#the thirteenth child

[elliepassmore]

The Thirteenth Child review

4/5 stars Recommended if you like: Gothic settings, fantasy, fairytale retellings, healer + death

Big thanks to Netgalley, Delacorte, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was another one of my most anticipated releases this year and once again it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I'm not familiar with the fairytale it's based on, so perhaps it is following that more closely, but this book lacks the creepiness I've come to expect and love from Craig's books. Between one of the characters being a god of death, the plague sweeping the kingdom, and the ghosts Hazel sees, you would expect this to be on par with House of Salt and Sorrows in terms of spookiness...but it wasn't, nor did it have the less creepy but still tension-filled vibes of House of Roots and Ruin.

The story follows Hazel from when she quickens in her mother's stomach to when she is 18 and being called on by the king. While there's a decent mix of good and bad things happening to her throughout her life, I felt a distinct lack of forward moving tension throughout a lot of the book. When she's a kid, there's a lot of rich tension between how she's treated and the fact she's been promised to the god of death, Merrick. And then there's ~some~ tension after she begins training as a healer, but it doesn't feel active, it feels passive. The plague that's causing its victims to weep gold from their skin and eyes should be creepy and have lots of tension for Hazel....but she solves it almost immediately and then there's kind of just a lot of nothing going on. Even when Hazel is making things happen, she is very much a reactionary character. Curiosity kept me turning the page, but mostly from a "how is there still 40% of the book left" perspective.

All that being said, I did like Hazel as a character and I thought the concept was interesting (the concept, of course, is Death's goddaughter and not the mysterious plague). Merrick cares deeply for Hazel, but he's also a god and doesn't totally understand how humans think or work. Of course twelve years is a long time to a human...but to immortal Merrick it's nothing, and he doesn't understand why Hazel is miffed by his absence. Likewise, the idea that Death is training his goddaughter to be a healer is an interesting twist, made even more interesting by the flip side of that coin.

We do get to learn a lot about Hazel as she grows and I enjoyed following her as a character. In a way, I actually think this book would've worked a lot better if it really had been following Hazel throughout life, or at least farther through life than it did. Nettle & Bone is my favorite T. Kingfisher book and has a similar plot structure of following one character into adulthood, then having the bulk of the tension + plot occur, and imo it works very well. That aside, Hazel has a lot going on in her life and is no stranger to tragedy. She's able to keep a level head while also being compassionate to those she's caring for.

Leo is an infuriating prince...but he's also someone willing to listen and change. As snarky as he is, it's clear that he's also lost and at least some of his acting out is a result of that. When Hazel rightly calls him out (on more than one occasion), he actually reflects on his words and actions, and then takes steps accordingly. While I did think they knew each other too little for a romance to be feasible, I did think the budding romance between them was cute and I was rooting for them.

Hazel also grows close with Leo's two sisters, Bellatrice and Euphemia, though this largely happens off page. I would've liked to see more of this development because while Euphemia is a child and thus easy to like, Bellatrice is more closed off and I have a hard time believing she'd so easily make friends with Hazel. But apparently the two end up close enough to read each other's expressions with ease and for Bellatrice to tell Hazel her deepest secret.

There's a lot of scheming going on behind the scenes as well and while I guessed some of it, some of it still left me surprised. In that vein, I have to say that there's a lot of worldbuilding in this book, but Craig does it in such a way that it never feels infodump-y. There's quite a bit about the gods of the realm (obviously) but there's also some interesting information about medicine from Hazel's studies as well as about the politics of the country, thanks to Hazel treating the king. The way it's written definitely makes the world feel more expansive than just what's going on with Hazel and the rest of the country. I also liked the tidbits we saw of the gods and the various religious sects that follow them.

Overall, not my favorite Craig book and definitely not horror. I did enjoy the characters and particularly seeing how Hazel grew up. While there were some things I had issue with in this book, I still plan on reading A Land So Wide and Lenore's book.

[siriuslygrimm]

Healing Hazard

#BOOKREVIEW - Healing Hazard - #TheThirteenthChild #blog

Entrusted to the care of a god, the future of a particular thirteenth child is to be a great healer in court but there will untold costs in Erin A. Craig’s The Thirteenth Child. Born the thirteenth child to a family already struggling to make ends meet, Hazel was promised by her parents to the god the Dreaded End and she spends her childhood mostly forgotten and waiting for the god to come claim…

[beckysbook5]

The Thirteenth Child by Erin A. Craig - ARC Review!

