Skip to main content

The Enchanted Sonata by Heather Dixon Wallwork: A Book Review

The Enchanted Sonata 
Author: Heather Dixon Wallwork
Genre:  YA, Historical Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher: The Wallworkshop
Release Date: October 23, 2018
Pages: 388
Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: Clara Stahlbaum has her future perfectly planned: marry the handsome pianist, Johann Kahler (ah!), and settle down to a life full of music. But all that changes on Christmas Eve, when Clara receives a mysterious and magical nutcracker. 

    Whisked away to his world--an enchanted empire of beautiful palaces, fickle fairies, enormous rats, and a prince--Clara must face a magician who uses music as spells...and the future she thought she wanted. 

   "The Enchanted Sonata," a retelling of The Nutcracker Ballet with a dash of The Pied Piper, will captivate readers of all ages.

     My Review: The Enchanted Sonata is a retelling of “The Nutcracker” with a mix of “The Pied Piper”. Clara dreams of becoming a future pianist and marrying the young, handsome, and talented musician Johann Kahler. On one Christmas Eve, she receives a nutcracker as a gift along with a magical book. The book tells the story that the Nutcracker was once a prince. He was cursed by a magician who used music to transform the prince into a Nutcracker. The children of the prince’s kingdom were also turned into toys. Clara learns that she has been chosen to break the spell that has been cast on the prince and his kingdom. Can Clara save the kingdom before she misses the chance to catch Johann’s eye or will she realize her dreams of snaring the handsome musician may not be as good as she had previously thought?

    It took me a while for me to warm up to Clara. At first glance, Clara seems like a Mary Sue. She is beautiful, talented, and flawless. Once I warmed up to her, I really adored her. She is vulnerable and insecure. There were moments in which she is very childish. However, she grows into a mature woman and realizes her mistakes. She realizes that her dreams she had been wanting to come true were not as good as reality. I also like that Clara is not a damsel-in-distress. She is very smart, and I admired how she saves the Nutcracker and his kingdom.

    Overall, this book is about dreams vs reality, belief in oneself, and hope. The novel did have a few flaws. The novel has many flat characters and it suffers from too much telling and not enough showing. I was a bit disappointed that besides the names of Clara, Nutcracker, and Drosselmeyer, there are not any other beloved characters from “The Nutcracker” that appears in this book. However, I did like the world-building of the Nutcracker’s kingdom which resembled an alternative version of Imperial Russia. The novel’s main strength is its vivid imagery. I highly recommend The Enchanted Sonata for fans of fairy tales and for classical music lovers. The Enchanted Sonata is a superb read for those who love The Bear and The Nightingale, Hunted, and Shadowsong.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

This is the official book trailer of The Enchanted Sonata:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn: A Book Review

The Rose Code Author: Kate Quinn Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Harper Collins Release Date: 2021 Pages: 635 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: 1940, Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire.        Three very different women are recruited to the mysterious Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes.       Vivacious debutante Osla has the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses – but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, working to translate decoded enemy secrets. Self-made Mab masters the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and the poverty of her East-End London upbringing. And shy local girl Beth is the outsider who trains as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts.       1947, London.        Seven years after they first meet, on the eve of the royal wedding between Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, disaster threatens. Osla, Mab and Beth are estranged,

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki: A Book Review

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post Author: Allison Pataki Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Ballantine Release Date: February 15, 2022 Pages: 381 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Mrs. Post, the President and First Lady are here to see you. . . . So begins another average evening for Marjorie Merriweather Post. Presidents have come and gone, but she has hosted them all. Growing up in the modest farmlands of Battle Creek, Michigan, Marjorie was inspired by a few simple rules: always think for yourself, never take success for granted, and work hard—even when deemed American royalty, even while covered in imperial diamonds. Marjorie had an insatiable drive to live and love and to give more than she got. From crawling through Moscow warehouses to rescue the Tsar’s treasures to outrunning the Nazis in London, from serving the homeless of the Great Depression to entertaining Roosevelts, Kennedys, and Hollywood’s biggest stars, Marjorie Merriweath

The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters #1) by Lucinda Riley: A Book Review

The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters #1) Author: Lucinda Riley Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Publisher: Atria Release Date: 2015 Pages: 463 Source: My State Public Library Synopsis: Maia D’Apliese and her five sisters gather together at their childhood home, “Atlantis”—a fabulous, secluded castle situated on the shores of Lake Geneva—having been told that their beloved father, who adopted them all as babies, has died. Each of them is handed a tantalizing clue to her true heritage—a clue which takes Maia across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Once there, she begins to put together the pieces of her story and its beginnings. Eighty years earlier in Rio’s Belle Epoque of the 1920s, Izabela Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into the aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is devising plans for an enormous statue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to