A Little Desert Apartment

Dark Destiny: The Sleeping Beauty Story Your Mother Never Told You by Melody Lowe


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Have you ever wondered how the Evil Queen, Evil King, Wicked Stepmother, etc become evil or what they were like when they were young? That's the road “Dark Destiny” takes in the story about the Queen of Darkness in Sleeping Beauty.



Princess Elspeth of Rookskrieg, is betrothed to Prince Malcolm of Talonsbay. However, Malcolm wants nothing to do with Elspeth. He finds her ugly and sullen. She wants nothing to do with Malcolm either. She would rather join her sister, Lillith, training in magic with the fairies in Elfhame. However, her “destiny” is to marry Malcolm and join the realms of Rookskrieg and Talonsbay.



On the night of Elspeth's sister Isabelle's wedding to Byron, Malcolm humiliates Elspeth in front of the kingdom and she is rescued by a stranger, Jethart, who is actually the Dark King.



Jethart visits Elspeth nightly and they fall in love, however she is betrothed. On the day of her wedding Jethart rescues her from being united with Malcolm and finds happiness with Jethart at Dubh Rathgart, or the Black Fortress. He teaches her the magic she has longed for and become powerful together. Meanwhile, Malcolm is growing in his hatred and ends up battling Jethart and kills him. Leaving Elspeth to brew her anger as she is alone with their son, Ossian.



Basically, the anger at having all her happiness being taken away from her grows Elspeth into the infamous Dark Queen. Who wants to destroy Malcolm and his happiness.



I thought the story was ok. I felt it was hurried and many other areas could be built upon. I feel that the author touched on the aspects of magic, darkness, battle, love and beauty. All things important to fairy tales, fantasy and the like. I was hoping for a little more dialogue, character building, and more action. However, with this being a short read, it was written well enough to get the point of the story across and created enough of a visual to make this an enjoyable. I certainly felt Elspeth's anger and pain from losing her love and enjoyed watching Ossian grow into a powerful magician. Also Prince Roderick's (King Malcom's son) also is a character to watch out for is the author decides to continue this story. I imagine him growing into a wonderful king, unlike his evil father. I am saddened by Ossian.



I definitely recommend this book to preteens and teens. This was my first experience with reading a retelling of a fairy tale and definitely won't be my last!

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