Hardcover, 272 pages
Expected publication:
October 11th 2011
by EgmontUSA
primary language
English
A modern retelling of the German fairytale “Tristan and Isolde”, Tris and Izzie is about a young witch named Izzie who is dating Mark King, the captain of the basketball team and thinks her life is going swimmingly well. Until — she makes a love potion for her best friend Brangane and then ends up taking it herself accidentally, and falling in love with Tristan, the new guy at school.
First off, let me start by saying I found this book to be a fun and creative reading experience. The cover is absolutely gorgeous. I like the fast pace of the book because you never really have a dull moment. The book has a very compelling plot that kept me wanting to turn the page and find out what would happen next. I really like how this book had a happier ending than any story I have ever read about Tristian and Isolde. I think the premiss of this book is really good and has tons of potential.
With all that beinging, I can’t say that I found it to be a retelling of any of the legends that I have read of Tristian and Isolde. Maybe the author was working off a different version then I have ever seen. The problem with saying that it is a retelling, is that most people expect it to have more of the original themes like the ones seen in the movie or more like the versions that are more well-known. I am not sure what version she was working from but the only thing that I found this book has in common with the original story is the names and that Tristian is wielding a sword.
I also, found that the love story between the secondary characters rushed and a little hard to believe. People don’t fall out of love and into it with someone else that fast. Even if they fall that fast they usually don’t mistreat the person they used to love the way Mark did in this story and still want to be friends. It was just a little to far-fetched for me to that the characters just accepted the new direction that their love lives were going with little or no fight. The story line between Tris and Izzie was a little strange at times also but I wasn’t put off by it. There just seemed to be a lot of push and pull from Izzies point in the relationship. Although, it was understandable I still found myself at some points in the book thinking did she really just do that or did that really just happen.
I think this book has the potential to be a bestseller but it needs some revising before it hits hard copy to make it more believable. Hey, if people can believe in a sparkling vampire then they can believe in a magic sword wielding boy and a girl with the power to destroy a great evil. I am very interest in reading a finished copy.
Bookrockgoddess 