire.

They found each other at eight years-old, were separated at thirteen and now, at nearly eighteen, it is imperative that they find each other once again.

In thirty-three days they will meet their father in Everwhere. Only then will they discover who they truly are, and what they can truly do. Then they must fight to save their lives and the lives of the ones they love. Three will live, one will die.

You’ll have to read on to find out who and why . . 

Review

I've previously read and reviewed two of the author's other books, and for me this book whilst an epic masterpiece deviated from what I was expecting. It's certainly more far reaching in terms of themes and the spectrum of the previous books I read. 

Some of the themes touched upon are child abuse, rape and self harming. Whilst the book is set both in the real world and a world called Everwhere the events in the real world could be a little alarming for some if not warned about.

The book features four sisters about to turn 18 years of age, and yet none of the know they have a sister. They had previously known one another but due to what happens to Grimm sisters they forgot each other as they turned 13 years old. Intriguing......

At first I got a little confused with which sister was which - although clearly labelled in the book,  I do like to keep track in my own head. Then the timeline jumped around and I got confused again. However, I did stick with it as I really wanted to know how this was all going to work out.

The last quarter of the book was really good and the sisters embraced the strong women they were but had maybe for one reason or another hidden. The story line became unputdownable and I was glad I had stuck with it. I was also surprised by the ending as it didn't turn out as I thought it would. 

Beautifully descriptive writing, but I do think it could have been edited down. There were long passages where I thought it repeated itself a little.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC for review. The book is out on 6 February 2020.