Week 26 Reviews: The Garden of Three Hundred Flowers, Spindle

From Goodreads:
An interstitial short story by E.K. Johnston set between her novels A THOUSAND NIGHTS and SPINDLE!

From Goodreads:
The world is made safe by a woman... but it is a very big world. It has been generations since the Storyteller Queen drove the demon out of her husband and saved her country from fire and blood. Her family has prospered beyond the borders of their village, and two new kingdoms have sprouted on either side of the mountains where the demons are kept prisoner by bright iron, and by the creatures the Storyteller Queen made to keep them contained. 

But the prison is crumbling. Through years of careful manipulation, a demon has regained her power. She has made one kingdom strong and brought the other to its knees, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. When a princess is born, the demon is ready with the final blow: a curse that will cost the princess her very soul, or force her to destroy her own people to save her life. 

The threads of magic are tightly spun, binding princess and exiled spinners into a desperate plot to break the curse before the demon can become a queen of men. But the web of power is dangerously tangled--and they may not see the true pattern until it is unspooled. 

My Review:
Yeah, it was really great to read these books! I actually was a chunk of a way into Spindle before I found out of Garden, but I went back and read Garden before finishing Spindle. Because Garden had the start of the journey that eventually became the kingdoms in Spindle. So I had to read it!

Garden was a really great read, though a bit sad. We go between narration of the Storyteller Queen (who we still don't get a name for, but she now has a title in Spindle, and is Queen in this story) and another talking about his parents. They were woven together really well, though it makes me a little sad, because while she was fulfilled in her life, I'm not sure that she had romantic love. It depends a bit, if she only had the one kid, but might be more, too. I hope she had that happiness as well, she deserves it!

There was one thing that really annoyed me in Spindle. Where Yashaa blames Little Rose for all the suffering that the curse on her has caused. As in, she's cursed, and that curse affects more than just her. So blaming her for the actions of the demon, the one who cursed her, that was just, urgh. I really didn't like it! Plus, the conversation was about the past, and wasn't meant to include what was happening now, so stop being an idiot boy who reacts to the wrong things.

That ending was a little bit rushed. Well, we had the climax, they were in a bad spot, we switched narrators, and then it was out of the bad spot and done. It was a bit short, I would've liked a few more details, because I don't quite understand how they got out of it.

But there was a positive in Spindle, I didn't want to end this review in a bad note, and that was Yashaa's bonds with the rest of his, well, family, if not by blood. They were close, they got along together so well, and I enjoyed their bonds!

I really enjoyed reading the both of these, they were such great stories, and I can't wait to read more by E.K. Johnston!

Author: E.K. Johnston
Series: A Thousand Nights #1.5, 2
Read: June 22nd, 22nd, 2020
Source: Ebook.bike, Bought
Reason Why: Love her writing and the first book, and they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2020 Books and Spindle is a End of Series 2020 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Published: November 8th 2016, December 6th 2016

The Garden of Three Hundred Flowers:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Spindle:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars