The Sisters Grimm
By Menna Van Praag
Blurb
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.
Our Review
The Sisters Grimm has a truly stunning book cover but the book itself is somewhat of a mixed bag. On paper this is a book I should love but in reality, it fell a bit flat and there were times when I felt like giving up on it but I carried on because there were elements of it I really liked.
The basic premise of four sisters with elemental powers destined to battle against soldiers and each other on their eighteenth birthday was pretty good. The part about being conceived by a demonic Wilhelm Grimm and the fate of humanity resting on their decision to be good or evil was a little bit lost on me.
Likewise, all romantic elements of the plot were uninteresting to me. The background stories of the sisters during their earlier years were brilliant and the best part of the book.
Character wise Scarlet’s story and her relationship with her grandma Esme were my favourite. The dementia aspect and the difficulty of looking after a much-loved grandparent with this horrible disease resonated with me.
“Before alzheimer’s, she’d adored all baked goods. If it consisted of flour, sugar and butter, Esme gobbled it up, no question. Now she’s suspicious of everything, like a child apprehensively trying a place of broccoli. And it always breaks Scarlet’s heart a little.”
I found myself routing for Goldie also and loved her relationship with her little brother Teddy.
Liyana’s character was also a welcome inclusion of a diverse character and her origin story was fascinating.
Bea was the only character I disliked and had no particular interest in her story. I could see where it was heading with her character and found it quite boring.
I found The Sisters Grimm merely ok until the last third of the book which I really enjoyed.
As someone who loves Grimm fairy tales there were certain areas of the book that kept me reading it and had enough echoes of the original to make me want to read more.
“The Sister’s Grimm are daughters of air – at least they begin that way – born of dreams and prayer, faith and imagination, bright-white wishing and black-edged desire.”
The retellings of Grimm’s fairy tales within are fantastic as are the illustrations that corresponded with them and I could have read them all day.
All in all, I think part of my problem with The Sister’s Grimm is that I am a good twenty years older than the target audience. Maybe if I had read this at that age I would have enjoyed it more. Having said that, the strong female characters and the last third of the book mean I won’t be opposed to reading the rest of the trilogy at some point.
Our Final Rating...
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