Bristles by Donna Callea Review WITH SPOILERS

Bristles by Donna Callea

Review WITH SPOILERS

4 out of 5 Stars

This was a really interesting book; it was a kind of combination between magic and dystopian societies, but it was blended together extremely well. When it started out, it was almost point by point for Cinderella. Its her and her dad, then he marries a women with two brats, and then he dies and the girl is mistreated by her step-mother, and there's a rich prince charming. Not really unique, but as the plot developed more, there were some more depth and detail.

The entire world was very diverse which was cool to read. There was a stark difference between the bleak drabness of Erba, Bristles home country, and the bright, colorful, and spiritual Fiss, her mother's native country. Erba was very technological and had a huge regard for class and proper positioning in society. Whereas Fiss is very natural and egalitarian and still functions just as well as Erba. There was something that confused me though: in Erba, there were iPad-ish devices that the students and rich used, but at the same time they didn't have cars, only coaches and they mentioned other older things. So it just seemed to be a mix of different time periods, so I couldn't get a good idea of the time period. However, I think that was supposed to be irrelevant, almost like this is all on a different planet.

A huge thing that I loved about this book was that the impossible was made possible. Several times, Bristles was put into a situation that seemed like there was no way out: I couldn't fabricate any sort of escape plan with the given background knowledge and it was almost depressing. But then, she would find a way to get past any boundaries in her way and get done what needed to be done. She is a very strong character and it was amazing to see her grow in confidence and bravery throughout the book, not to mention her skills. She starts as a little bug trapped under her mother's boot, but then grows to be much more than anyone's expectations.

Two little things left:
a) It was really easy to read. It was straightforward not extremely complicated.
b) I really love the idea of becoming one with a tree... I wish I could take a nap in a tree... I'll put that on my bucket list :) 

Thanks for reading!