I couldn’t finish this. I got to 70% before calling it quits. The beginning was so intriguing and had so much potential, but unfortunately my interest waned from around the 30% mark. It became so boring and I had no idea what was going on.

As a lifelong Nutcracker fan, I immediately bought this for my mom and myself. I had read it was dark and twisted, but was still surprised how dark it actually was and almost abandoned it halfway through. That being said, I’m glad I continued to the end, as I felt it came together very well and loved Natasha’s growth as a character (Clara’s too). I really appreciate the author’s unique take on the classic story. Not all magic is sugar plums and rainbows, and the real world is often fueled by greed and anger. I’ll continue to love the classic nutcracker but will definitely reread this book too.

I ended up really disappointed by this sadly. At first, the atmosphere was beautiful, eerie, and magical, but it went downhill fairly quickly. I was expecting the dark fairytale it was pitched as, but it just didn't end up that way - it felt as though the author had so many ideas, and was trying to stuff them all into one book, rather than focusing on one good idea. I don't think this can even be classed as a Nutcracker retelling, because it is so far off The Nutcracker's beautiful whimsy.

Natasha was an awful main character - she was so self-pitying that it was painful. Not only was she insufferable, but so were the rest of the characters - I didn't care what happened to any of them, and for me, that ruins a book.

The writing style wasn't necessarily bad - I think that if the author had stuck to one solid idea, this would have been rated higher for me. But unfortunately as it stands, I really didn't enjoy this.

I enjoyed this book but I'm not sure if it was exactly what I was looking for - its not a bad book by any extent, it just wasnt for me.

I think part of the issue was that its so seasonal - I felt like I couldn't find the time to read it before Christmas, and it didn't feel right reading it after, making the reading quite stressful - that being said, I know loads of people would love seasonal reading, and I will recommend to many people

ARC provided via Netgalley for honest review! Thank you ❤️

I found this completely captivating. Gorgeous blend of Russian folklore & real life history blended with the nutcracker retelling. It’s definitely the most unique nutcracker retelling I’ve ever read. Also, the ending of this blew my mind just like the Tearling series. Gorgeous, heart wrenching and heart warming, what a beautiful beautiful book.

This was so deliciously dark. It was full of murder and betrayal and revenge and the Sugar Plum Faery was the perfect dark fae full of bargains and darkness.

I really liked Natasha's character. I liked how dark she was, how fixated on revenge. She's not exactly a hero but it worked because from the start it made it clear that this wasn't that kind of book. I loved how her actions changed the story of the Nutcracker from being an adventure story to being a dark bitter tale of fae.

If you're looking for a faithful retelling of the Nutcracker, you will be really disappointed because this book takes the characters and the worlds of the Nutcracker and changes it into something completely different. At least half of the story was just a completely different story. But I really liked that. I liked that it surprised me. I like that it played with the characters of the original story without sticking to it faithful.

I honestly just really, really loved this story.

I love The Nutcracker so this was a must-read from an author whose work I’ve enjoyed previously. It’s a beautifully dark twist on the tale and is the perfect read in winter time. The contrast of Light and Dark forms the foundations of the novel and features throughout in many guises. A wonderful retelling and a great read.
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own unbiased opinion.

I've head great things about Johansen's previous works, so while I hadn't read any I had decently high expectations for this. I really liked the concept, and it felt very fitting for this time of year, but unfortunately the second half of this just wasn't as strong as the first half for me, and felt a bit too convoluted towards the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Publishers for this ecopy.

I absolutely loved The Kingdom of Sweets. This take on The Nutcracker was an excellent read. I really loved the direction this story went, I really wasn't expecting it at all.
The Kingdom of Sweets was written so well that it had me gripped, I couldn't put it down. I loved Natasha her character was intriguing and so different to any other characters I've read. I found the whole concept of Light and Dark intriguing and it really played well into the story, the ending for me felt bittersweet, but it was perfect.
Highly recommend this read.

I had hoped this would be a festive read to ease me into the season, but instead I was left feeling a bit confused and as though Erika Johansen had tried to bite off a lot more than she knew what to do with.
The actual prose itself is wonderful. Johansen is a hugely talented writer, and the descriptions of parties and the details in the titular Kingdom of Sweets are beautiful. The sisters and their relationship feels complex, painful, and authentic. It was difficult to read at times, but there was also something refreshingly honest about seeing the toxicity and damage on page.
The plot itself, however, spans over two decades, and in such a small book, it means that huge spans of time are waved away in a matter of paragraphs. It leaves a lot of scenes feeling isolated and the pacing unbalanced. Likewise the ending felt overly drawn out and unnecessary, when it could have ended thirty pages earlier for a cleaner break.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC of this book! I don’t know what I was expecting when I started this, but it certainly wasn’t what it ended up being. Not quite sure what the overarching message was, but the constant reminder that the MC was ugly and frumpy got old after the second time it was mentioned. And ending with the Russian revolution was a bit of a surprise.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my e-arc of this book!

