There is so much that I want to write about this book. I shall try to control myself, ha. First, the writing was fully beautiful. I loved it so. And I had no trouble with connecting to the characters and the story. I also loved the world this book was set in, as it felt like the past, set in the time of kings and simpler times. I just loved it.
I very much loved how this book is told from the point of view of Hazel. A girl that I loved most of all. There is much to tell about her. She is small and full of freckles. We get to see her grow up. And I honestly loved it so very much. At first we get to know the story of her birth. How she was the thirteenth child of her family. How her parents wanted to get rid of her. Then how three gods came to them, asking to get her instead. They refused two. But accepted the offer from the Dreaded End. From Death. And so Hazel waited for years for him to come to claim her. He did not. Not for many years. And this was heartbreaking to read about. Hazel would have had it so much better with her godfather. But he was a god. Time was not the same to him. He was slow.
Getting to read about Hazel growing up was the very best thing. But it was also so painful. She was just eight years old at first. Her parents did not care for her. Pretty much neglected her. They were also poor, so it was not easy to feed a family of fifteen. But Hazel had it worst. She was the child meant for someone else. A God who had not yet come to claim her. And her parents did not love her. That hurt to read about. They were not kind. One of her siblings was sweeter, Bertie. I liked the small moments they had together.
There were just so many sad things from Hazel's life at age eight. Her mother not giving her a small slice of cake on Bertie's birthday, the day before her own. Hazel never getting a cake for her birthday. No one caring. Bertie noticed some things, but there was much he did not. And then he was taken away, sold to serve a different god. And Hazel was then alone. Before that, there was a moment when the royals came to their town, giving out coins. Hazel had a bad moment with that. I both liked it and found it sad and rude.
And then Hazel was turning twelve. Her godfather finally came for her. She learns to call him Merrick. The way he was described was a little creepy. Yet I loved it. And Hazel did not seem afraid of him. He took her away, to a different place called the Between. The home of the gods. In this place between the worlds he made her a small cottage to call home. She spent a whole year at this place alone, reading books Merrick had left for her, learning what she needed to become a great healer. I hated how he left her alone. Hmph.
After this one year he returns, and takes her back to the real world. Where she get an actual cottage. And gets her first real friend. And an actual good life to call her own. Sigh. I loved how happy she was. I also liked reading about Hazel and Merrick together. How they became like family, getting closer after a while. They had some arguments. But I liked how they cared for each other, though he wasn't there often. Hazel was gifted with help for her healing. She got a gift of knowing how to heal people, what they need to live.
For her first year, she is able to heal everyone who needs help. But then she turns fourteen and Merrick takes her to her first official death. Where she has to be the one to help them die, so they do not end up living longer and hurting other people. This scene was very hard for her. And I loved it so much, despite how sad it all was. Then Hazel is sixteen. And has a plan of getting married to a boy in her small village. Planning to never heal again, to live her life as normal. It does not go as planned. She's left heartbroken.
She then spends two years in the Between, trying to heal from her grief. I'm glad this was only a focus for a few pages, as it was pretty sad and depressing. Then Hazel turns eighteen. And she is done grieving. Ready to move on and live her life. Merrick returns her to her cottage. And she is right away swept away to the capital and the royals there. She has to learn of all the things she missed while she was gone for two years. The queen is dead. There is a sickness around, the Shivers. She has to heal the king from it.
But it is no easy thing when she arrives at court. She sees death when she tries to figure out how to heal the king. Meaning he is meant to die at her hand. But she can't let the king die. So she tries everything to save him. To save herself, as well. She ends up saving him. But not in the usual way. And gods, that hurt my heart. It was so much and so sad and I loved it. It made things complicated with Merrick, which I did dislike a little. But she learned from it as well, from the choices she had to make, what she had to give up.
There is so much going on in this book. It's such a long story. And I wanted it to be even longer, haha. I have already shared so much. Yet I am going to share a little more. I very much liked reading about this sickness. It was all kinds of awful, the symptoms. And I loved reading about it. It took Hazel a long time to try finding the cure for this disease. After she saved the king in a different way, she lost her gift of seeing cures for healing people. And so she had to find the cure for the Shivers all by herself. It took some time.
But oh, how I loved her life at court. She meets the prince. Whom she remembers from her childhood. He was not very nice then. But he seems different now. And at first she likes Leopold. But he could be a little rude too, so her feelings for him kept changing. But oh, how I loved this boy. And I loved getting to know Leo through this book. I loved how they started to become friends. And how they became a little more in such a short time. They were honestly perfect for each other and I just shipped them so very much. Sigh.
The other royal children were adorable too. The oldest girl seemed a little cold. But she and Hazel turned great friends, I think, and I liked her too. The youngest one was the sweetest, though. And I loved reading about her and Hazel together. They had some sweet moments. As Hazel had to stay at court after saving the king. He wanted her near. It took her a month to find the cure after that. Then Hazel turned nineteen. And then the story truly picked up before the ending. And what an end it was. It was so exciting and good.
Gosh. I have shared way way way too much about this book already. I just cannot seem to stop writing about it, haha. I just loved this story so much. And I have written much, yet there is still so much more to say about this book that I have not written down. It was so beautiful at times. Haunting. Sad. But hopeful too. I loved reading about Hazel's life, from beginning to end. She was such an awesome girl and I loved her so. And her life was all kinds of fascinating and exciting and interesting. I truly very much loved it all.
I was a little surprised that we saw so little of Merrick in this book. I thought he would have a bigger part. So I was a little sad that he was away for so much of the story. As I would have loved to read more about him. I adored him and Hazel together, their cute family relationship. Even though it was sad and difficult at times. I wish he had been there more. Sigh. But still. I loved the character of Merrick. I loved his purpose as Death. What we got to see of it. There were still many mysteries left that I also wanted to get to know.
The Thirteenth Child was every bit as special as I had hoped it would be. It was such a treasure of a book for me. I loved it so very much. It was both beautiful and sad and a little disgusting at times, haha. A little romantic too. I wish the romance had been a little bit more, but it was also enough. I did love this book so very much, but I did also wish for a tiny bit more. And yet it was all still enough, of course. I shall treasure this story always. It is a book that I would read again. Which is the best feeling. It was all kinds of special.
The biggest thank you to PRH International for sending me this gorgeous free ARC to read and review. I love it more than anything. So happy to add it to my collection. And I couldn't read this book fast enough. It is almost out, and I am getting all the finished copies as well. I'm so excited. Erin is such a great author and I cannot wait for her to write more fantastic books. This one was my favorite of her books so far. And you are all going to love it too. Such an exciting and sad and hopeful tale. And that cover is the very best.
