Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore
Genre: YA Fantasy
Blurb (on back of book):
The biggest lie of all is the story you think you already know.
The del Cisne girls have never just been sisters; they’re also rivals, Blanca as obedient and graceful as Roja is vicious and manipulative. They know that, because of a generations-old spell, their family is bound to a bevy of swans deep in the woods. They know that, one day, the swans will pull them into a dangerous game that will leave one of them a girl, and trap the other in the body of a swan.
But when two local boys become drawn into the game, the swans’ spell intertwines with the strange and unpredictable magic lacing the woods, and all four of their fates depend on facing truths that could either save or destroy them. Blanca & Roja is the captivating story of sisters, friendship, love, hatred, and the price we pay to protect our hearts.
MY OPINION: ***
Summer Reading Challenge #4: A book with a pretty cover
I don’t quite know how to explain my feelings about this book. To clarify, this is an adaptation of Snow White and Rose Red, a fairy tale that is less well known than Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, I’m guessing.
PLOT
Basically, there is a curse put on the Del Cissna family by a group of swans dating back generations ago because of some mistake made by a foolish woman. There are destined to be two sisters per every generation and when both of them reach the ripe old age of fifteen, one of them, or at least one of them, will be turned into a swan.
CHARACTERS
Blanca: She’s modeled after Snow White and she’s pure and good and unselfish. Her entire life is dedicated to acting like her less-than-kind sister Roja so that the swans may perhaps mix them up. They have been known to take the “bad” sister but Blanca doesn’t want her sister to be taken away. However, she learns of a secret: whoever can win a blue eyed boy will not become a swan.
Roja: She’s rough and selfish and crude, though personally I didn’t find her to be like that at all. She was just kind of a normal person who acted the way that I would expect her to act if someone told her her whole like that she was destined to be the swan. However, her true evil side comes out when she learns of the secret that Blanca is keeping from her, though it’s all a huge and unsatisfying misunderstanding.
Page: Page is a transgender boy who doesn’t care about pronouns and is fine with being called “she/her” especially by Blanca. There’s this whole thing in the book where the forest TURNS you into something else, such as the air or a tree or, in Page’s case, a cygnet. However, when she turns back, she finds Blanca again, as they have met before, and they have this strong connection. I loved their romance especially because it was sweet and blossoming and full of confusion and love and I thought that their relationship developed nicely.
Yearling: He’s the boy with the blue eyes that Blanca should be trying to get to fall in love with her. However, Roja learns of the plan and decides to get Yearling herself. However, they learn that they actually do like each other in that way and fall in love with each other. Yearling was once a bear, hence his name. His real name is Barclay Holt and he’s a part of a rich and well known family. His cousin, Liam Holt, is the main source of all of his problems.
WRITING
The writing is so pretty that sometimes I thought it was overly descriptive and long. I would have appreciated a lot more dialogue and thoughts rather than pretty metaphors and drawn-out paragraphs of what something looked like. However, I know that imagery is important and world-building is essential. I am just used to the contemporary style of writing where dialogue is more prevalent throughout the book.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The reason why I didn’t rate this five or at least four stars is because I found the whole thing very... confusing. I understood the story but the whole fantasy elements behind it weren’t as well-described as they could be. I didn’t understand for quite some time that they could literally change into nature. I didn’t completely understand the ending of the story. What caused the swans to break the curse themselves? And it was Yearling’s story that made the least sense to me. His cousin and him and his family were all quite sad stories but I didn’t understand how it was all concluded.
I would recommend this book to readers looking for a very modern and fantastical retelling of a fairy tale that is less known.
Main Character: Blanca, Roja, Yearling, Page
Sidekick(s): Grandma Tess, Lynn, parents, etc
Villain(s): Swans, Liam, etc
Fantasy Elements: All of this was based on an imaginary world with imaginary abilities and characters and plot.
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