Review: The Sin-Eater’s Daughter – Melinda Salisbury

the sin eaters daughterI am the perfect weapon.
I kill with a single touch.

Twylla is blessed. The Gods have chosen her to marry a prince, and rule the kingdom. But the favour of the Gods has it’s price. A deadly poison infuses her skin. Those who anger the queen must die under Twylla’s fatal touch.

Only Lief, an outspoken new guard, can see past Twylla’s chilling role to the girls she truly is.

Yet in a court as dangerous and the queen’s, some truths should not be told…

Rating: 3/5

I was really expecting so much more from this book, but unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations or its beautiful cover.

Our MC, Twylla, is a bit of a sad sack, really. Yes, she’s in an impossible position, but she’s more on the mopey and misery side, as opposed to the kind of fiery, lets-make-a-plan-to-get-out-of-this-shitty-situation type. And as a reader, the latter is much more exciting to read about than the former. I do like that she undergoes some character development, albeit in like the last few pages, and admits that much of her misery is of her own making. That’s what I like to see, and I hope this Twylla-with-a-backbone dominates in the next book. Another peeve is that Twylla sees a pretty girl talking to her love interest, and immediately doesn’t like her. Because she’s pretty and talking to the love interest, natually.

Also, there’s, wait for it, a blasted love triangle in this book. I will note that it’s fairly one sided- Twylla knows where her attraction lies, but she ends up torn by matters of loyalty. But still. This accursed love triangle thing must die already.

One instance of dodgy prose was the phrase “strawberry-flavoured lust”. I don’t even know, you guys. I would say lust is more chocolate or spicy food or something. But strawberry flavoured? Naaaaah.

The pace is also achingly slow for the first half, and while the rest of the prose is pretty, I found the narrative dragging. Our MC literally gets locked up in a room for like the first third of the book, and really doesn’t do that much except mope about life.

The title ‘The Sin Eater’s Daughter’ is also a bit misleading, I thought, in that sure, she’s the daughter of a sin-eater, but it’s no longer her main role – she has forsaken it for her role as princess/executioner.

So all in all, an intriguing concept, but the execution (ha! pun!) left quite a bit to be desired. However, I am still interested in seeing where events go from here, so count me in for the sequel.

(Also, a royal line perpetuated by incest? NASTY.)

8 thoughts on “Review: The Sin-Eater’s Daughter – Melinda Salisbury

  1. Hm, a lot of people seem disappointed with this one, which seems inconceivable when you consider this pretty cover (lol, I go mad for pretty covers!). The pacing and the love triangle are popular complaints with this one… Such a pity. Love the review, though, thank you!

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    1. Ha yes, extremely pretty covers always raise expectations, but sadly the contents this time have let us down. Knowing what I do now, I would skip this one. It wasn’t even bad, just average. Thanks for the comment!

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    1. Ha. I know right? Like I mentioned in the review, if I was going to even use food to describe lust, it definitely wouldn’t be strawberries!

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  2. I gave this novel a similar rating as well, the cover is so beautiful though.. The romance was a miss for me and I didn’t like either male leads – hope your next book is a hit for you!

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    1. Ah yes, this definitely wasn’t much of a hit for me. I mean, I didn’t even loathe it that much – it left me more indifferent than anything else!

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  3. I read somewhere that she “insta-loved” twice and that was the magic word basically that made me want to shy away from this book. It’s annoying that it’s still used often in books. I mean, there are some LTs that can be written well enough, but most of them are just unnecessary >_< Not sure if I'll still give this a chance. Honestly, I'm very very hesitant still.

    Faye at The Social Potato

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    1. Definitely insta-love with the first dude, not so much with the prince/ dude #2 – more like loyalty, and I suppose, she sees him as a much better specimen after dude #1 betrays her. And in terms of plot/world-building, I’ve read better. In short, enjoyable, but you’re not missing out.

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