Author: Mette Ivie Harrison
Published: October 11, 2011
Publisher: EgmontUSA
272 pages (galley)
I saw this available on NetGalley and I decided I want to read it — not so much based on the beautiful cover, but because of its incredibly low rating on Goodreads. I was fairly warned that I most likely will not like this book by a number of good friends of mine, but I was 1) curious and 2) believed it couldn’t really be that bad.
Well, I believed wrong.
Tris & Izzie is a modern re-telling of the legend Tristan and Iseult/Isolde/Yseult. I don’t actually know much about the legend; I watched the 2006 movie ages ago and don’t really remember much about it, just a general idea that it is a medieval romance. So I don’t really have the original story in my head to compare this novel to. (I did look up the legend after I finished this book though).
In this book, Izzie is dating the most popular boy in school, Mark. Lately, she doesn’t know why her best friend Branna is acting so weird around her and Mark, so she gets the brilliant idea to feed Branna and some guy (yes, literally, some guy — she doesn’t have anyone in mind yet) a love potion, courtesy of Izzie’s mom, who is a witch. When she tries to feed Branna the love potion, she gives some to Mark’s new friend Tristan. However, when Mark wants to drink some too, Izzie panics and drinks the rest herself, falling desperately in love with Tristan.
Izzie loves Tristan but is conflicted by her relationship with Mark, unsure of what to do. In the meantime, Izzie’s mom reveals that their family is from a place called Curvenal, where her mom did her witchcraft and her father (who is deceased) was a sorcerer. Izzie finds out that she is a sorceress herself, and that there is a great serpent who has been hunting her for the past 11 years. Tristan has been sent to protect Izzie.
There are a number of things that rubbed me the wrong way with this book, but the two biggest things was the execution and Izzie.
The execution — Well, this is supposed to be a modern retelling but it really, really does not feel like one. When I think of a modern retelling of an old story or legend, I imagine that there is no magic. You don’t modernize the story of Sleeping Beauty, but keep the fact that she fell asleep for a 100 years, that there were fairies, that there was a magic spinning wheel, etc. You reinvent all that to fit into the present day. You don’t simply throw the exact same story into a different time period. So, I don’t think this novel was a particularly creative reimagining of Tristan & Iseult (except the latter half of the novel, but by then, I don’t think it was retelling anything anymore).
I was actually very surprised when all the witchcraft and potions was brought up. It was not a smooth introduction at all. I thought I was reading a contemporary, non-fantasy novel and all of a sudden, Izzie and Branna are talking about potions and magic in a high school hallway like it’s completely normal. That wouldn’t have been too bad, but the magic system or world building in this book was poor as well, as if it was not thoroughly thought out. At first you think the magic in this world is witchcraft and potions. Okay. Suddenly we find out Izzie is a sorceress who can wield elemental magic. And then suddenly we find out Tristan is an alchemist. And then we find out about a whole bunch of strange mythical beasts that exist. More and more magical elements were just being thrown together. That was why I was not surprised when Tristan announced he had a flying sword.
The latter half of the novel seemed kind of ridiculous, with the giant and Izzie learning to wield fireballs out of the blue. For someone who only found out she has magic in her blood a few hours ago, she’s skilled enough to duel Albus Dumbledore and possibly win. It just didn’t really fit. I suppose you could say that’s just how the magic works in this world — if you have magic in your blood, you can do anything! But that goes back to my earlier statement that the magic in this novel is not properly thought out.
Izzie — I have never despised a character so much. She is the most selfish, immature, self-centered, idiotic and shallow character I have ever met. For one, she doesn’t realize Branna is in love with her boyfriend Mark when it is blatantly obvious. Then she takes it upon herself to force Branna to fall in love with someone of Izzie’s own choosing, with a love potion, without her consent, because she believes she knows what’s good for her best friend. When Izzie was in the hospital, she bossed Mark around, demanding him to get her a wheelchair and throwing a hissy fit when he didn’t leap to his feet to obey. When Branna was seriously injured, Izzie spent a considerable amount of time admiring Tristan’s athletic form instead of worrying about her friend.
I was so happy with the scene where Mark punched Izzie in the face. She deserved it. It’s unfortunate that she’s apparently made of steel or something because it didn’t seem to have much of an effect on her, not even a bruise.
The other characters weren’t much better. Tristan spoke super formally, which made him sound rather monotone. I thought this was supposed to be a romance, but there is surprisingly very little Tristan in this book. Or maybe it’s just because he doesn’t talk too much. Branna and Mark had one personality trait apiece. Speaking of which, Mark was quite odd because as soon as he found out Izzie didn’t love him anymore, but that Branna has a huge crush on him, he changed his tune quite quickly. Suddenly, instead of proclaiming his love for Izzie, he was swearing his eternal undying love to Branna. No magic (or reasonable transition of feelings) involved.
The biggest dealbreaker was that the writing wasn’t very good. The dialogue especially, felt quite unnatural (and I’m not just talking about Tristan’s robot voice). Some of the things that came out of the characters’ mouths just didn’t feel like something someone would say if they were in that situation.
This book wasn’t boring though, I’ll give you that. It was … interesting. I kept reading mainly because I kept being shocked and/or appalled by the things Izzie does or says (or busy being angry at Izzie), and the way the story developed was just so utterly bizarre that I kept reading.
My Rating: 1/5
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