Review: Ella & the Seven Dwarves
I was completely enamored by Beauty in the Tower, the first book I read in the Realms of Caelia series by Sara Farnsworth, so I jumped at the chance to read an ARC of her newest book, Ella & the Seven Dwarves, which comes out on April 4th. This book is a combined retelling of "Cinderella" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" with elements of "Swan Lake" and "The Wild Swans" that are incorporated from the previous Realms of Caelia book, Lake of the Wild Swans. This breathtakingly magical series combines the lore of many fairy tales and myths to create a world of enchantment and wonder. Sara Farnsworth also does a great job building up love stories that feel organic and heartwarming.
Princess Ella seems to have it all--a loving father, a royal lineage, and a handsome prince who cares about her dearly. Everything goes wrong when her father marries a greedy woman with two vain daughters and falls ill shortly after. When Ella's love, Prince Oberon, goes missing, her father starts to forget important details of his past. If that alone isn't enough to drive anyone into a royal frenzy, Ella is forced to work in the kitchens and become a servant in her own home. After numerous attempts on her life taken straight out of the original "Snow White" fairy tale, Ella runs away, changes her name to Snow, and seeks protection with a family of seven dwarves. Things get even more complicated when Prince Oberon finds her, knowing that her life could be at risk if her true identity is revealed.
The best thing about this series is the level of expertise on the fairy tale lore within the Realms of Caelia. Just about every name, spell, and location come from famous fantasy stories that are seamlessly woven together to create a magical world that feels both familiar and new. Oberon comes from a family in which everyone's name starts with the letter "O," nearly all of whom are legendary figures from Odette to Odin. When I started reading this, I didn't realize taht the book that came before this one was a retelling of "Swan Lake" and "The Wild Swans," so I thought several key details were missing from those sections until I realized they were probably all in the previous book, Lake of Wild Swans. Still, I enjoyed being able to experience at least some portions of that book in this story as well.
"Cinderella" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" are two stories that blend together seamlessly. Both contain a kind and selfless protagonist who suffers with parental abuse, evil stepmothers who are jealous of them, and a chance for a better life by marrying a prince. The main difference is that Cinderella wasn't born a princess. This book gets around that by having Ella's stepmother gradually strip away all the benefits of being a princess until there was nothing left. The love story is beautifully crafted, taking elements from all the best versions of "Cinderella" by making Ella and Oberon childhood friends that grew into something more over time. There's a little conflict over which kingdom they would rule due to Oberon being the crown prince of his kingdom and Ella being the sole heir of hers, but it is resolved quickly when Ella becomes the only hope of liberating her kingdom.
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