A Sharpened Axe
-by Jill M. Beene
Spoiler Warning!
A Sharpened Axe is a fairy tale inspired story of Samiris, a young woman struggling to support her family during the curse that has blanketed the country of Leiria. It has the lovely feel of a traditional fairy tale. And there are enough elements to draw similarities to Beauty and the Beast. However, this is not a retelling of a classic and that is what I love best about A Sharpened Axe. It is its own story!
When a fae princess places the Crown Prince under a curse, the furthest reaches of Leiria are hit the hardest. The land becomes barren and people struggle to find enough food to live. Samiris’ father was a wealthy lord of a prosperous farm, but he now suffers from the Wasting sickness. Samiris’ mother died with the birth of her younger sister some twelve years earlier. In response, Samiris teaches herself to use the axe so she can harvest wood in the forest to keep their home heated and help ease the pain of the illness destroying her father.
Things are rough. Samiris is facing a marriage she doesn’t want in order to abide by the inheritance laws of the country. Until she is Chosen as one of the twenty young women who are selected each year to fall in love with the Crown Prince. Each year, one woman from the group faces the Questioning. And each year that woman is burned alive by magic for not having actually fallen in love with the Crown Prince and he with her.
Afraid of what the extended absence would mean for her family, Samiris rebels against going north to the capital city. The one place in the country where abundance still remains, a stark contrast to the starvation and poverty Samiris knows. She is disparaging of the Crown Prince and the other nobility. She is caustic towards the other Chosen woman, who in turn are catty bullies towards her unrefined manners and appearance.
Samiris is particularly antagonistic towards Duke Artem Trego, Captain of the Royal Guard, who was sent to fetch Samiris when she didn’t respond to her summons as Chosen. This relationship starts off brilliantly with both parties frustrated with the other person. Naturally, they banter and over the course of the story they fall in love. It was a slow progression that was well crafted and reminiscent of Eliza and Darcy. I am a sucker for friction turned friends turned lovers as a story progression. So naturally I ate this up!
I think there is a fair bit of change in the main character’s perspective on life at court. Although I did find Samiris a bit repetitive at times. She also helps to bring a different point of view to some key members of the court with her own way of looking at things. I like that she is focused on making everyone’s life better. For a woman who can and does fight with an axe, many of her other skirmishes were fought and won with words (and some kindness).
For me the biggest weakness surrounds the scheming nature of the court and those involved in the whole Chosen program. There is a scene in a back alley, where Samiris and her maid overhear two people discussing this year’s crop of girls and clearly planning that none should successfully fall in love with the Crown Prince, who naturally is physically unattractive. Unfortunately this was not followed up. Sure it ties to killing off one of the girls at the end of the story, but really it leaves too many unanswered questions. For example, who picks the women that are to be Chosen? And how easy/hard is it to sneak in and murder one of them. What other changes in the court have been manipulated by this political group? It was a good idea, but not fleshed out properly.
My other question comes at the end of A Sharpened Axe. When it is revealed that the man everyone thought was the Crown Prince, was just a scholar yanked into position by the curse. So, was the woman being his mother actually his mother or the mother of the real Crown Prince? And if the dowager was the biological mother of the scholar, then does the real Crown Prince actually have any family? And why did Lady Evanora not take more control over the court? She seemed far too passive and in the background.
Despite these lingering questions, I really enjoyed A Sharpened Axe. I was hooked from the first chapter and ate my way through to the end. The characters were great. I really enjoyed the dialogue. The setting was interesting. I am now sad that I read it too quickly! Overall I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars for a wonderful fairy tale!