The Cinderella Theorem: A Unique Fantasy with a Giveaway!

Annie Douglass Lima
August 17, 2014
1:17 am
0 comments

A themed book tour through Prism Book Tours.

The Cinderella Theorem

(The Lily Sparrow Chronicles #1)

by Kristee Ravan
YA Urban Fantasy
Paperback, 367 pages
March 17th 2014

Fairy tales are naturally non-mathematical. That is a fact, and fifteen-year-old Lily Sparrow loves factual, mathematical logic. So when her mother confesses that Lilyís deceased father is (a) not dead, (b) coming to dinner, and (c) the ruler of a fairy tale kingdom accessible through the upstairs bathtub, Lily clings to her math to help her make sense of this new double life (1 life in the real world + 1 secret life in the fairy tale world = a double life).

Even though itís not mathematical, Lily finds herself being pulled into a mystery involving an unhappy Cinderella, a greasy sycophant called Levi, and a slew of vanishing fairy tale characters. Racing against the clock, with a sound mathematical plan, Lily attempts to save her fairy tale friends while proving that normality = happiness.

Amazon

My Review: ****

This is definitely the most unique fantasy novel I've read in a long time (and I read a lot of fantasy)! I love the main character and the way she views the world in terms of math. Everything she experiences is part of a math problem to her. For example, "I stood stupidly off to the side like an extra piece of information in a word problem. (Sarah has three marbles and seven pencils. Danette has two pencils. How many pencils do Sarah and Danette have together? Answer = nine pencils.) I was the three marbles that no one needed." I thought this was a hilarious but vary effective personality trait for her. The writing style is humorous and easily kept my attention all the way through.

On the negative side, some scenes lapsed into "telling, not showing", and I felt a few details could have been tied up better at the end. Plus, there were some typos and errors in punctuation and general English usage. The consistent mistakes in capitalization and punctuation around direct quotations were especially irritating and showed a lack of professional editing.

However, I still felt that the book was written well enough to merit four stars in spite of those issues. The main character was unique and definitely stood out in a way that makes her story memorable for all the right reasons. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

-Annie Douglass Lima

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Kristee Ravan lives in Oklahoma with her husband, daughter, and pet fish, Val (short for Valentine). She wanted to be many things as she grew up including a general, an artist, and an architect. But she never bothered to say, "I want to be a writer when I grow up." She was always writing stories and thought of herself as a writer anyway. She sent her first story to a publisher in the sixth grade. (It was rejected - in a nice way.) When she is not making up stories in her head, she enjoys reading, juggling, green smoothies, playing dollhouse with her daughter, and hearing from her fans. You can contact Kristee at the facebook page for her Lily Sparrow books: The Lily Sparrow Chronicles.