Entwined By: Heather Dixon (Contains Spoilers)

I have written and rewritten the beginning of this post several times now. I'm never satisfied with what I'm trying to get across which, oddly enough, goes along with what I was feeling while reading Entwined.

All the normal comments that usually suggest a first rate book can't be applied to Entwined. The writing style wasn't anything special, in fact, I would call it painfully simple most of the time. The writing style could be accurately categorized as children's level while the story didn't strike me as one a child could really fully appreciate. Most of the plot structure and explanation was underwhelming and in many cases didn't come close to clarifying itself. (I still don't know what happens in some moments in the book.) Do you see why I was struggling here? But, now that I've given you the bare facts, I'm going to get into the story itself because there I was pleased. Or I should say more surprised.

I'm not going to be able to explain this properly unless I use spoilers SOOO for those of you who are looking to avoid spoilers and have ANY interest whatsoever in reading Entwined--STOP NOW! As in, RIGHT NOW!! I don't want to be a spoiler. Alright, as for the rest of you who are going to read anyway, I suppose that's your funeral.

I began reading the book and found myself wondering many times why I was reading it. And yet I continued to read it. I was about halfway through the book when some elements of the story seemed to be walking the edge of what would normally make me "quit" a book. A few red flags seemed to be appearing and I was wary. But still, I didn't feel like I was reading something inappropriate so I read on waiting for a serious STOP sign to show up. It never did.

*I hope I've prattled enough to discourage those who might be looking for spoilers. In the meantime--THIS is going to be the spoilers section.*

Entwined is a loose retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Alright, so midway through the book Azalea has a kind of nightmare where it appears like the bad guy, known as "The Keeper" has control over the soul of Azalea's mother. This little nightmare/vision is disturbing, to say the least. The imagery used is upsetting as the mother's mouth is sewn shut (that instantly made my skin crawl), and in that moment I stopped reading to consider what I'd gotten myself into. This is so uncharacteristic of me, (when we start dealing with soul stealing and things of that nature I tend to be INSTANTLY turned off), but I kept reading.

Now, I'm going to skip to the end because Azalea acts to try and save her mother's soul from a fate in the Keeper's...keeping. However, when we are finally in the battle we discover that the Keeper didn't truly ever have any power. The power of suggestion and belief had been his only tool and device for deception and it almost worked. The Keeper was able to manipulate Azalea's beliefs and fears to enable what powers he could wield. However, in the end, The Keeper did not have her mother's soul, and there was a way to protect the kingdom and the royal family.

I know this is from the Chronicles of Narnia, but the colors seemed rather like
the Twelve Dancing Princess story.

So, here was I, at the end of the novel and taking stock of the whole of it. This book and theories presented in it stayed on my mind for a few days. Finally, the symbolism started to fall into place. The Keeper seems to bear a striking resemblance to another rather prominent villain in all of our lives. Is not the devil considered to be powerful, and yet, is he not limited to only exercise what power we allow him to have? The strength of that principle written into a fairy tale intended for, I'll say, "young people", is a really powerful message that made me pity the weak writing. Whether the author intended to or not, she wrote a very strong moral into her fairy tale that I simply couldn't ignore.

Once these reflections were complete I focused on the other aspects of the story that I'd been questioning. The relationship the girls have with their father is a very complicated one. It's another reason why I thought the book wasn't written for children. At first, I would waffle between taking the girl's side and understanding the father's side. Thankfully, I was pleased by the conclusion of that aspect of the story. And though the book is simple there is good, I repeat good, not great, character construction for many of the girls and a few of their suitors. (As many of the girls are still young not all of them have suitors.) I have to say, I think Bramble is my favorite of the sisters.

So, in conclusion of this STRANGE post, for all that it is and all that is is not, I did, in my own way, like Entwined and would, in special cases, recommend it.

Yours truly,
Cordy