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44 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Spiritless, December 23, 2004
This review is from: Spirited (Once Upon a Time) (Paperback)
It is a pity that Nancy Holder's Spirited is set in 1756, a good thirty years before Jane Austen wrote, "Beware of fainting-fits...Though at the time they may be refreshing and agreeable yet believe me they will in the end, if too often repeated and at improper seasons, prove destructive to your Constitution." Isabella Stevens, Holder's less than intrepid heroine, could benefit by such excellent advice. She spends the majority of the novel either screaming or fainting and awaiting rescue from her tall, dark, handsome, and brooding captor.
Oh dear.
Spirited attempts to be a romantic, historically set, fairy tale retelling. What it is is a tamed bodice ripper with an incongruously tasteful cover. As such, it is unlikely to appeal to anyone who picks it up expecting an insightful exploration of Beauty and the Beast or even a decent historical fantasy.
The few parallels that exist between Spirited and the fairy tale it retells are tenuous and oddly distorted. Isabella does offer to remain captive to Wusamequin's tribe in exchange for her father's freedom. However, she actually ends up staying because of a botched escape attempt in which she nearly impales herself upon a branch in the forest. If anything, Spirited uses the basic framework and fantasy of the fairy tale as an excuse for a bad romance with remarkably little awareness of its own absurdity. The fantasy elements are incorporated badly, making suspension of disbelief difficult, particularly in the ending scene, which unfolds with all the cheap flashiness of a B grade horror flick.
Spirited works no better as historical fiction, though Nancy Holder has clearly done some research into Native American names and traditions, and Isabella's initial prejudice towards the Native Americans as savages is understandable. However, the fairy tale parallel which makes Wusamequin (the quintessential noble savage) the beast is a disheartening echo of colonial ideology. Holder's portrayal, while sympathetic, is not sensitive. It is both a surprise and a relief that she does restrain from completely vilifying either settlers or Native Americans.
Any redeeming value of the novel stems from the fact that Spirited can be genuinely, laugh-out-loud, funny. Holder's overwrought prose and tendency toward melodrama make many of Isabella and Wusamequin's adventures unintentionally hilarious. Isabella and her appropriately tormented lover take themselves so seriously that they almost deserve each other. Still, it's difficult to recommend Spirited when there are so many books that succeed in what it fails, like Robin McKinley's two retellings of Beauty and the Beast and Jackie French Koller's YA colonial romance, The Primrose Way. The Once Upon a Time series is stylishly designed and occasionally charming, but Nancy Holder's Spirited is not amongst its better entries.
Ailanna
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Somewhere between OK, and good, November 9, 2004
This review is from: Spirited (Once Upon a Time) (Paperback)
Spirited is not the best beauty and the beast retelling I have read by a long shot. I far prefer both of Robin Mckinley's books, and Napoli's beast to a lesser extent. In Spirited, the threads to the fairy tale are recognisable, but few, the fantasy is at a minimum (though I still enjoyed it), and the plot (like most in the once upon a time series) is too rushed. Still, it was far better than the last in the series, Scarlet Moon by Debbie Viguie, which was so inacurate I cringe to think about it. Although I don't know much about early colonial and native american life, I saw nothing blantantly wrong with the information in Spirited.
The book does not hesitate to get into the action. It starts with Isabella riding in the woods with her father (a doctor) and some soldier escorts, on their way to bring medicine to another town. A young shaman named Wusamequin learnes of their presence through the help of a spirit guid. English soldiers killed his wife and son, so he does not hesitate to get his village to attack.
While the indians attack, Isabella stays to fight. She is a truely brave and loyal girl, who proves herself again and again through the book. Although she acts childish on occasion (she is 16) she usually acts with maturity and practicality, taking in her new station with little complaint. She is attacked, but Wusamequin saves her, although he can not tell why.
After the dust of the battle settles, Isabella and her father are taken prisoner. Once at the village they are about to be killed, but Wusamequin again intervenes, claiming they should be randsomed. Isabella offers to stay while her father takes the medicine to the sick. This is one of the few parallels to beauty and the beast. And in this case uneccesary because they make an escape attempt, which the father succeeds in. Unfortunetly, Isabella gets cut while running. Wusamequin finds her, then nurses her back to health.
After that, most of the story is about Wusamequin and Isabella's developing relationship. Near the end the plot once again reverts to beauty and the beast (this time with more success). The end seemed a little forced, with prematurely ended plot threads. Both of which could have been fixed with a longer book
All in all, this was a pretty good read, good for a quick read during the weekend.
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14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Terrible., October 29, 2004
This review is from: Spirited (Once Upon a Time) (Paperback)
I was REALLY looking forward to this book. I enjoyed several others from this series, as well as other books by Nancy Holder, and I love colonial American settings. Boy, was I disappointed. First off, the book claims to be a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but I could find only the barest hints of that story. Secondly, I found the love story completely unbelievable. I never felt that these two characters loved each other or could be happy together. And the ending came out of nowhere and was just totally bizarre and made very little sense. All in all, I can't find anything to recommend in this book.
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