Till Midnight by Aya Ling Review

For a while now I have wanted to read one of Aya Ling books. I was originally going to read her Unfinished Fairy Tales series but after receiving all three books of her Reversed Fairy Tale trilogy changed my mind. I read the three books during Thanksgiving break and really enjoyed them. I also plan to read more of her books during Christmas break so please expect reviews of The Ugly Stepsister, Princess of Athelia, Twice Upon a Time, and Ever After and Queen of Athelia to come sooner than later during the holiday season. Anyway, Till Midnight is a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses only instead of princesses there are twelve princes. And the brave soldier (or gardener depending on what version of the story you are reading) is a shoe cobbler working at the palace who must mend the princes' shoes. 

 
 

The book begins with Alix and her friend Fabio being sent to work at the royal palace as a shoe cobbler and dress maker. While Fabio is excited to be working for the twelve insanely handsome princes some of whom he has crushes on, Alix is more focused on earning money to pay the rent to the odious landlady, so she and her half blind aunt will not have to live in the poor house. She does not have time to even think about the strange old woman she helped who gave her a strange ugly cloak in return in return for her charity. Upon arriving at the castle Alix soon encounter Prince Theo the oldest prince who has a heart of ice especially towards women. Every fortnight Theo and his brothers disappear to who knows where and one of them at least comes back injured. After a few trips to the apothecary and being forced to mend a ruined pair of the princes' shoes Alix begins to suspect that something sinister is up. When she is approached by the head chancellor Le Gris to find out where the princes go each night in exchange for a high amount of money Alix reluctantly agrees. However, if she fails to solve the mystery three times Legris threatens to send her to an evil duke who likes women primarily. Meanwhile Prince Theo must deal with his family curse that has lasted for generations. Having sworn to never marry until the curse is broken, he must keep his brothers safe at all costs. He must focus on finding a mage and the princess from a neighboring kingdom might have the answers he seeks. He does not have time to even think about the troublesome yet intriguing shoe cobbler who his mother predicts will be his bride. His mother's predictions are always pure nonsense. Or are they? Find out by reading Till Midnight 

 
 

This book was an enjoyable read with some great characters in it. Alix refuses to be intimidated by Theo and never gives up even when things seem hopeless. She is a fighter but not in the physical sense. She does not know how to wield a sword, but she aids in any way she can. Once she reveals the prince's secret (which I will not reveal no matter how much I want to talk about it) she does everything she can to help since the stakes are so high. Theo, I found a little to mean at first but after learning about what he and his brothers are going through his actions made sense. For example, the reason he has Alix fix a ruined pair of boots instead of buying new ones was because they had a spell on them to make the person wearing them faster. The spell could not be transferred to a new pair of boots and getting another spell would be expensive, so it made sense to fix the boots rather than spend more money. It is true he threatened to fire Alix if the boots were not fixed by a certain deadline but considering the circumstances, he and his brothers were in it made sense. Another nice aspect of the story I enjoyed was that a good amount of the other princes got some time in the spotlight too. Gerald the second oldest (and the main male character of the second book The Beast and the Beauty) was constantly there to support his brothers by creating magic charms to help them survive. He was the closest brother to Theo who is known to be the handsomest man in the land so much so that his younger brothers tease him to put on a dress since he is so beautiful. Then there are the twins Ethan and Enzo who are the flirtatious and mischievous bunch who often made me laugh throughout the series. And lastly there is Ferdinand (the prince in love with the mute herbalist's daughter Beatrice) Julian (the surly prince who goes to the tavern way too often) and the youngest and most venerable brother Roland. Most retellings of the Twelve Dancing Princesses only focus on one or two of the royal siblings making the other ten background characters, so it was interesting to get to know each prince and their struggles. Poor Roland, I felt so bad for him. He is just a 12-year-old kid who should be enjoying his childhood but because of the curse is prevented from doing so. 

 
 

There are two other side characters also worth mentioning who are Fabio and Chanceler Le Gris. Fabio is Alix’s best friend who has a crush on all the older princes. I really liked Fabio and kept expecting him to start a relationship with one of the princes. After all his parents keep pressuring him to settle down with a girl, even threatening to disown him if he does not. So, I figured if he were to marry one of the princes then his parents could not complain anymore. Sadly, this did not come to pass, which really disappointed me. He does find love and I was happy for him, but it seemed like a missed opportunity on the books part. And lastly Le Gris, the scheming chancellor of the kingdom is just plain awful. He wants to know where the princes go every fortnight, but he is a schemer. His daughter Lady Petronilla was also annoying but thankfully she did not appear in the book as much. However, I will not deny that Le Gris was more realistic about his plan than I originally thought. He knows he cannot be king since there are twelve princes so he must settle for what he could get. I will not reveal what his plan was though. I hope you enjoyed this longer review. I had a lot of fun doing it. I hope you will get a chance to read this book and will enjoy it as much as I did. Expect my review for its two sequels soon. Until next time. E.V. A.