Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Maria McLemore

Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Maria McLemore

♥♥♥♥♥

Title: Dark and Deepest Red

Author: Anna-Maria McLemore

Year Published: 2020

Format: Physical Book

Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary Fantasy, Fairy-tale retelling, LGBT+

Review*:

   I read this book as part of the 2020 O.W.L.s Magical Read-a-thon. Originally, I was interested in it when looking through new-releases for the year and I happened to receive it in a monthly subscription box. It happened to fit one of the prompts and I figured, if I could read a book the same year that it was released, that in itself would be impressive for me.

   Included in the box was a letter from the author that I definitely think would be helpful kind of giving more contexts to the book. Going into the first couple of chapters were a bit confusing because I didn't realize we had multiple POV, from very different settings, and it switched between third person and first person. Once you get like 50-60 pages in, you understand why Anna-Maria chose to utilize these different formats. Half of the story is present day that switched between 1st person of two high-school aged students, and the other half is based in the 1500s in Germany written in third person. The flip flop is supposed to help you a little more differentiate the narratives you are reading of the two parallel pieces of the story. 

   This is a re-telling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Red Shoes and some historical fiction. What I wish was a little more clear was the setting of the stories from the beginning. I found myself confused when we swapped between Lala and Rosella's perspectives thinking that they were set in the same time. There were also quite a lot of words used from another language that wasn't obvious to the origin. I ended up needing google for a few parts in the first few chapters, where I felt like a quick explanation would have been helpful and could have fit into the story very well. 

   I ended up really liking the story more than I expected to. There is a lot of representation present; like lesbians, trans, and multiple cultures. The writing, once you got into the story, was really easy to just consume in one sitting. I found myself flying through pages pretty fast and the chapters aren't very long. I think this book in particular would be amazing to use in a High School or Middle School english class to help educate on multiple POV, descriptive words, and cadence.

   I think McLemore's writing is really beautiful and really enjoyable to consume. I think the only reason this didn't get rated higher for me was because of the story. I'd love to see her write something that leans more into the magical side, since I think the descriptive words and actions she uses are really great for painting a picture. If you like fairy-tale retelling, I'd totally suggest this book and to check out some of her other work.

*This review may contain spoilers.