The Thirteenth Child has everything I needed in a book and I didnt even know it. It has love, tension, Death, life, magic, mayhem, and life altering decisions that are nearly impossible to make. Needless to say, with all of these elements (and so many more), this book was a nonstop rollercoaster of emotion.

The main character, Hazel, was put through constant trials and it was fascinating to watch how those trials formed her into who she was and how she dealt with every problem thrown her way. From a young age, Hazel spent a great deal of her young life feeling unloved and unwanted, and for any other character, this could lead her down a path of destruction, instead, it gave her insight into the inner workings of the mind, even before she received her gifts. It also gave her a certain amount of empathy that strengthened her healing abilities by giving her ways to connect with her patients. The choices she made gave insight into her ultimate motivations in a way that truly rounded her out as a character, giving her a more realistic feel.

The magic system involved in this world was unique. While most power came from the gods, Hazel’s powers were gifted to her by her godfather, Death. The way Death’s motivations were slowly shown made Hazel’s healing powers more meaning. It was nice to see powers given to a character that had to be earned through learning and knowledge as well as simply gifted.

While a majority of the growth and character development fell to Hazel, the side characters were not left to be simply two dimensional fillers. Each side character was given a full story and motivations without bogging down the story. They were given room to grow and to be understood, leading to even more surprises to Hazel on her journey of survival and self discovery.

This book was a wild ride and I loved every spooky minute of it!

5/5 stars

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children’s for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

With lush and lyrical writing, Erin A. Craig writes another stunner of a YA fairytale. I was immersed from page 1 and captivated the entire story. I can't wait to read whatever she writes next.

I mostly enjoyed this gothic fairy tale novel, with my favorite part being the first half where Hazel and her God really get into the exploration of her world, gifts, the magical candles, and healing in the shadow of Death. But the second part becomes a dark kingdom fantasy, which I generally find unpleasant, with all of the annoying politics of kingdoms and power grabs and the frippery of court. Also, the gods are less a part of the story and the in-between places become secondary. Still an interesting envisioning of this sort of story type, Erin A. Craig continues to be a great mind in fantasy.

This was a fantasy book about a girl chosen at birth to be a goddaughter to a god. Hazel’s formative years were sad and lonely and it’s interesting how that really continued until she arrived at the palace. I enjoyed the world building of this book. The concept of the Shivers was extremely interesting.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's Delacorte Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

Great book! Hazel was the 13th child of her family and was promised to the Merrick, the Dreaded End, the god of death. Her parents treated her awfully until she left home. Hazel becomes a great healer but at a cost--she can see when death will claim a patient and there is nothing she can do. Interesting book.

i loved hazel as a main character and how wide reaching this story was through her life. some of the pacing got a little weird but overall very enjoyable

The Thirteenth Child is set in a world where children can be dedicated to certain gods, and not all of them are what they seem. In this story Hazel is dedicated to Death. But Hazel discovers that that dedication isn't necessarily a bad thing. Death has made it so that she will live a long life and she is meant to use it to help heal people. She can see what ails them and how to help but she can also see if they are meant to die. This turns into a point of contention when first her fiance and then a king who she is meant to treat are marked for death.

This book was a rather enjoyable read from Hazel struggling with the path she is meant to be on. Death is a rather interesting character as well, trying to make Hazel happy but not entirely knowing how to navigate the world of the living. It also brought up moral dilemmas and the whole idea of who should make the decisions on death and what not.

Overall I thought it was a pretty wonderful gothic book and I very much enjoyed it and would suggest it for those looking for a gothic, high stakes fantasy.

Erin A. Craig always does something new with fairy tales. She's so great at taking elements of fairy tales and weaving them into her own narrative. I really enjoyed this one. The pacing was excellent: I loved that the book as a whole was the story of Hazel's life, rather than having just a brief snapshot of her childhood before getting into the action. I liked the French setting as well.

I really wanted to love this! It started out very promising but I ended up having to push myself to finish it. I thought the romance was never going to happen, the pace just felt so strange. I will buy for my library because I love Erin Craig, but I’m not sure if I would recommend.

This is a fascinating, imaginative story that will take you by surprise as you read on. I would recommend for older teens.

The world building is written well in this book enabling the reader to picture the environment well.

The story is full of ups and downs and magical moments. Choices, challenges and changes.