I really enjoyed this book, the nut cracker retelling was really interesting and I felt really engaged to the story the whole time!

A solid 4 stars!

The Kingdom of Sweets is a dark and incredibly addictive retelling of The Nutcracker. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and its gothic vibe! ⁣
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Clara and Natasha lives are determined by the destiny placed upon them and I loved exploring their story. The two are, at least for me, unlikable characters but it's their messy relationship that makes this story so gripping. Clara has been given everything in life which in turn has made her self-centered and used to getting her own way while Natasha is a complex and interesting character whose loneliness, jealousy and heartbreak leads her to making the most terrible decision. Each girl makes choices with no thought of the consequences that may arise. ⁣
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I really enjoyed the plot of this one and just how atmospheric it felt. I really enjoyed the scenes set within The Kingdom of Sweets along with the scenes with the Sugar Plum Fairy. ⁣
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The Kingdom of Sweets is a whimsical and haunting retelling that I really recommend picking up if you love dark gothic stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to net galley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s a darkly lyrical retelling of the Nutcracker. While I’m not familiar with the original story, it was easy to get sucked into the story, I don’t think my lack of knowledge hindered me in any way as the concepts were easy to understand.

It’s definitely a darker toned book, the themes of sisterhood, revenge and dark versus light were explored beautifully within. I found the ending ever so slightly lack luster, but that was because I was hoping for a darker twist. The message of the book wasn’t really about that and so I can see why that choice wasn’t picked.

I’m looking forward to seeing what else Johansen writes, I’ll definitely check out her other books.

This is a compelling and complex story. Not my first retelling of The Nutcracker but the first one that has left me wanting to know more but at the same time reluctant to find out.
This fast-paced story takes us on a journey of sibling love, lose, jealousy and betrayal. I liked the story, but it felt like we didn’t dig-down enough into the characters and plot. I mean, there was a lot happening but at the same time the in-depth focus of the story was not quite there.

The Kingdom Of Sweets was nothing at all like I expected. As a lover of ballet, I expected to find a fantasy story based on The Nutcracker, with a slight twist of Clara having a twin sister. What I got instead was a brutal but fascinating deep dive into human emotion. Johansen reimagines Drosselmeyer and Clara to examine human selfishness, the desire for vengeance and a tendancy to hide from our worst character traits. Drosselmeyer is unmasked as a selfish, and in the end cowardly, creature who uses children for his own gain, to shield himself from his past. Clara shows the darker side of the light, happy front that people give the world. The inclusion of Natasha as both villain and hero of the tale is masterful, perfectly. balancing with Clara. Both flawed, both victim of a desire for vengeance, and both searching to find their place in the world.
As the novel concludes and we see the events as the lead up to the Russian Revolution and war in Europe, it serves as a stark reminder that we should all strive to do better - a small ray of hope in the darkest of times. After the turbulence of recent years, the reminder is timely.

If you’re looking for a darkly fairytale like story with unlikeable but such intricately developed characters then this is a book for you!

I was gripped pretty quickly by the writing, Johansen once again had me hooked by her choice of words, and I loved the grim and gritty vibes. The Queen of the Tearling is one of my favourite series so it was such a delight reading something new from this author, even though it was very different in style. It was so atmospheric, I often felt chillingly cold while reading and it was a perfect read for the end of the year.

The first third of this book had me on the edge of my seat invested but I did seem to lose a little interest toward the second half. I still I think the way the story came full circle was very well done but there were parts in the middle where I got lost. I loved the beginning and was really invested especially when the main character ends up in The Kingdom of Sweets, the atmosphere and the descriptions were amazing. I was so intrigued and interested and loved the vibes and so when the main character returns to the ‘normal’ world my interest started to wain. It started to feel too long, and I think if this book had been shorter, maybe even novella size, it could have been so much better. It just felt as though the pace slowed down dramatically, even though at some points it felt as though there were too many things going on and not everything felt like it needed to be part of the story. As a whole this sadly didn’t work for me as much as I’d hoped, however it was a good book, and I’d definitely recommend it for fans of dark fairytales and retellings because this is a solid one with amazing writing.

Clara and Natasha are twins, born on Christmas Day and they've always been known as light and dark, two halves of the whole. Their mysterious godfather Drosselmeyer takes a keen interest in their lives, Clara always being the family favourite - the prettiest and seen as perfect. Natasha however is the clever one, more inquisitive and also hopelessly in love with their friend Conrad.

Drosselmeyer sets up a marriage that will pit the sisters against each other and when he bestows gifts to the girls that have dark, magical qualities, it takes them on a dangerous journey that leads to a pact that cannot be broken...

