It becomes increasingly difficult to find characters whom you hope will succeed. The magic system has no underlying structure. The descriptions are vivid, and there are some original ideas compared to other urban fantasy novels. The plot of The Autumn Castle is slow, and dwells heavily on the internal lives of the characters, rather than what they do. In writing this review, I’m intensely aware of this dynamic tension, so if you feel I’ve strayed one way or the other, please comment. The problem, when you are reviewing, is that you’d like to be fair to your readers, and that means being publicly disappointed by the part of the book which did not work for you. You’d like, in short, to give them positive reviews. There’s a tension when reviewing authors who are alive and live relatively close to you. This review contains significant spoilers, which begin after the Plot heading. I love this story because it goes back to the original dark roots of fairytales, with all the passion and horror that are often taken out of modern day fairytales to make them more acceptable and 'child friendly.' This book has everything I am looking for in a book, and more! It blew me away the first time I read it, and I keep coming back to read it again! There is also lush descriptive prose throughout the book, not a dull sentence to be found. And as she insinuates herself into Christine's life, events begin to unravel, along with a sinister threat that none of them are aware of. Mayfridh is now the queen of fairies, but she is lonely, and wants to reconnect with Christine. Jude is a painter spending a year in the building of bizarre art lover Mandy Z.Ĭhristine is haunted by tragedy: by the death of her parents in a hit and run that also left her with chronic pain, and by a half forgotten childhood memory that begins to come back to her of her childhood friend May, who disappeared.
Christine, an ordinary girl with whom the reader can relate, is staying in Berlin with her boyfriend, Jude.
Taking all the elements that make us love fairytales, the darkness, the death, wicked witches, fairies, forbidden love, Kim Wilkins weaves a magical tale set in modern day Berlin. Why? Because she is the author of the most amazing dark, twisted adult fairytale I have ever read. Kim Wilkins makes me proud to be an Australian.
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