Clouds writing poetry, bugs in desserts, manors and castles that are siblings, removing eyeballs for spying, and choosing what type of tree to be in your second life. Chokshi, thank you for reintroducing me to whimsy; it’s been too long.

If you enjoyed Chokshi’s The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, The Swan's Daughter is its much more cheerful younger sibling. They both have incredible lyrical prose, but The Swan’s Daughter has a lighthearted feeling it maintains even when exploring heavy themes.

Character's development were sacrificed slightly for world-building, but I didn’t mind it. Arris and Demzela are fleshed out enough for me, and I am a very character-driven reader.

Prince Arris is a romantic to the extreme. He waxes poetic about everything, and takes every choice incredibly seriously. But, when you're destined to die at the hands of your own wife, who wouldn’t try to look on the bright side of things? His only hope is that one of the many girls in the competition might also be looking for love, and not just the power he can give.

Demelza sees love as a trap. She watched her mom’s swan form and song be controlled by her wizard father. Demelza, in an effort to escape her father’s wicked plans, sneaks into the competition, and makes a deal with Arris: she will spy on the competitors, and find out which ones are trying to kill him, and which ones are there for love, as long as she can hide in the castle.

My only real complaint is how abrupt the ending is. Slowly, the book unravels how love can help and hurt, the vulnerability of caring, and the complexity of companionship. But, at the very end, the whole theme is speedily wrapped up with paragraphs of dialogue. It stuck out against the meandering way it had been explored the whole of the story.

Overall, a really magical and whimsical YA book. I’ll definitely revisit this when I need a pick-me-up story.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advance copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.