The Nutcracker King
Publisher Description
How far will you go for your 'Happily Ever After'?
It has been eight years since the Nutcracker has defeated the Mouse King, and he is still a cursed doll. The Nutcracker's one desire is to break the curse, allowing him to take his rightful place as King and make Marie his queen. But nothing has worked.
The Nutcracker grows more and more desperate as time runs out and Marie begins to move away from him. One day, he uncovers a dark secret about his kingdom and decides to use the knowledge to reverse the curse and claim his destiny. The Nutcracker will do anything to reach his goal and have Marie rule by his side. This will be his happily ever after.
But will it be Marie's?
The Nutcracker King is a continuation of the beloved tale, but not in the way you would expect. It is full of intrigue and dark twists, with a Nutcracker very different from the one that you know and love.
Buy The Nutcracker King today and step into a beautiful but dark world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tan inexplicably morphs the joyful Nutcracker story into a gruesome, horrific rampage of a psychopathic prince turned doll who murders his family members and bathes in their blood, all for the sake of his quest to become human again and win the hand of his dear Marie. This unsettling alteration of the original story eschews the happy ending and takes place eight years later, with the love story between the Nutcracker and Marie unresolved. The plot of this sexist novella involves a kidnapping, forced marriage, torture, and a ditzy "heroine" who makes excuses for the evil the Nutcracker does in her name. The brutality rivals the original Grimm fairy tales and is certainly not appropriate for children. Tan mixes third-person and first-person points of view to the detriment of the narrative flow, abuses clich s, misplaces colloquialisms, and includes anachronisms that would have baffled E.T.A. Hoffmann. Those hoping for a Pride and Prejudice and Zombies style bit of whimsy will be very disappointed. (BookLife)
