Book Review: Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer

Title: Echo North
Author: Joanna Ruth Meyer
Genre: YA Fantasy/ Retellings
Publication Date: January 15th, 2019

“Echo Alkaev’s safe and carefully structured world falls apart when her father leaves for the city and mysteriously disappears. Believing he is lost forever, Echo is shocked to find him half-frozen in the winter forest six months later, guarded by a strange talking wolf—the same creature who attacked her as a child. The wolf presents Echo with an ultimatum: If she lives with him for one year, he will ensure her father makes it home safely. But there is more to the wolf than Echo realizes.

In his enchanted house beneath a mountain, each room must be sewn together to keep the home from unraveling, and something new and dark and strange lies behind every door. When centuries-old secrets unfold, Echo discovers a magical library full of books-turned-mirrors, and a young man named Hal who is trapped inside of them. As the year ticks by, the rooms begin to disappear, and Echo must solve the mystery of the wolf’s enchantment before her time is up, otherwise Echo, the wolf, and Hal will be lost forever.” (Goodreads)

This was the last book I needed to read by this author! I have enjoyed every one so far and this was no exception.

There are definitely similarities between this one and other Beauty and the Beast or East of the Sun, West of the Moon retellings but, the author does a good job of adding her own unique twists.

Echo is a very strong and brave character. She tries to not let her outer appearance get in the way even though others would call her a monster because of the scars she has. I really enjoyed that this retelling didn’t paint her as a beauty. It added a fresh take on the classic.

Her life has never been easy, not just because of the scars but also because of her stepmother. There was one part where Echo said, “The only monster is you.” and I was like dang! got’em! Haha.

I enjoyed that her father owned a bookstore because I love books. There is also a really cool magical library where you can enter the books! If I had a library like that I’d never leave.

There are many great characters to be found throughout the pages Hal and the wolf. Each one helps Echo in a different way.

The romance part of the book was a little bit of a miss for me as I couldn’t fully latch on to them as a couple but that’s okay. I still liked reading about it so it wasn’t a big loss.

Her world-building is always so fun to read about and I love how she describes everything. Her writing is truly wonderful.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and I can’t wait for the next book she writes! If you liked East and West by Edith Pattou then you should definitely check this one out.

 

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