Review: Little Miss Muffet swapped her curds & whey for love
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 1, 2013
I adored the first two novels in this series because of their characterisation, plots and settings, so I had very high expectations for this one. This is the story of Beatrice "Trish" Muffet and the spider who loved her, Nicky "Little Boy" Blue. Trish first met Nicky when they were transplanted and promptly fell in love. She watched from afar as Nicky built his criminal empire, married Jules Capulet (one of the Willies) and supported him after Jules was murdered. Jules' death turned Nicky into "the Spider", a vigilante, as he thinks that dealing with the scum of the earth may bring him closer to nailing Vlad Dracula. Vlad however is after Trish and Nicky is determined to protect her.I admired Trish from the moment we first met her in Red. She was a no-nonsense kind of character who worked as a coroner and forensics investigator for the Fairytale Management Authority (FMA). Trish displayed loyalty, courage and determination in equal qualities. I loved the way her fear of spiders was explained as I wasn't sure how closely SeRine was going to follow the original nursery rhyme. Nicky is the shade to Trish's light. He worked his way up from a petty thief to a mafia style crime lord. His inability to save the people he cared about most weighed heavily on him. For a tough guy like Nicky, being helpless is pretty frightening. He scaled back his operations and focused on what was important - protecting those he loved and getting Jules the justice she deserved. Trish and Nicky's relationship was very sweet and a pleasure to read.While the romance was great, SeRine's strength is clearly creating a robust world for her characters. I loved seeing how the Tales fitted into `normal' society such as the three little pigs becoming hit men and Rumpelstiltskin an exclusive jeweller. SeRine has gradually expanded her world and this time we have a sinister government group known as "the Agency" interfering with the FMA. The novel was well paced and provided lots of action and romance with a healthy dollop of humour.You need to start this series from the beginning so you can see why our Crew of Light (sorry, I couldn't resist) is so determined to take down Dracula and how their relationships evolved over time. Considering the awesomeness of the other two books, this is no great hardship. I'm looking forward to Gideon's tale next.*Book received from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*