Sand isn't sure how he ended up waking up in the forgotten castle hidden behind thorns. When he sees the thorns won't let him leave, he does the only thing he can think of and starts repairing all the broken parts of the castle. When he finds the long lost heiress, Perrotte, awakened after many years of sleep, they must work together to find a way to heal the kingdom.
A wonderful middle grade retelling of Sleeping Beauty, THE CASTLE BEHIND THORNS by Merrie Haskell is full of charm and utter enchantment. Sand is such an adorable main character, and I love how he has such a passion for blacksmithing it and uses it to help the castle. The dialogue between him and Perrotte is funny, sweet, and makes for easily imagined conversations. Perrotte and Sand both have so much growth to undergo, and it's pure joy to see them develop together as they try to get out of the castle.
Though most of the story takes place only in the castle, the detail in the descriptions of it are beautiful. It's no trouble picturing a glorious broken down castle that could turn into something spectacular again with the help of Perrotte and Sand. The flashbacks of Perrotte's life round it out with visions of what life there used to be like before she died/went to sleep. Though I would have liked to have learned more about her stepmother, the vision Haskell creates of their relationship feels realistic and believable.
Overall, THE CASTLE BEHIND THORNS is an adorable read that would look very comfortable among shelves that have Gail Carson Levine, Karen Foxlee, and Chris Colfer. It's officially a favorite middle grade of mine now, and I can't wait to add more Merrie Haskell to my to-read shelves.
Stories don't know everything.
When Sand wakes up alone in a long-abandoned castle, he has
no idea how he got there. The stories all said the place was
ruined by an earthquake, and Sand did not expect to find
everything inside torn in half or smashed to bits. Nothing
lives here and nothing grows, except the vicious, thorny
bramble that holds Sand prisoner. Why wasn't this in the
stories?
To survive, Sand does what he knows bestβhe fires up the
castle's forge to mend what he needs. But the things he
fixes work somehow better than they ought to. Is there magic
in the mending? Or have the saints who once guarded this
place returned?
When Sand finds the castle's lost heir, Perrotte, they begin
to untwine the dark secrets that caused the destruction.
Putting together the piecesβof stone and iron, and of a
broken lifeβis harder than Sand ever imagined, but it's the
only way to regain their freedom.
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