Review: The Sin Eater's Daughter (The Sin Eater's Daughter #1) by Melinda Salisbury

Title: The Sin Eater's Daughter
Author: Melinda Salisbury
Series: The Sin Eater's Daughter
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication date: February 24th 2015
Pages: 336 (paperback)
Source: Own it






A startling, seductive, deliciously dark debut that will shatter your definition of YA fantasy. 

Sixteen-year-old Twylla lives in the caste. But although she's engaged to the prince, no one speaks to her. No one even looks at her. Because Twylla isn't a member of the court. She's the executioner. As the goddess-embodied, Twylla kills with a single touch. So each week, she's taken to the prison and forced to lay her hands on those accused of treason. No one will ever love her. Who could care for a girl with murder in her veins? Even the prince, whose royal blood supposedly makes him immune to her touch, avoids her. But then a new guard arrives, a boy whose playful smile belies his deadly swordsmanship. And unlike the others, he's able to look past Twylla's executioner robes and see the girl, not the goddess. Yet a treasonous romance is the least of Twylla's problems. The queen has a plan to destroy her enemies - a plan that requires an unthinkable sacrifice. Will Twylla do what it takes to protect her kingdom? Or will she abandon her duty in favor of a doomed love? 

Goodreads

The Sin Eater’s Daughter had been on my TBR list since it basically came out. I mean look at the cover of this book, it’s so gorgeous! For the cover alone I already wanted to read this book. But I never had the opportunity to read it before. But the other day I came across it in a discount book store so I picked it up immediately.  

The first half of the book was a bit slow, you get some information about the characters and the kingdom but that is about it. And when you continue reading the book then you realize that the first half could have easily been skipped or at least reduced since it was just a really long introduction to the real story line. But in general I still enjoyed the book because there were enough interesting characters and events going on.

First of all the Queen, boy she is something evil. She treats everyone as her puppets and if anybody 

dares to cross her, well it does not end well end for them. One of her puppets is Twylla, she is told that she is Duanen Embodied, a reincarnation of the daughter of the gods. Her task is to follow the orders of the gods, which is according to the queen executing prisoners who have committed treason against the kingdom. Her skin is poisonous, so anyone who dares to touch her dies immediately with exception of the Queen, the King and the Prince. So she is destined to marry the prince one day. But then she gets a new bodyguard, Lief, and everything that she knows starts to change.

Twylla was nice enough, a bit naïve at times but it’s also understandable since she never got the chance to think for herself or do what she wanted since the Queen had been controlling her for years. But I loved that by the end of the book she was finally standing up for what she thought was good and for what she wanted. I grew even fond of her and I can see that she will turn into a great character. Then there is her bodyguard Lief, I don’t know what to think of him. At first I liked him; he was the only one even willing to talk to Twylla but then what he did at the end of the book. I don’t know if he can ever redeem himself in my eyes. And then of course there is Merek, the prince, he is another character that I have some mixed feelings about. I wasn’t the biggest fan of him; he’s a bit cold and standoffish and to be fair also a bit unstable probably due to his heritage. But at the same time I could also see some good in him. And I am hoping that I will see more of that side of him in the next book.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. But like I said before the real story line didn’t start until the second half of the book and it sounded really interesting. So I am sure that I will enjoy the second book a lot more than I did this one.  And I cannot wait to read the next book in this series.

Elien