Review: The Sisters Grimm by Menna van Praag

CW for book: sex, death, drowning

The Sisters Grimm is a mildly poetic, magical, and original tale about the daughters of Wihelm Grimm. This book is a young adult fantasy with supernatural elements, and was honestly super vivid and I was absorbed from the get-go. The story follows four of the sisters (Bea, Liyana, Scarlet, and Goldie) as well as Leo (a main love interest)- with each having a perspective being told as the countdown to meeting Grimm went on (so 5 different POVs). I enjoyed reading from each perspective, and this was cleverly done, however multiple POVs are obviously subject to who the reader is!

Personally, I absolutely adored the way the story has flashbacks from the past interwoven with the present day in lead up to the countdown to the sisters meeting their father. It made me understand each sister's power a lot more clearly, as it took me a while to realise that each sister's power was related to the elements- water, earth, fire, and air. The world-building from this book is superbly descriptive and honestly drew me into this book a lot more than I originally thought it would, so I'm very glad of that. The present world has the sisters often facing bleak futures and otherwise mysterious events that are caused by their powers- that they have forgotten about since they were 13, when they were locked out of this strange dream-like world called Everywhere. 

Everywhere is the magical world where the sisters once met when then were 7 (a decade from the present day perspectives) where the girls learned about their powers and were connected in a way that was unique to them- even though they all came from different walks and ways of life, I loved learning about the differences in each sister and how difficult life can be. In the present day, the sisters have forgotten that each other exist, and start to notice their powers come to life, and they become confused- until Liyanna starts having dreams and 'hears' parts of conversations from the other girls and seeks out one of them attempt to solve what was going on- I actually squealed when this happened because they're all pretty clueless about each other for the majority of the book. 

Meanwhile, Leo, the boy who features heavily in this book is shown to have a secret that he cannot afford to tell: being one of the guards that has to fight the Grimm girls. He locks onto Goldie after meeting her at a hotel, and starts to sidle up to her in order to get close to her an keep and eye out- a kind of keeping your friends close and enemies closer situation, which I was definitely here for! I love how Goldie kept Leo a secret from the others for a period of time, but I was actually unsure if this was because she had a hidden fear of losing him or not. 

Overall, I felt like this book was all about giving power to womanhood and being a female. This book was so enchantingly written, and I wish there would be a second book to continue on the story, but we'll have to wait and see what happens in the future! This book would be perfect for those who enjoyed Morgenstern's Night Circus or Starless Sea, but want a slightly darker twist!

My rating: 4.5/5

Disclaimer: This review is also published on The Nerd Daily here!