The Deathless Girls
By: Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Lil and Kizzy are twin sisters on the verge of their divining day (having their futures told) when they find their camp attacked by soldiers families killed and the survivors taken and forced into slavery.
The twins find themselves working in the Boyar’s kitchen and learning that the legend of human sacrifices to the “Dragon” is all too true.
So I’ve had The Deathless Girls on my Kindle for a while- for long enough to forget details on what it’s about and I think it was better that way. I will say it’s an origin story for characters that appeared, without any detail, in another iconic characters legend.
Yeah we’ll leave it at that.
I will say most of the book is about their times captured and it does a really good job of showing the brutality and the fear that hangs over them. The sisters have a strong bond although seeing as we only ever see Kizzy through Lil’s eyes (she’s our MC- she’s presented a little too good to be true) and it’s nice to have some representation with the relationship between Lil and another girl…
But it’s still pretty insta-lovey.
Warnings for scenes of assault, slavery, violence, racism and some children and animals drugged and in dangerous violent situations.
The build-up to actually going to the Dragon’s Lair is well done to. I appreciated the creepy travel through the deserted villages and the signs (many outright) of the past violence but I also feel like the ending was a little too fast and the legendary character should have been in it a lot more to sell it a little better.
Maybe they could have cut the kitchen parts a bit and amped up the second half of the book?
But overall I think this was a good Halloween read and I enjoyed giving a story to these particular characters- actually a very moving one at that.
Recommend: Yes.