Doctor & King - Camille Esther

Doctor & King

Camille Esther

The Fairyless Tales #1

SPOILER WARNING
for "as a retelling"

Where to Purchase: Amazon

Official Blurb: Not your average Sleeping Beauty retelling.
Rescuing a stranger from her poisoned sleep is one thing, but shouldering the weight of a kingdom and a hundred doubts and fears is another.

Kissing an apparently dead maiden was not what young king Gervaise had planned for the day. Nor was nursing her back to health and acting as her impromptu  protector. Forced to face and counter danger for the first time in his life, Gervaise realizes he lacks the heroism he ought to have.

As the real source of the threat against his patient comes to light, the king-turned-doctor finds himself in the sole position to thwart an ambitious new ruler. But how can he save a kingdom that doesn’t believe it needs saving? And how can a coward such as he win the day with only a handful of men?

As a Retellling: Of all fairy tales, retelling Sleeping Beauty without the magic can be the hardest to pull off. Thus, this is a pretty loose retelling. In fact, most of the "sleeping beauty" part is over within the first twenty percent of the book - a kiss alerts Gervaise to the fact that the girl he found in the woods is still alive (not as creepy as it sounds, it was a kiss on the hand and a salute of respect to a girl who had presumed to have died alone), and then he later uses a spindle as a weapon. However, there are a few larger plot elements that, if they aren't a reference to the Disney movie, including the main romance trope and the title given to the antagonist, are a pretty suspicious coincidence. They're handled in very much their own way, but the fact remains.

Arista's Thoughts: I quite enjoyed this retelling, but the hero could get on my nerves with his indecision. The main conflict of the book stemmed from some early miscommunication, which I connected the dots on early and found quite frustrating. There was also the fact that, while most of the book is first person from Gervaise's perspective, there were a couple swaps to third person from Vannie's, and some of them went back in time and I found them confusing. All said, it's a sweet tale, if a little more padded than it possibly needed, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a Christain, non-magical retelling.

Loose Retelling - Sleeping Beauty
Non-magical
Christian
Indie
Traditional European
Disney Knockoff (Again, not the worst offender, but the tropes used are 3-2 to Disney)


Alternative Covers:

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