Review: The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury

Title: The Sin Eater's Daughter
Author: Melinda Salisbury
Series: The Sin Eater's Daughter #1
Publication: February 5th 2015 by Scholastic Press
Genre: Young Adult ~ Fantasy
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Kobo
Rating: 2/5

Seventeen-year-old Twylla lives in the castle. But although she’s engaged to the prince, Twylla isn’t exactly a member of the court.

She’s the executioner.

As the Goddess embodied, Twylla instantly kills anyone she touches. Each month she’s taken to the prison and forced to lay her hands on those accused of treason. No one will ever love a girl with murder in her veins. Even the prince, whose royal blood supposedly makes him immune to Twylla’s fatal touch, avoids her company.

But then a new guard arrives, a boy whose easy smile belies his deadly swordsmanship. And unlike the others, he’s able to look past Twylla’s executioner robes and see the girl, not the Goddess. Yet Twylla’s been promised to the prince, and knows what happens to people who cross the queen.

However, a treasonous secret is the least of Twylla’s problems. The queen has a plan to destroy her enemies, a plan that requires a stomach-churning, unthinkable sacrifice. Will Twylla do what it takes to protect her kingdom? Or will she abandon her duty in favor of a doomed love?

I'm extremely torn about The Sin Eater's Daughter. I had this whole "meh" feeling through the first half of the book but  I thought the second half of it wasn't the worst ever because I liked some of the plot twists. But I decided on two eventually because I really didn't like it for the most part and my high dislike for the main character.

So I disliked Twylla from the beginning. She seemed like an immensely weak person to me. I really don't like reading about weak characters, especially if it's the main character. But I actually liked the whole poison in her skin, which made her unable to touch anyone, which to be honest didn't last for very long. 

I also hated her relationship with the two love interests. Yes, a love triangle... sigh! I wasn't really against either guys, per se, but I wasn't too fond of them when Twylla was involved. One the one hand we have Twylla's betrothed, prince Merek and on the other hand we have Twylla's new guard, Lief. I just think the whole thing of having a prince and a guard as love interest has been done so much and I'm really over it. It's also not hard to guess who she eventually falls in love with. 

Next thing I disliked was the evil queen. She was a good villain in general but this also felt so typical, you know. It was nothing new. But damn, was she batshit crazy! Some things in the book were pretty bizarre to me, even if it is a fantasy book. There were a lot of 'what the hell' moments for sure. And there's a betrayal towards the end that kind of killed me and cut me so deep. I still can't quite believe it. 

However, there were a few things I did like, though. I liked the whole Daunen Embodied thing, even though it was a sham. I also loved the whole pied piper like story that was sort of connected to the plot, which I can't reveal too much about... There were also quite a few plot twists that I hadn't seen coming. If anything, I liked those the most because I just love it when a book takes a direction that make me go like whaaaat. And the sin eating business was pretty interesting to me too. But other than that this book was a whole lot of disappointment.

Will I read the second book? Probably... if only to know how the story will continue. I'm too damn curious to not know. But I probably won't have high expectations for it if I do end up reading it. I just hope Twylla won't stay as weak anymore and that more exciting things will happens.

About the Author:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Melinda Salisbury lives by the sea, somewhere in the south of England. As a child she genuinely thought Roald Dahl’s Matilda was her biography, in part helped by her grandfather often mistakenly calling her Matilda, and the local library having a pretty cavalier attitude to the books she borrowed. Sadly she never manifested telekinetic powers. She likes to travel, and have adventures. She also likes medieval castles, non-medieval aquariums, Richard III, and all things Scandinavian. The Sin Eater’s Daughter is her first novel, and will be published by Scholastic in 2015. She is represented by the amazing Claire Wilson at Rogers, Coleridge and White.

She tweets. A lot.