“I don’t wish for people to die. It’s just…death is a part of the journey, isn’t it? A balance. If you have a beginning — birth — you must have an ending – me.”
This retelling of Grimm’s Godfather Death is haunting in the best way.
Hazel, the thirteenth child in her negligent family, becomes the goddaughter of Death. She was so unloved and neglected, but such a wonderful character with so much depth.
Craig’s writing is incredible. The pacing felt just right, and every scene felt imperitive, at least by the ending. I couldn’t put it down and read this book in a day, nearly in one sitting. I felt some One Dark Window vibes reading it.
The first book I read by Erin A. Craig was Small Favors, and it’s stuck with me after almost three years. I expect The Thirteenth Child to do the same.
If you like YA fantasy, single POV, gothic dark fairytale retellings with morally gray characters, you may like this one.
“Because no matter how big and overwhelming the present felt, no matter how my heart ached or rallied or sank again, no matter how I tried to wish myself out of the moment I was in, I knew that was all it was. A moment. One tiny moment in a life destined to have far too many.”
from goodreads:
This is the story of Hazel, a young healer navigating a ruthless court to save the life of the king, grappling with a pantheon of gods with questionable agendas as she fights for agency and true love in her own life as the goddaughter of none other than Death himself.
All gifts come with a price.
Hazel Trépas has always known she wasn’t like the rest of her siblings. A thirteenth child, promised away to one of the gods, she spends her childhood waiting for her godfather—Merrick, the Dreaded End—to arrive.
When he does, he lays out exactly how he’s planned Hazel’s future. She will become a great healer, known throughout the kingdom for her precision and skill. To aid her endeavors, Merrick blesses Hazel with a gift, the ability to instantly deduce the exact cure needed to treat the sick.
But all gifts come with a price. Hazel can see when Death has claimed a patient—when all hope is gone—and is tasked to end their suffering, permanently. Haunted by the ghosts of those she’s killed, Hazel longs to run. But destiny brings her to the royal court, where she meets Leo, a rakish prince with a disdain for everything and everyone. And it’s where Hazel faces her biggest dilemma yet—to save the life of a king marked to die. Hazel knows what she is meant to do and knows what her heart is urging her toward, but what will happen if she goes against the will of Death?
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