A Curse So Dark And Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

Reviewed by Arthi J.
Grade 10

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer, based on the story of Beauty and the Beast, is a young adult novel which is told from the point of views of Rhen and Harper. These two people couldn’t be any more different, yet they eventually find themselves fighting together against powerful forces in the kingdom of Emberfall. Rhen is the crown prince of a kingdom that is not truly his. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to relive the autumn of his eighteenth year because of a simple mistake, Rhen thought he would easily be able to break his curse and get back to his kingdom. I mean, all he had to do was get a girl to fall in love with him. Seems easy enough, right? Well, him turning into a vicious beast hell-bent on death and destruction at the end of each season would certainly be considered as an obstacle. By now he’s given up any hope of being saved . . . that is, until a mysterious girl shows up on his doorstep.

Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. Her father abandoning their family, her mother dying of cancer, and her brother constantly treating her like a fragile vase that could break at any second because of her cerebral palsy certainly doesn’t help, but she pulls it together and manages. But one day when she tries to save a stranger on the dangerous streets of Washington DC, she’s pulled into an alternate, magical world. Now she doesn’t know where she is or if the whole thing is just a really long and strange dream. And as she spends more and more time with Prince Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understands what's really at stake. And Rhen realizes that Harper is not just another girl to play the same old tricks on. But, there is a powerful and dangerous enemy looking to destroy the kingdom of Emberfall and Harper and Rhen now know that they need to put whatever differences they have aside, including Rhen’s curse, to save the people of his kingdom from utter ruin.

I truly loved reading A Curse So Dark and Lonely, and I would definitely suggest reading the sequel, A Heart so Fierce and Broken, after to receive some much wanted answers to the first novel’s cliffhanger. I admit, the plot moved kinda slow in the beginning, but the build-up made the ending absolutely worth it and I totally didn’t see it coming. I love how almost each and every character has a backstory and a reason for being a part of the story and this is one of the many reasons why the plot of this novel was very well developed and unlike anything I have ever read before.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking to temporarily leave behind our boring reality and escape to a magical and surreal world like no other. Kemmerer does a fantastic job in her world-building, yet another reason why I enjoyed this novel so much. It truly felt like I was right there in Emberfall besides Harper and Rhen as they fought together to try and save his kingdom and its people. Overall, this was a very sweet and mystical book to read and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.