The overall feel of this reminded me of Nettle & Bone. It's a dark fairytale (in this case a retelling of Sleeping Beauty) that still manages to be humorous and sweet, despite the heavy subject matter. This one is a lot shorter, though, which is my only complaint. Everything wraps up very quickly towards the end, and I think the resolution needed to be fleshed out a bit more after all the build-up.

That said, Kingfisher's brand of charm and her writing make all her books fun reads for me, and this was no exception. I was also surprised by the Muslim representation—I wasn't expecting it and hadn't heard anything about that, but I really appreciate all the research the author must've done. There were things mentioned that made me stop reading and grab my Quran to find the verses mentioned—I've sadly learned to distrust what books say about Islam. But the information was correct, and it made me happy that it was included.