Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Cinder and the Prince of Midnight by Susan Ee Narrator: Caitlin Davies
Series: Midnight Tales #1
Published by Tantor Audio on December 10, 2019
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Length: 4 hours, 51 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble, Apple
An orphan girl. A dark and twisted kingdom. An ongoing shadow war resulting in enslaved fairies.
This is the world of Cinder. A world where a girl like her can be sold to be human prey for a ritualistic hunt.
But on this night, even the predators might have something to fear. On this night, even a royal prince might find himself trapped by the expectations of the Dark King…and a girl like no other.
Cinder & the Prince of Midnight is the first book in a new series, Midnight Tales by Susan Ee. I enjoyed the Penryn & the End of Days series by this author and was excited to see what her take on a classic fairytale would be. Susan Ee didn’t disappoint with a new dark twist to a classic tale.
We start as Cinder is running for her life though a forest at Midnight. She is just one of many of the poor unfortunates who have been sold into the Hunt. The Hunt is exactly what it sounds like. The rich men of the land pay a fee to the twisted Dark King and get to run about in the woods chasing women, men and children. When they catch them, anything is game and they can do whatever they want with the prey.
But Cinder isn’t going to go down without a fight, once she makes it through the first hunt and realizes she will be sold into more of them by her stepmother, she decides she has to find a way to fight back and finds some help along the way.
This is a land with enslaved fairies and a few other magical creatures. A land where darkness comes earlier and earlier each day, as evil encroaches more and more. A land with many who lost loved ones to the war against the Fairies but know the war is not over just yet.
I liked how Susan Ee reimagined this tale. The bones of the original are still there and used in new and exciting ways. I especially liked how the Fairy godmother portion was changed up. The ending of this wrapped up Cinder’s story nicely overall but led me to believe that the other books in the story will explore this same Dark King and overlaying arc of the darkness that is overtaking the light.
Fantastic for lovers of fairytale re-imaginings.
Narration:
Caitlin Davies narrated all of the Penryn & the End of Days books. I’ve enjoyed her performances and this was no exception. She brought the characters to life and made it easy to get drawn into the story.
Listen to a clip: HERE
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This does sound really good. I enjoy fairy tale retellings if they are done well. Fantastic review, Robin!
They really are one of my favorite things. I like reading how different authors can spin the tales.
I always love retellings and I didn’t know about this one so you’re making me curious!!!
Seriously they are a guilt pleasure of mine. The next one in the series looks like it could be either snow white like or a twist on Little Red Riding hood.
great cover and it looks good to me too
I definitely enjoyed it.
I didn’t realize that Susan Ee had a new book coming out. I’ll definitely have to check this out!
I haven’t seen anything new from her in ages and then she had this one and the sequel is already out. I was just waiting for the audio
Yep a whole new series. I’m definitely looking forward to it all.