Erin A. Craig

The Thirteenth Child

I really enjoyed a fairly large amount of this book; the story and characters were highly immersive. However: it was a bit longer than necessary, so it did drag about two-thirds in; there were several times throughout where some things didn't seem to quite make sense and just happened for the plot; and why were her ghosts not explained?? They just disappeared because she finally told Merrick?? The ending was sweet but kind of disappointing; I'm all for happy endings but so much went horrifyingly wrong for Hazel it was almost jarring for everything to be tied up so neatly for her, especially when the gods all fought over her so hard. Why did they just leave her alone in the end? Why DID the Holy First grant Merrick those extra candles for Hazel? Why is the Holy First the only god of the three (four?) we don't actually meet, nor their acolytes? (Margaux obviously doesn't count lol)

Anyway, like I said I really enjoyed most of it, so while I probably wouldn't reread this one because of the multitude of issues, I am interested to read more of Erin A. Graig's work for the imaginativeness and skill with character development.

Bethany

I really enjoyed a fairly large amount of this book; the story and characters were highly immersive. However: it was a bit longer than necessary, so it did drag about two-thirds in; there were several times throughout where some things didn't seem to quite make sense and just happened for the plot; and why were her ghosts not explained?? They just disappeared because she finally told Merrick?? The ending was sweet but kind of disappointing; I'm all for happy endings but so much went horrifyingly wrong for Hazel it was almost jarring for everything to be tied up so neatly for her, especially when the gods all fought over her so hard. Why did they just leave her alone in the end? Why DID the Holy First grant Merrick those extra candles for Hazel? Why is the Holy First the only god of the three (four?) we don't actually meet, nor their acolytes? (Margaux obviously doesn't count lol)

Anyway, like I said I really enjoyed most of it, so while I probably wouldn't reread this one because of the multitude of issues, I am interested to read more of Erin A. Graig's work for the imaginativeness and skill with character development.