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…

[yuarru]

[rtfics]

My own black kitty, Kismet.

[paternostergays]

starting to sense a pattern here

[terapsina]

I'm a bit late to the party with this particular epiphany but you know what's really fucked up? The Timeless Child reveal retroactively means that the Time Lords weren't moved by sentiment to save the Doctor on Trenzalore, - the Doctor was gonna regenerate anyway - they sent that sparkly, sparkly regeneration energy to cover their tracks.

[zagreuses-toast]

Source/source

[ID: a set of gifs from Wild Blue Yonder and from Revolution of the daleks, combining two conversations. A gif of Donna saying "oh, ok. But what really happened?. A gif of the thirteen saying "ah, it's been a rough few decades". A gif of fourteen saying "a lot". A gif of Jack Harness asking "you're Ok now, yeah". A gif of Donna saying "you ok?". A gif of thirteen hesitating and looking down at the controls tiredly. A gif of thirteen looking up and saying "oh, I guess we'll find out". A gif of fourteen saying "I will be". End ID]

[thoscheienjoyer]

Am I the only one who hated the timeless child reveal and thought it made no sense? If they needed a reason for the Master to blow up Gallifrey they had plenty:

The Doctor and the Master were both heavily bullied to the point the Master almost died and the Doctor had to kill the bully to save him because he was being drowned

The Master was locked in a room for who knows how long intentionally as a punishment

The Master was taken from his family as a child to look into something that basically gave him schizophrenia

The Master was told to his face he's "diseased" (End of Time) and he's "the worst thing to come out" (The Five Doctors)

He has constantly been the timelord's pawn, giving him the drums was an intentional decision

It's implied he was tortured for his crimes after being trapped on Gallifrey when he sacrificed himself for the 10th doctor in End of Time

I would have LOVED if the Master blew up Gallifrey simply because he thought they deserved it after how they treated him and the Doctor both. What could make him do this could just be the fact he's disgusted by Missy's actions in trying to be better and feels like he has to do the worst thing he can possibly think of and that's what comes to mind. He'd try to convince the Doctor he's right "Remember how they didn't help us? How they took us and made us see things no child should? How we never got our own lives? That'll never happen to anyone ever again now" unhinged speech

Or "With them gone we are truly the last of the time lords, we have a right to the universe more than anyone now and it's ours to shape. Conquer with me and be a just ruler if you're so concerned"

[ohmerricat]

it really does all go back to ARE YOU MY MUMMY. meme phrase earworm do what you want with it, but through the empty child/the doctor dances, steven moffat created a microcosm of every theme and character motif explored in all of subsequent nuwho, everything the show would become.the original. the prototype. nothing will ever be that two parter nothing will ever measure up to it. defined the show. instant KO

[humanstein]

I can't help but draw a connection between The Dot deciding the people of Finetime needed to die and The Master learning about the Timeless Child from the Matrix and deciding that the people of Gallifrey needed to die.

Domed cities full of the safe and entitled being executed systematically.

[wykart]

"Hiding behind a visual projection shield. And this one shows us what we instinctively want to protect, as a defense."

This parallel from 'The Power of the Doctor' knocked me on my ass but then I didn't finish this off for like a year, so...here it is! It was nice to get back to my roots (the Squiggles).

[jestinjoculators]

My spooky comics so far, quickly developing a problem

[idkaguyorsomething]

Some of these might get along better than their pairings in canon. Others might be responsible for a nuclear reactor meltdown. ¡Pick a doctor/companion matchup that never happened in the show and explain your reasoning in the tags!

[expectiations]

River: I love murder mysteries the Doctor, trying to impress her: I've been a suspect in four murder cases River: the Doctor: this year River: the Doctor: i forgot to keep track last year

[aeryartsco]

Some pink pixel horror icon stickers I made! Which one is your favorite? (Mine are Ghost Face and Michael Myers) 🌸💗

I will have these up as keychains and stickers on my Etsy in the next couple weeks so you can follow my ig aeryart to keep updated!