1 Followers
7 Following
thebadapple

Bad Apple Books

Gamer, reader, cat mommy, what's not to love?

The Sin Eater’s Daughter (Melinda Salisbury)

— feeling alien

 

I picked this little gem up on Audible during their two for one sale last month, sometimes I am that person who buys a book based on the cover. But I can’t help myself when almost every book I find has an eye-catchingly awesome cover. Sometimes I’m disappointed, sometimes I fall in love with the book and have to force myself to read the next one on the list. But this book doesn’t really fit into either category.

Twylla is a sixteen year old goddess embodied killer, nothing out of the norm there. She kills with a single touch and is forced to do so by the Queen of Lormere. Every month she drinks the poison that is suppose to be proof that she is Daunen Embodied, thus making her skin poisonous to anyone that she touches…other than members of the royal family.

 

“In the stories of old, a hero is the one who sweeps in with a drawn sword and noble face, to kill the Dragon and free the princess. In the stories of old it never seems to dawn on the princess that she should be careful not to put herself at mercy of those who would do her ill in the first place. I don’t live in the stories of old.”

 

Honestly, I felt bad for this girl. She spends the first twelve years of her life with her mother, the Sin Eater. Her mother goes to the families that have lost a loved one (usually those who can afford to pay her) and eats a meal on top of their casket while the family sits around her and grieves. It’s suppose to be some way of her taking in the sins of the departed and allowing them to move on with a clean slate. I did find the bits of information on sin eating to be pretty interesting, it’s much more than what I thought it would be. Anyway, at twelve, Twylla leaves her mother and sister to go serve the royal family of Lormere as their executioner and wait out her time to marry Prince Merek. So for the past four years she has had no contact with her family and just spends her time praying, sewing and killing people. She was being manipulated and brainwashed by everyone she knew, including her husband to be.

 

Everything changes for Twylla when her guard falls ill to a bee sting and she is left in the care of her second, and newest guard, Lief. She has been weary of him from the start, he doesn’t seem to have any fear of her terrible gift and once he is alone with her he gets even more comfortable. For Twylla, he opens a door to adventure, honesty, love and all the strings attached.

 

I didn’t dislike this book, the writing was nice and I was too busy feeling bad for the main character to hate her…though I hated everyone else, that’s new. I will probably read the rest of the series because I want to know who was knocking on her door! Also, the story was decent, it was one I hadn’t read before and I want to know what happens to Twylla, Merek and Lief.