The Kingdom of Little Wounds Author: Susann Cokal | Language: English | ISBN:
B00EZX2WF4 | Format: PDF
The Kingdom of Little Wounds Description
A 2014 Michael L. Printz Honor Book! A young seamstress and a royal nursemaid find themselves at the center of an epic power struggle in this stunning young-adult debut. On the eve of Princess Sophia’s wedding, the Scandinavian city of Skyggehavn prepares to fete the occasion with a sumptuous display of riches: brocade and satin and jewels, feasts of sugar fruit and sweet spiced wine. Yet beneath the veneer of celebration, a shiver of darkness creeps through the palace halls. A mysterious illness plagues the royal family, threatening the lives of the throne’s heirs, and a courtier’s wolfish hunger for the king’s favors sets a devious plot in motion. Here in the palace at Skyggehavn, things are seldom as they seem — and when a single errant prick of a needle sets off a series of events that will alter the course of history, the fates of seamstress Ava Bingen and mute nursemaid Midi Sorte become irrevocably intertwined with that of mad Queen Isabel. As they navigate a tangled web of palace intrigue, power-lust, and deception, Ava and Midi must carve out their own survival any way they can.
- File Size: 1399 KB
- Print Length: 577 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0763666947
- Publisher: Candlewick (October 8, 2013)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00EZX2WF4
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,724 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #69
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Fairy Tales & Folklore
- #69
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Fairy Tales & Folklore
I got a copy of this book to review through Netgalley(dot)com. I loved the beautiful cover and found the synopsis to be intriguing. I really disliked the first half of the book, but the second half was much more interesting and engaging.
The author self-describes this book as a fairy tale about syphilis (which I wish I would have known before I decided to read it) and that is pretty much what it is. The story is set in the 1500's and mainly follows two girls in their late teens, both are servants in the castle. Ava Bingen is a seamstress who accidentally pokes the queen with a needle during a gown repair and as such finds herself in the role of either facing death or agreeing to spy for the King's Secretary. The mute Midi Sorte is a nursemaid for the ailing children of the Queen and King. Both women struggle to survive in a dark atmosphere and find themselves closer to goings on of royalty than they ever wanted to be.
I think this is dubbed as YA but it should definitely be adult. There is a ton of deviant/violent sexual behavior including rape and self-mutilation. The two main young girls are repeatedly raped and abused. Although they are in their late teens, all the surrounding characters in the book are adults...so this is a very adult read. For example in the first 10% of the book we meet a man who has sewn jewels into his penis so he can keep his wealth with him and he enjoys the side effect of how much pain this gives the women he rapes.
The descriptions of things are gross and disturbing. I am talking about descriptions of the king's bowel movements, details about the queen's gynecological exams, and wonderfully (I am being sarcastic here) detailed descriptions about lesions, boils, and general disease.
Cokal, Susann. The Kingdom of Little Wounds.
This book received a place on Publisher's Weekly's 2013 top ten list for books for young adults. I can't imagine what the editors at PW were thinking when they rated this book on that list.
<i>The Kingdom of Little Wounds</i> is a story that follows two servants in a royal household in northern Europe. Touted by the author as a "fairy tale about syphilis," the story details the lives of the royal family as they struggle to survive in spite of having an STD, all seen through the eyes of a couple of servants.
What I liked: The cover is beautiful. The writing is excellent. I enjoyed the fairy tale qualities of this book, and I can imagine my middle school or high school self picking up this book based simply on the synopsis and the cover art.
What I didn't like: Pretty much everything else. This book is VERY graphic, to the point that I do not think it is appropriate for tweens or teens at all. I would not ever recommend this book to a teen or a child. I would barely recommend this to an adult. This is a very long book, and it's filled with graphic death scenes, sex scenes, rape, etc. In the first sixty pages alone there are three sex scenes, one of which ends in a death and one of which is forced. The first rapist we meet has jewels sewn into his penis so he can keep them on himself in case of emergency, with the added bonus that he gets to enjoy hurting those women he rapes. One of the protagonists believes that she was impregnated when her fiance ejaculated onto her stomach: she says that his "seed" must have found its way inside her to make her pregnant.
I spent most of the time while reading this book either shuddering in disgust or shaking my head in disbelief.
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