Review: The Badlings

The Badlings by Ksenia Anske
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh, Ksenia Anske, how you and your imagination continue to be inspired like nothing else. This is my second book of hers I've found on Wattpad, and it's every bit as gothic and disturbing as Rosehead. Here, however, it's a little less Alice in Wonderland and a little more Grimm meets Jasper Fforde (or Neil Gaiman - I've seen a few other commenters on Wattpad who support this comparison.) But there's definitely more than a bit of Fforde in The Badlings' DNA, with its use of classic books and characters who are all out for your blood - if you've committed the grievous sin of not finishing their book. (So, in other words, I should be glad I never read Mad Tome editions of stuff like Obsidian or The Passage or Dragon Tattoo - yeah, I didn't finish Dragon Tattoo my first time around.)

There's so totally a Sequel Hook at the end of this one, but it also ends in a way similar to Pushing Daisies (saying something to the effect of "endings, as they say, are where we begin.") So if there's no sequel, I won't be too surprised - although I would be quite disappointed that Anske's boundless creative mind isn't exploring this world any further.

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