Summary:
Lilac Trécesson is a prisoner in her parents’ castle after a most wicked secret was revealed on the eve of her fifteenth birthday. Years later, her Accession looms upon her father’s decision to abdicate, and between the riotous townsfolk and scheming noble bent on snatching her throne, she prepares for the worst… Until a letter arrives from The Witch of Lupine Grotto, containing a curious offer to banish her curse forever.
She begrudgingly trades her coronet for a cloak and ventures into the forest Brocéliande, only to find herself cornered by a bloodthirsty barkeep who demands her help in exchange for protection against the even deadlier forces of the woods.
With only the protection of her inherited dagger—and unsolicited help of the sardonic stranger who inserts himself on her quest—Lilac must find the impious enchantress and return in time to claim her crown. Pity the fool to underestimate the girl with subpar blade skills but the spite to make up for it.
This is the tale of a cursed princess,
A crestfallen killer,
The town that wants them to burn,
And the witch who can save them both.
Review:
Disenchanted is a dark New Adult historical romantasy set in the legendary Brocéliande Forest in Brittany, France. This story was originally traditionally published as a Young Adult novel but has since been rewritten and self-published by Ms. Sugalski to age up the main character and deepen the world-building to completely tell the tale intended. Daemons (a holistic term for vampires, faeries, witches, shapeshifters, korrigans, etc.) call the forest home and when the head vampire is killed by a scheming noble of the Trécesson court, our young princess is drawn into a dark journey of growth and acceptance.
Our heroine, Lilac Trécesson is an interesting concoction of spite, stubbornness, resourcefulness, and helplessness. This princess enjoys a good pastry, pleasuring the guards her father is about to relieve of duty, and devouring all the ‘true’ information about the creatures in Brocéliande; all because she’s sequestered in her parents’ castle due to her ability to speak the Daemon-tongue. As the protagonist of this story, I found Lilac to be both endearing and infuriating in equal measure, and for me, that’s a sign of a great protagonist. Her stubbornness gets in her way more often than not, and yet, she always finds a way to come out on top. I love to see characters fail but not give up. She’s single-minded in her goal but also not afraid to take the challenges thrown at her with grace, well grace for her, as she does fall down quite a bit, you know, being a princess who hasn’t left the castle in five years and all.
We are introduced to a number of fantastical characters, all mysterious as the Brocéliande itself, rendering all her books’ ‘true’ information about said creatures completely and utterly false, many to humorous effect. There is a really fun tavern scene with vampires feeding, faeries gyrating, witches and warlocks, you name it. And each fantasy species is as fun and tropey as hell, but I loved all of it. Some were scary, like the vampire coven and the faerie king court; some were whimsy, like the hidden korrigan tribe; while the actual witch was very transactional and somewhat of a ho-hum interaction after all the build up (which I found humorous because I expected something far more profound and instead got fireballs iykyk). It’s at the tavern we meet a barkeep named Garin, our heroine’s future companion on her journey. Garin plays a massive role, but spoilers. Let’s just say, he is connected to the plot of the scheming noble. But I will say Garin is NOT one to mess with, as the man will spill blood at the drop of a coin. Oh, and the story kicks off after Lilac pees on some sleeping ogres, so that’s pretty funny!
Being a romantasy and all, Lilac and Garin’s romance has an interesting, let’s call it a zigzagging path. They meet, he’s charming and she decides she wants to bang him because she needs to, then something spoilery happens, so she runs away (tripping and falling, because, stubborn princess). Then they meet up again because of plot (f*ck off Sinclair!) and they spend much of the novel as enemies before finally becoming lovers (by that time I was pretty much on the ‘get it over with already’ train, too many damn teases). These two bicker and threaten each other (seriously, Garin threatens death alllllll the time) pretty much every single page but the way Ms. Sugalski writes Lilac’s perspective, their eventual coming together never felt wrong. At least from Lilac’s side, Garin, I sometimes wondered why he falls for Lilac. I mean, I get his reasoning but at times questioned said reasons due to his backstory. Either way, by the time they finally consummated their relationship (in a very graphic, touching scene that also involved a vibrating knife hehe), it was clear the story was always about them, Lilac’s quest the backdrop. Now, I didn’t read the YA version, but I can’t imagine the story working as well as it did romance-wise as YA, it needed a more mature hand (ahem) for the story truly pop.
The writing is quite solid, the flow never truly lagging once the story gets off and running. I will say that the second chapter (after Lilac brilliantly escapes into the forest) is quite heavy on the worldbuilding and her backstory of why she was kept in the castle. I almost wish that lore was slowly dropped in conversations later on as it would have been more mystery and appropriate when she and Garin are truly starting to get to know each other. The mood and tone hit the sort of gothic vibe of the historical time, and there is a dark undertone to all the scenes revolving around the vampire coven. The blood flows continuously and there is enough action to balance out the personal intimacy between the lovebirds. And because the meeting with the witch is fairly close to the climax, I wasn’t exactly sure where the story was headed, but I enjoyed the twisting journey far more that way. There were also a couple good betrayals/reveals, so that was fun.
I found Disenchanted to be a bloody fun romp through a fantastical forest of fae folk, one that had excellent character growth for our plucky princess. A sequel, Disillusioned, is coming out this fall and I look forward to seeing where Lilac and Garin go next!