Beautiful photo by @onetruedaydreamer
Happy Friday, fairies!
We have almost finished this week! Do you have any exciting reading plans for the weekend?
I have a feeling that a lot is going to happen in today’s final reading session, are we all ready?
Today we are reading from chapter 19 to the end of the book. Let’s jump back in!
Once you’ve finished this final section, join me in the comments for all your final thoughts. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this book as much as I have!
Please be warned, the following section will include spoilers for Sleep Like Death by Kalynn Bayron from chapter 19 to the end of the book. Please only read on if you have finished reading this section!
–!SPOILERS!–
When Eve arrives back at Claude’s house she tries to contact Nova to no avail. Suddenly there’s a tap on the kitchen window. It’s an old woman who seems to be lost. Eve invites her into the house as the animals nearby don’t sense any danger.
Grumpy appears and asks who the old woman is. Eve tells him off but he just replies that she is old. This made me laugh so much, Grumpy is so cute! He then takes an apple from the old woman’s basket. It’s the greenest apple Eve has seen, no bruise or blemish in sight. Grumpy and Eve are now both suspicious and Eve asks where she was from. The old woman manages to croak that Sanaa loves apple seeds!
Shocked, Eve is suddenly pushed to the floor, the woman trying to force her to eat the apple! But the apple is poisoned! In the struggle Eve recognises something about the woman. It’s her mother! Claude hears the commotion and manages to knock the woman off Eve.
Eve calls the old woman, mother and she starts crying, saying that it was the Knight’s doing!
The Knight had enchanted her after he had found out that Eve was still alive. He wanted her to kill Eve so that she would be in constant pain. He turned the Queen into an old woman to try and make her jealous of Eve’s beauty.
The Queen says that she thinks the Knight’s grudge against them is personal. Eve starts to piece together that they are related to his big mistake somehow!
Eve is alerted to something coming for them and tells the others when suddenly there is a scream! It’s Nova from the shard warning her that the Knight is on his way.
They have no time to flee so Eve asks her mother to take the boys for her because they are precious to her.
The castle is here and it’s Nova who comes out first, bruised and battered. The Knight comes next and says he can’t understand why people call him the monster, that they are the monsters not him.
The Knight picks Nova up by the throat and throws him into the air, where he lands, still… A battle ensues against the Knight with Eve, Claude and Maggie attacking him! Nova manages to get up and also goes to fight him!
Somehow an arrow stabs him in the eye and it’s Junior, he’s somehow landed a hit! Is anyone else so stressed about this battle??
The Knight says he will not be cheated out of what is rightfully his. He taunts Eve and says that she still has not put all the pieces together. Eve says she will never wish to him and before anyone can stop him, he throws a large piece of ice at Junior who had come out of hiding. Junior is dead and Claude is distraught…
Eve collapses and Claude and the remaining boys appear, crying for Junior. I’m actually tearing up, I can’t believe this.
Backed into a corner and not wanting anyone else to be hurt she says she’ll make a wish. She wants everyone to be rid of the Knight. However the Knight states that in return someone she loves has to die. Her mother tries to be the one to die but Nova rushes out and eats the apple!
Nova says to Eve in his last breaths that she was the reason he didn’t want to be a monster. He tries to tell her he loves her but he never finishes his words…
Eve cannot believe that Nova is gone. In a rage unlike anything she has ever felt she creates a new weapon, one that burns bright from her rage. The burning sword manages to crack the Knights armour! She sees a small man underneath and his flash of fear.
After striking him through the chest, Eve tracks the bleeding Knight into the woods. He’s got stitches from one side of his body to the other. The Knight tells her that he knew a girl like her once and turns a piece of straw into gold. OMG??
The Knight tells Eve that the girl had tricked him and managed to find out the one thing that would stop her having to hand over her firstborn, his name. He was so angry he ripped himself in two. He tells her that fate had brought him back to her family…
The Knight says a riddle before Eve strikes him down! The Knight is no more!
