GOLD SPUN

A con job goes awry in this retelling of “Rumplestiltskin.”

Elenora “Nor” Molnár is a grifter, pulling small sleights of hand and chicanery to keep herself and her three brothers, Finn, Devon, and Jacobie, fed. Orphaned by the Southern War between Reynallis and Faradisia, they’ve led a hard-luck life. When Nor’s unexpected rescue of Pel, an errant faerie, brings her a rich reward, it also attracts the unwanted scrutiny of heir apparent Prince Casper. Recently returned to Reynallis and unprepared to assume kingship, Casper needs a way to replenish the royal treasury in preparation for war against the raiding fay of Magnomel. First a prisoner, then an eager pupil, Nor adjusts to life at court—defeating mean girls, learning etiquette, falling for Casper—while also trying to keep her relationship with Pel a secret. The setting is vaguely pre-industrial European, the era anywhere between the 16th and early 19th centuries, and most characters read as White, although the Faradisians have dark skin. The protagonist is caught in a trite love triangle while same-sex love among secondary characters is presented as a politically, rather than socially, fraught issue. Readers seeking a fresh take on fairy tales deserve better than this generic retread.

A lackluster spin on a familiar fairy tale.