It’s never too late to live a new life.
We last caught up with the Sisters Grimm when they were 21. While the first two books in the trilogy were everyone’s story, this one was mostly Goldie’s. And Luna’s. Goldie has an almost ten year old daughter now and she’s more powerful than any other sister.
I realise now that I’m not just a Grimm; not just a sister but a soldier too.
Goldie runs a women’s shelter with Teddy, her brother. I was surprised that Teddy worked there and was involved in the intake process. I also wasn’t always the hugest fan of the way the women at the shelter were spoken of.
Still, she can’t help but think of the women at the shelter and how much better their lives would’ve been if only they’d been taught to stand up for themselves earlier.
This reads to me like we’re blaming the victim and making them responsible for the behaviour of the perpetrator, and ignoring the ways they have resisted the violence perpetrated against them.
I’m realising more and more that while I’m all for justice and fairness, I’m not into vengeance so one element of the story didn’t sit well with me.
It is a story of love and loss and something strange and terrible to come – but exactly what isn’t clear.
This series is about sisterhood. It’s taking back your power, elemental magic and there’s an underground library! Why have I not known there’s a place where 900 years of magical literature live before now? I need to spend the next year or decade exploring it.
Alastair Meikle has illustrated the entire series and I always look forward to choosing a favourite. In this book it was the one that accompanies Luna’s story, The Good Girl.
In a pinch, you could read this book as a standalone. To get the most out of it, though, and to understand the characters’ individual backgrounds and their shared bond, I’d recommend reading them in order.
‘Soon you’ll be braver and stronger than you’ve ever believed possible.’
Content warnings include domestic abuse, self harm, sexual assault and suicidal ideation.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bantam Press, an imprint of Transworld Publishers, Penguin Random House UK, for the opportunity to read this book.
Once Upon a Blurb
Born of bright-white wishing and black-edged desire, the Grimm girls each command a single element and wield it with great power. But a child born of a Grimm and a fallen star will have command over every element … and wield infinite power.
At twenty-one, Goldie gave birth to a daughter by her dead lover. Now Goldie is nearly thirty and Luna almost ten. Conceived in the realm between life and death, Luna is part star-soldier, part Grimm and now those opposing forces are waging war within her.
Terrified of losing her increasingly volatile child, Goldie goes on the run. Then an act of violence forces her to return and Luna is taken into care. Mother and child can still meet – in the haunted otherworld that is Everwhere.
Desperate to reclaim her daughter, Goldie must also confront whatever is corrupting Everwhere. For fresh leaves are falling, and Grimm girls are dying. Fearing the return of her father, Goldie knows she cannot succeed alone and summons her sisters.
But can the bonds of sisterhood bear the terrible price that will be paid …
Schizanthus Nerd 