Claude, the boys and Eve hold a ceremony for Junior. They also go to bury Nova in a coffin but find he hasn’t decayed all these days later and still looks exactly the same. They decide to put him in a glass coffin instead where he lies for two years.
Two years later and Eve still mourns for Nova. She spends her time with the Kingfisher boys and hunts down the Knights’ stories.
While in an inn with Claude, Eve’s attention is caught by two women gossiping and she overhears them speak about spinning straw into gold. When they see Eve’s attention has been caught they tell her to meet them the next day!
Chance and Grumpy insist on going with Eve the next day. The two sisters, Clio and Maeve, tell Eve they had been waiting for her. That the Knight is not the only creature who is roaming the land… That they all have an ancient source. They recount all the strange stories and magic, the rumours that are swirling about Eve and her mother.
The sisters tell Eve that the Knight’s real identity is Rumplestiltskin, and go tell her the story of the young girl who had bested him. Eve and her mother descend from this girl, the only one to have ever bested the Knight!
Despite defeating the Knight, Maeve can tell Eve is still bothered. She explains what the Knight says just before she killed him. Maeve and Clio figure it out the answer after looking through their stories. They tell Eve that she’ll need true love’s kiss!
Eve rushes to Nova. Claude appears and helps her take the lid from the coffin after she explains to him the final words of the Knight. Eve kisses Nova but nothing happens… defeated she turns away but Nova calls her name! She cannot believe that he is alive! Eve Nova and her mother are now free to live happily, finally rid of the Knight!
So much happened in this last section!
Did anyone see it coming, who the Knight really was?
There were so many moments that I didn’t expect. I’m very sad about Junior, but I adored Eve and her mother’s bond. Also the boys, they were so funny!
What was your favourite moment in Sleep Like Death?
Thank you so much for joining us for another FairyLoot readalong! I hope you had a good time and we’ll see you soon for the next one!
Love,
Isla
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The Girl with No Reflection Readalong: Day 1!
Isla
16th September 2024
Did anyone see it coming, who the Knight really was?
The only reason I saw it was because of Once Upon a Time LOL.
What was your favourite moment in Sleep Like Death?
I was also shocked by how dark things got at times, like the deaths and torture. My favorite parts (and character) were Grump. So smol and so angry.
I’m not sure I loved this as a story but I absolutely loved all the fairytales woven together and turned on their heads!
Thank you so much for hosting this readalong, I had a ton of fun! I didn’t see those final reveals coming, nor did I predict how the retelling would be twisted. I wonder if there were connections to her previous Cinderella book at the end, I haven’t read it yet!
Wow that didn’t end the way i thought it was going to! I didn’t expect that to be who the knight was no. Also very sad about Junior😭 and i was hoping for Queen Sanaa to be turned back but that didn’t happen. My favourite parts of the book were probably with Claude and the boys – loved their relationship with Eve.
I really like that we knew how this was going to end and that Nova would be okay, but she had to learn it. I really liked the twist with her mother and how she was able to alert Eve of who she was. Poor Junior though, that was so sad. Again the consequences are good in theory but ouch, my poor heart. I’m glad Eve was able to kill the Knight, but it was kind of anticlimactic after all of that, it felt too easy. I was really hoping Queen Sanaa’s curse would break when he died, but sadly, not the case.
I did see his identity coming, once we heard the story of his great mistake I knew he was Rumplestiltskin and that that had been her ancestor.
I can’t choose a favourite moment, this was a great.
I certainly didn’t realise in advance who the Knight was. I got it so wrong. Hats off to the reader who guessed in the comments he was Rumpelstiltskin.
I was so sad to see poor Junior die. Grump was a character that brought me joy. His seriousness made me laugh, especially when Eve, Chance & Grump are invited into Clio & Maeve’s house & he declares he has a knife.
Overall, this has been such an amazing story. I love how Kalynn took the story’s heart and made it anew. The way she has reimagined the story kept me turning those pages even when I needed to close the book for the evening. Now I need to purchase FL’s SE of Cinderella is Dead!