Book Review: The Sin Eater's Daughter

The Sin Eater's Daughter

By: Melinda Salisbury

Published By: Scholastic Press

Publication Date: February 24, 2015

Page Count: 320

Buy it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound

Source: ARC Kindly Provided by Publisher via Edelweiss

Audience: Young Adult - Fantasy

The Sin Eater's Daughter is named Twylla. She was taken from her home at 13 because she is the Goddess Daunen Embodied. She has poison in her blood and thus can kill with one touch. The Queen uses her as the court's executioner. Only the royal family can touch her without being harmed. Since Twylla is Daunen Embodied, the Queen has betrothed her to Prince Merek. 

 Twylla always has 2 guards surrounding her. If anyone in the castle were to accidentally touch her, they would die. Her guards are specially trained to protect her so they don't ever touch her. One of her guards suddenly leaves the castle and is replaced with Lief, a man from the enemy kingdom of Tregellian. That alone is a strange occurrence. Then her favorite and most trusted guard Dorin falls ill from an innocent bee sting. The Queen decideds to keep Twylla secluded in her tower rooms since she no longer has 2 guards to protect her. Unfortunately, this allows Twylla and Lief the opportunity to become much closer than is proper. 

Merek, recently returned from Progress, wants to get to know Twylla on a more personal level. They are to be wed and he wants to build a relationship with her. Twylla feels duty bound to respond to Merek's requests, however, she finds herself developing feelings for Lief. Add to the romance issues, secrets about the court are being revealed that affect Twylla's role as Daunen Embodied. 

 The Sin Eater's Daughter sounded like an intriguing book. I loved the premise and was excited to read it. It had mystery and romance, my two favorite things in a book. But it fell a little short in other areas. 

 Twylla's character was hard to vew as a heroine. I didn't agree with many of the decisions she made. She whined a lot, prayed a lot, but didn't actually do very much. I felt she treated Merek badly when he was trying hard to be kind to her and genuinely seemed to care for her. When I the plot twists were finally revealed, I did forgive her for some of her mistakes since she wasn't functioning with full knowledge. But I still felt she should have been more proactive regarding her situation. 

 The Queen was pure evil. She is of those characters you love to hate because she's so wicked. There was not one single redeeming quality about her, except maybe that she loved her kingdom. But maybe in a twisted, maniacal sort of way. 

 I think I liked Merek the best. He seemed to be able to see through all the BS going on in the kingdom, including his mother's craziness. He loved the King, his step-father. And Merek loved Twylla. She is probably the one person in the castle who truly betrayed his trust. 

 Lief was kind of annoying from the start. The author kept mentioning that he would smile at Twylla "with his tongue showing through his teeth". Who does that? LOL It just sounded creepy to me and completely turned me off from his character. 

 The epilogue was a bit confusing as well. I wasn't sure when it took place and being so far out of context left me wondering quite a bit. It seems that this is supposed to be the first in a series so I hope the next book answers many of these questions. 

 I did enjoy hearing about The Sin Eater. Those descriptions, while sometimes nauseating, were also fascinating to read about. What an interesting custom to have created! 

 All in all, I did enjoy The Sin Eater's Daughter. It just didn't quite live up to my expectations.

Summary:

I am the perfect weapon.
I kill with a single touch.

Twylla is blessed. The Gods have chosen her to marry a prince, and rule the kingdom. But the favour of the Gods has it's price. A deadly poison infuses her skin. Those who anger the queen must die under Twylla's fatal touch.

Only Lief, an outspoken new guard, can see past Twylla's chilling role to the girls she truly is.

Yet in a court as dangerous and the queen's, some truths should not be told...