The Princess and the Peacock
(Birds of Fae #1)
By: C.S. Johnson
Publication Date: January 25, 2019
Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale Retelling
SYNOPSIS
The first time I fell in love with Princess Mele was when I saw her smile, and I fell in love with her the second time the moment I heard her sing.
Two memories burn within Kaipo’s heart — the death of his mother, which left him alone to die, and the arrival of Princess Mele, which gave him a new reason to live. Together with his adopted brother, Kaipo seeks out Jaya, the Fae Queen who lives on the Forbidden Mountain, in order to gain the beauty he requires to win Mele’s heart. But Jaya has other plans for the scarred outcast who climbs up her mountain …
The Princess and the Peacock is the first in Birds of Fae, a fantasy fairy tale novella series from C. S. Johnson.
PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon
REVIEW
I don’t know whether to call this novella a fairy tale retelling that mixes together elements of Aladdin with Beauty and the Beast together while changing up certain details as well. For the most part, the story here works and its especially well structured to fit the novella length. C.S. Johnson gives the characters and plot development enough depth to make it good while still having the proper pacing to make it intriguing to read. In the end, this is somewhat a story about our Peacock here, Kaipo who learns to embrace inner beauty and not view so heavily and value himself for more than his appearances. There are values of traditions, morals, loyalty, friendship, brotherhood. The positive messages portrayed here all come together nicely at the end. The characters are numerous and yet seem to serve their own purpose in the story which is always good to have.
The only issue with the story itself is the feeling that there was never much of climactic point. Things seemed to be fairly flat and predictable as the plot points would be fairly contrived and lacked a bit of natural progression. What I mean to say is that things happen, such as in the beginning, the brother and the peacock end up encountering a prince who then takes them and happens to also be going to the palace and offers them as a gift for the hand of the princess. There is also an effort to slowly reveal what makes Kaipo so in love with the princess and we soon find out. There is a whole revelation but probably because this is a fairy tale retelling of sorts, it still has a lot of similarities to other stories that makes it lack the more impactful sort of story. Its not saying that its not still pretty good because it is well-written and packs in a lot of next technical bits from character to understanding the world where its set.
Goodreads rating: 3/5 (if there was half points, this would be 3.5/5)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C. S. Johnson is the award-winning, genre-hopping author of several novels, including young adult sci-fi and fantasy adventures such as the Starlight Chronicles, the Once Upon a Princess saga, and the Divine Space Pirates trilogy. With a gift for sarcasm and an apologetic heart, she currently lives in Atlanta with her family. Find out more at http://www.csjohnson.me
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GIVEAWAY
Print copy of The Princess and the Peacock
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