Review: The Sin Eater's Daughter

The Sin Eater's Daughter
Author: Melinda Salisbury
Publication Date: February 5th 2015
Publisher: Scholastic
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

Seventeen-year-old Twylla lives in the castle. But although she’s engaged to the prince, Twylla isn’t exactly a member of the court.

She’s the executioner.

As the Goddess embodied, Twylla instantly kills anyone she touches. Each month she’s taken to the prison and forced to lay her hands on those accused of treason. No one will ever love a girl with murder in her veins. Even the prince, whose royal blood supposedly makes him immune to Twylla’s fatal touch, avoids her company.

But then a new guard arrives, a boy whose easy smile belies his deadly swordsmanship. And unlike the others, he’s able to look past Twylla’s executioner robes and see the girl, not the Goddess. Yet Twylla’s been promised to the prince, and knows what happens to people who cross the queen.

However, a treasonous secret is the least of Twylla’s problems. The queen has a plan to destroy her enemies, a plan that requires a stomach-churning, unthinkable sacrifice. Will Twylla do what it takes to protect her kingdom? Or will she abandon her duty in favor of a doomed love?

The Sin Eater's Daughter, you were very good, very, very good. I did have a few minor issues that stopped it from being perfect for me, but nothing major that stopped me from loving it.

The Sin Eater's Daughter is very character driven, (thanks for helping me make up my mind Shannon), there's not a lot of plot going on, not to say that's a bad thing. I usually like a faster paced story, it always depends on the characters themselves whether I like a character driven story,  which is exactly why I loved The Sin Eater's Daughter, the characters are complex and we get to see them at every angle, inside and out. Twylla's a strong lead, from her position and the life she leads, she's not whiny, she's not a stand-offish character you'd expect, she takes what's thrown at her with composure and grace, (simultaneously with cursing thoughts in her head, which I like)  and while I did want her to stand up for herself, you can get where she's coming from. She's scared, not just because of one wrong foot and something could snap, but she's afraid herself just as much as others. The only problem I had with the characters was that I while I understood them, I couldn't connect with them, it didn't deter me from the story, like I said, just minor issues.

And I say it's character driven, not just because the story goes with the choices the characters make, but because once it picks up around half way through, some things, when you look back on the story as a whole, clicks and makes complete sense. There is some info-dumping, but you know what? It didn't feel like info-dumping, usually my brain just doesn't take it in, it's usually the parts that are either make or break for me.  But...I wasn't bored while reading it, and I was actually interested in the world (and what a world it is, even though we don't "officially" leave the castle grounds)  whether we got a glimpse in clumps in the beginning, and then in adding to the world as you go along, so that says something. But what I was expecting, based on the title, was more to do with a Sin Eater, and while we do get parts of that, I guess I wanted more than we got, because it was so interesting to see how it worked , and the meaning and ritual behind it. 

The romance! Okay, I'm going to admit, I wasn't fond of it in the beginning,  felt a little cheesy for me,  but then I got totally sucked into it (and that sucker-punch hurt, Melinda Salisbury), and then again, the cheesy weirdness start of the romance completely made sense.

If you like character driven stories, appreciate a slower paced plot, a strong heroine and possibly psychotic characters due to inbreeding (just go with it, it's not as bad as it sounds, okay, it does at one point, but it is pointed out how deranged it actually is) and a vivid setting, The Sin Eaters Daughter is 99.9% for you. The 1% will have to find something else.

Rating: 4/5