A modern retelling of the German fairytale "Tristan and Isolde", Tris and Izzie is about a young witch named Izzie who is dating Mark King, the captain of the basketball team and thinks her life is going swimmingly well. Until -- she makes a love potion for her best friend Brangane and then ends up taking it herself accidentally, and falling in love with Tristan, the new guy at school.
Title: Tris & Izzie
Author: Mette Ivie Harrison
Publication: 11th October 2011
Publisher: Egmont USA
272 pages
My review
Tris & Izzie's cover immediately made me want to read this novel, I find it really beautiful, delicate and graceful. I had read a few negative reviews before starting this book, so it is true that I did not have huge expectations. I'm really sorry about that, but my review won't be much more enthusiastic than the others. However, it was nonetheless a quick, enjoyable and entertaining read. I think it will charm and please the younger readers.
In fact my main problem is that I was not able at all to relate to the main character, namely Izzie. Indeed, she really annoyed me, especially in the beginning. The young girl is rather detestable, I found her very often selfish, self-centered and relatively immature in her reactions. She often thinks only of herself and totally forgets to take into account her friends and her boyfriend's feelings.
I was not delighted by the two male characters. Tristan seems too shy, introvert and to be honest I found him rather uninteresting. Finally, I think that the characters have sometimes completely incredible and unbelievable reactions. Indeed, they forgive and forget their feelings too easily and in a way that is totally implausible.
The presence of magic is introduced into the story in a surprising kind of way. In fact, it comes a bit out of the blue. I really did not think that there would be all these fantastic elements in this story after reading the summary, whereas it's a major part of the plot. The romance between the characters is cute, but it seems way too fast to grow and not very natural.
The story is fairly predictable. However, the plot is quite fast-paced. I do not remember much of the myth of Tristan & Isolde, but I've got the impression that, apart from the names of the characters, there aren't a lot of similarities. In fact, in my opinion, Tris & Izzie is a rather loose interpretation of the original myth. The writing is quite pleasant, entertaining and I read it rather quickly. The mythology developed by the author, especially the magic, is really interesting and it's one of the aspects that captivated me.
In fact my main problem is that I was not able at all to relate to the main character, namely Izzie. Indeed, she really annoyed me, especially in the beginning. The young girl is rather detestable, I found her very often selfish, self-centered and relatively immature in her reactions. She often thinks only of herself and totally forgets to take into account her friends and her boyfriend's feelings.
I was not delighted by the two male characters. Tristan seems too shy, introvert and to be honest I found him rather uninteresting. Finally, I think that the characters have sometimes completely incredible and unbelievable reactions. Indeed, they forgive and forget their feelings too easily and in a way that is totally implausible.
The presence of magic is introduced into the story in a surprising kind of way. In fact, it comes a bit out of the blue. I really did not think that there would be all these fantastic elements in this story after reading the summary, whereas it's a major part of the plot. The romance between the characters is cute, but it seems way too fast to grow and not very natural.
The story is fairly predictable. However, the plot is quite fast-paced. I do not remember much of the myth of Tristan & Isolde, but I've got the impression that, apart from the names of the characters, there aren't a lot of similarities. In fact, in my opinion, Tris & Izzie is a rather loose interpretation of the original myth. The writing is quite pleasant, entertaining and I read it rather quickly. The mythology developed by the author, especially the magic, is really interesting and it's one of the aspects that captivated me.
To sum up, Tris & Izzie is a relatively pleasant book. I think it will delight younger readers, but if you are over sixteen years old, you may find it a bit too predictable. In my opinion, it was a quick and entertaining read. Even, if I am a bit disappointed, especially in Izzie, the heroin, it was nonetheless a great book. This novel will be published October 11, 2011.
A copy was provided by the publisher, via Net Galley, against my completely honest review.
j'ai le même ressenti que toi en lisant ce livre
ReplyDeleteje suis assez deçue....
I agree with pretty much everything you said about this book (although I didn't find it nearly as pleasant...lol) I think this could have been a really interesting story to retell, and hope that Harrison does some major rewrites before October. And as gorgeous as the cover is, did you notice that the two cover models don't even look like Tris & Izzie's physical descriptions in the book? Wow.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great and honest review! :)
Thank you to both of you for your comment :D
ReplyDelete@elise au moins on est d'accord lol je me sens moins seule :D Bisous
@Dani lol Thank you so much for your comment. I hope so. I totally agree for the cover. I loved it but I think that there is something strange with it. It's not really linked with the book. But I'm sure this book could appeal some readers, especially the younger ones :D
Ugh, I had such high hopes for this one. Now I don't even want to read it! This is such a romantic story. The people in it sound awful! Izzie was so giving and unselfish in the original story. I'm not going to waste my money. If I want to read it I'll check it out at the library.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the honest review!
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