The child (thirteenth) is chosen by a god for a special duty as they age, the story follows this child life and the process to achieve the goal set for them.

The Thirteenth Child is a well-written, atmospheric fantasy with a strong lead character and a compelling world. Though it occasionally falls into familiar tropes, it’s immersive read. Erin Craig is a master at Grimm retellings, and her latest is sure to satisfy fans of her other work. However, there were some inconsistencies with the magic system and how Hazel used her powers. Fans of surreal, dark fairytales will enjoy Craig’s latest.

Thank you Delacorte Press and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5!

I’ve previously had some mixed results with Craig’s books, from loving her Sisters of the Salt series to feeling pretty mid about Small Favors, so I felt like I generally knew what to expect. This definitely falls somewhere in the middle of how I’ve felt about Craig’s books, which is that I liked it fine.

The premise and the set up are really intriguing, and I found the first 30% or so to be really interesting. As the story went on, though, my interest started to wane, and while I understand that this is a young adult novel and many young adult novels include romances, the romance in this just felt like it came out of left field for me. There were times where I thought that Hazel was being a little obtuse in a way that was mostly to move the plot along than something intrinsic to her character, which made this harder to buy into, but honestly I really enjoy the quality of Craig’s writing and I enjoyed the ending quite a bit.

I think there’s an audience for this book who will absolutely love it, but unfortunately that audience is not me. Regardless, I did like it!

My first Erin Craig book! I really liked the writing style and the flow, I easily binged this over a day. The plot was unique and interesting, I had no idea what was gonna happen at any point and I was constantly intrigued. Also, I'm immensely happy about that epilogue!

TWs - lots of death, mercy killings ish, lots of medical/surgical scenes, mental/physical abuse and neglect of a child by parents

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

As heart-wrenchingly stunning and beautifully written as everything Erin Craig writes. I devoured it in one sitting because I couldn't bear to put aside Hazel and her deeply precious brand of magic.

A MUST READ!

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book to review.***

Great storyvery well written. It is a little dark you definitely understand the darkness. Hazel was the best character and her godfather Merrik was unexpectedly sweet even as the Dreaded End

I'm a big fan of the previous works of Erin A. Craig that I've read (House of Salt and Sorrows, House of Roots and Ruin, and Small Favors) so I was excited to pick this one up. The premise is fresh and interesting, and it has a familiar, kind of spooky/eerie/horror-lite vibe that the other books also had (which was one of the reasons I loved them). There are quite a few time jumps in this book, which aren't clearly outlined with a "1 Year Later" or whatever, so just make sure you're paying attention when reading. Overall, this was fun, with a good plot, strong characters, a compelling mystery, a cute romance, and a satisfying ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Craig's fantasy vibes are always impeccable so it was nice to get a standalone from her. The tie in to quasi medical care was a little much for me (a very personal thing) but otherwise a compelling and dramatic story.

I really loved the premise of this book and the authors previous novel had always been one of my favorite. I felt like this was a bit predictable and not as interesting as I was hoping. The ending felt like a let down and the selfless actions of our protagonist when exhausting. Overall I think this kind of YA is just not for me.

This was wonderful! I loved the writing style, the characters, the world-building…everything about it was top-notch. I will definitely be recommending this book!

I enjoy when this author comes out with a new book! I will literally read anything she writes. Her covers are also incredible and suck you in!

Although this wasn't my favorite by her, I still liked it. It kept me engaged for the most part and the pacing was set just right. There was always something going on whether it be from the gods or her making decisions that went against what she was supposed to be doing. I understood why she made some decisions, but because I kind of figured what would happen in one scenario I just wanted to jump into the book and shake her! It made me want to continuously listen at that point so the plot did its job, haha.

There is a lot in the plot about death, cause and effect, and finding love and nurturing when she wasn't shown it her whole life. Hazel dealt without her whole life and still tried to do everything right and please the gods even when they didn't deserve it. There was a lot of chaos, but sweet moments mixed in that made it all worth it. I loved understanding her gift and seeing what others were gifted as well. It was pretty cool.

The only complaint I had was that the ending felt a bit anticlimatic and felt rushed. It did at least conclude everything for the most part, but I feel like the little epilogue could have also been a bit longer.

Overall, this was a good book and I am looking forward to her next one.