Review: Lake of the Wild Swans

Sara Farnsworth's Realms of Caelia series is probably my favorite series that I've read this year. I love how each book seamlessly combines two fairy tales and is packed with magic and romance. In fact, she just may have inspired me to write a dual retelling this summer as well. Lake of the Wild Swans is the second book in the series and fills the gap between Beauty in the Tower and Ella and the Seven Dwarfs. Although these books work okay as standalones, there are so many recurring characters and scenes amongst them that it's best to read the whole series in order. I read an ARC of Ella and the Seven Dwarfs before this one and felt like it was missing some key scenes until I realized they were all in Lake of the Wild Swans. This book is a combined retelling of "Swan Lake" and "The Wild Swans," which both fit together very well due to the overarching swan transformation theme.

Princess Odette is a teenager with social anxiety who is intimidated by all the attention she receives at a royal ball, first by a flirtatious masked pirate and later by a creepy duke. When she realizes the costumed pirate is actually Prince Lander and that he is sincere in his flirtations, she begins to fall for him, enraging the duke, who is actually a sorcerer named Rothbart. When Odette's seven brothers catch Rothbart using magic on Odette, he transforms all eight of them into swans and captures them in a faraway castle with a lake. Only Odette recovers her human form each night, but if she leaves the vicinity of the lake as a human, she will die. The only way to convince Rothbart to remove the spell is to marry him, which is unthinkable.

The characters in this book are a lot of fun. Although Lander's flirting gets kind of irritating after a while, he has a great sense of humor and serves as a terrific complement to Odette's shyness. Her brothers are also pretty funny while trapped in the bodies of swans because they honk and poke at any man who tries to hit on Odette, whether it's Rothbart or Lander. I did wish they could do more to show their individual personalities instead of always acting as a unit, but that can be difficult when they can't communicate for most of the book. Odile was underused as a character. I liked that she was in this, but she could have posed a much bigger threat than she did to make the story align better with the "Swan Lake" ballet.

The minor changes made to both fairy tales were mostly for the better. I appreciated that the parameters of breaking her brothers' spell were changed from not being able to talk at all until she finished sewing them all shirts made of nettles to simply not being able to talk about her task. Losing her voice as soon as her prince discovers her would have made this book too similar to "The Little Mermaid," which was also teased at the end for a future Realms of Caelia novel. Rothbart's magic is explained in detail, leaving no stone unturned. Alora, the protagonist from Beauty in the Tower, makes good use of her magical knowledge to aid Odette as much as possible in her mission to escape Rothbart and break the spells on her brothers and herself.

Lake of the Wild Swans is an engaging retelling of two classic fairy tales, seamlessly woven together with magic, romance, and humor. Sara Farnsworth's Realms of Caelia series continues to impress, with this installment offering a fresh take on "Swan Lake" and "The Wild Swans." The characters, particularly Odette and her swan brothers, are delightful and memorable, and the story's unique blend of fairy tale elements and magical world-building makes for a compelling read. While some characters, like Odile, could have been utilized more effectively, the book's strengths far outweigh its weaknesses. Overall, Lake of the Wild Swans is a must-read for fans of fairy tale retellings and clean romance, and I eagerly look forward to the next installment in the series.