I know I’m super late, but I missed out on a lot of young adult books when they were actually published. I didn’t know this genre existed back in – let’s say – 2012. This was the time when so many of my beloved series and books got published, and Marissa Meyer’s “The Lunar Chronicles” were amongst them. Now, nearly fifteen years later, it’s time for the newest book by the queen of fairytale retellings, The House Saphir. The Lunar Chronicles is one of my all time favorite series now, but this author’s other fairytale retellings such as Heartless and Gilded didn’t do the trick for me. Now it’s time for a retelling of the fairytale of Bluebeard. Was this book able to captivate me once again? I didn’t have many expectations though as I’m rapidly and steadily outgrowing YA, but perhaps I could be surprised once again.

This book follows Mallory, who struggles to meet ends every single month. In order to provide a living for herself and her sister Anais, she organizes tours at the legendary House Saphir. Her tours contain a pinch of magic, because the whole town should believe she is a witch. Which is not exactly untrue however, she descents from a family of witches. Unfortunately, she doesn’t possess magic like her ancestors do and therefore is considered a fraud. But that doesn’t stop Armand, the last living heir of the Saphir family, from needing her and her sister’s help. When he appears at one of her tours and request her assistance to expel a ghost haunting his estate, Mallory gives in without any hesitation. It’s a lot of cash and she actually has a chance to see the real and true House Saphir. But is this estate still what it used to be? And is she able to put the ghost of Monsieur Le Blue to rest? Or is she indeed the fraud everyone believes her to be?

Like most fairytale retellings, this book is pretty plot driven. This means that the characters are quite underdeveloped. This is also the case in this novel, but Meyer still pays attention to these two characters and their elaboration. However, both Mallory and Armand stay superficial. For this story it’s not inherently bad, but if you value character development, this might leave you hungry for more. Mallory’s struggles with her origin and not being able to live up to the expectations that come with an upbringing by a witch are depicted well, because she is pondering on this a lot. Her inability to use magic the way she should is nagging at her every single step of the way. It makes her feel insecure and Mallory questions herself a lot. Her desire to prove herself and everybody else wrong leads her to make irrational and irresponsible decisions. Her sister Anais seems to struggle less and is the more rational character. Armand on the other hand remains a mystery for a very long time time, which is necessary for the way this story unfolds. I had a hard time to empathize with these characters and unfortunately, none really stick. There should be romantic chemistry too, but I didn’t feel it at all. This is so different from the aforementioned “The Lunar Chronicles” series, those characters I still cherish.

The characters not really being able to leave a lasting impression certainly has to do with the fact this book is a stand alone. We hardly see them these days, but for a fairytale it kind of makes sense. Still, the plot itself didn’t really intrigue me. The first few chapters are really strong, creepy atmosphere included, but it all goes downhill once the story moves to the estate instead of the town of Morand. This is a fictional town, based on a small French town by the way. This applies to the entire world building, this book is based on French folklore and rural or small French towns. Nearly all characters have a French name. The estate is pictured quite clearly, but there is still plenty of room for your own imagination. But back to the plot, it’s moving forward quite predictably from the moment Mallory and Anais make the journey to Armand’s estate. I never was on the edge of my seat, I just listened to it and was like “hmmmm yeah”. This would be different for younger readers though, the amount of monsters and such could be pretty tense to them. And why oh why was a love interest needed? I mean, it must be appealing to the young adult audience, but it doesn’t really add up to the actual story.

Although the plot fails to captivate me, this was such a nice quick read. Meyer’s writing is smooth as per usual and Rebecca Soler again did a fantastic job on the narration. This made the audiobook pretty appealing to me. I always struggle when native English speakers speak French, but this time it was not an issue for me. The writing is that accessible that the target audience could get lost in it.

The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer was nice enough and I had a good time reading – or rather listening to – this novel. However, it failed to captivate me once again. I somehow did expect this though, so I wasn’t too surprised. My main concern was for the characters and the lack of room to grow. This is suitable for young adult fantasy lately, and certainly whenever these are stand alone books. Stand alone fantasies just don’t work really well for me and that’s something completely personal. However, I understand the appeal for young adult readers, and I strongly recommend it when you want a fairytale retelling that reads nice and easy. This book could be pretty tense for them, but for me, it wasn’t. It’s a retelling, but like the original fairytale, we all know how it will end. For me, the action was too predictable and brief, and that just doesn’t work for me. Don’t get me wrong, I had a few pleasant hours with this Bluebeard retelling, but it just doesn’t stand out.