I've never seen The Nutcracker, so this was a new story to me (aside from knowing there is a Nutcracker and the Sugar Plum Fairy of course!) I really enjoyed this dark tale wick is definitely not for children, but perfect for Christmas.

As I write this, we are approaching Christmas, a time for some of traditions – presents, pantomimes and ballet performances, for example. The latest novel by Erika Johansen reminds us of such things, but is a much darker take on many of those traditional tales.

To start with though, the story begins with many of the key ideas and themes of those traditional stories. We have two twins, Natasha and Clara, born on Christmas Eve. On the girls birth they are given a birthright by creepy godfather character Drosselmeyer, who is reputed to be a sorcerer, that they will be ‘like light and dark’ to each other.

And so this is true. As they get older, the girls are polar opposites of each other. Blonde Clara becomes the girl who has everything – looks, charm, suitors – whilst the plainer (in an older time we might have said uglier) Natasha is the forgotten one, the dark-haired, bookish, quieter one who sits in the corner at social gatherings and tries not to be noticed whilst all the while jealous of the attention her sister receives.

As they reach the age of sixteen, we find that the parents have been pretty ineffectual. Their father is a social climber, with a near failing business. Their mother spends much of her time drinking or talking to a medium in seances. Despite all of this, the girls seem to have coped with it all. At their birthday party Drosselmeyer returns. He brings with him gifts, a strange Nutcracker like an old soldier amongst them.

The nutcracker has unexpected powers. It allows Natasha and Clara to travel to a land made of sugar and snow, of sweets and other sweet delights. Following Clara, Natasha meets The Sugar Plum Fairy and begins to make her plans for jealous revenge on Clara come true. But we must remember that such gifts are really given for free and usually have a price to pay in return…

As the above description suggests, the story is based on traditional fairy-tale trappings. Erika taps into these various elements of magic, morality and horror to create a new version of the famous story by ETA Hoffmann, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816) – or rather Tchaikovsky’s traditional ballet based on Hoffman’s story, The Nutcracker Suite, which is a now-often-performed ballet set at Christmas.

Using those fine storytelling traditions, we have the good sister and her darker twin dealing with jealousy and sibling rivalry, social climbing, the need for revenge and identity crisis, even ‘malice aforethought’, to borrow from crime fiction – but Johansen modernises them into something more palatable for the 21st century reader. Where what were relatively simple characters and situations now become more complex, where the lines between good and evil, right and wrong are blurred. Villains become more sympathetic, heroes are suspiciously good. What was quaintly traditional has now become a gothic soap opera writ large.

At times, the story is nightmarish in its depiction of things seen and unseen. Although set in Eastern Europe around the turn of the 19th century (there is a reference to Natasha reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) and candles abound!) much of the setting feels like a Dickensian England with its depictions of vast machines and grim factories.

In fact, much of the story questions what seems real and what is not, both in terms of place but also in terms of character. There are people and places hidden from plain sight, things to be loved and feared. The hidden, dreamlike land is also at times either beautiful or nightmarish, ranging from pristine sugar-coated landscapes to sickly dreamlike sequences that would feel quite at home in a Dali or a Borges painting.

To be fair, traditional fairy stories have always had an element of the unpleasant to them – a nastiness, some horror, something ‘lurking in the woodshed’ to create suspense and to set a moral against. Who remembers another traditional ballet, The Red Shoes, for example – a story by Hans Christian Andersen, where a young peasant girl is forced to keep dancing by a pair of possessed shoes and has her feet amputated in order to stop the dancing? The original Grimm’s Fairy Tales are very different to the children’s versions remembered more today, and are another case in point.

The horror therefore I had little issue with, but the main obstacle I had was where Johansen combines this 19th century setting with contemporary social values. For example, the (not-too-graphic) bedhopping of various suitors in and out of the twin’s boudoirs feels like a contemporary element that seems to fit uneasily with the 19th century setting. Although I am sure such things happened in the 1800s, the way which they are depicted here feels a little forced and more akin to something like Fourth Wing than The Nutcracker. Some of the internal monologue given by Natasha – for the story is mainly from her perspective – also feels a little jarringly modern at times too, which dissipates the mood otherwise carefully created in the otherwise baroque setting.

In summary then, for those with fond memories of seeing The Nutcracker Ballet at Christmas, this story may seem familiar, but it will not be the story you remember – The Kingdom of Sweets is not as sugary a confection as the title might suggest. Nevertheless, those in the 21st century looking for a deeper, darker version of an old fairy tale may enjoy this one. It’s a bit of a slowburner to start, but I think that it is worth persevering with until the end.

📚 r e v i e w 📚
the kingdom of sweets - erika johansen

as you might expect from the person who brought us the tearling series this is not a happy, fun fantasy - it’s dark and gothic and perfect for those that love creepy old fairy tales.

kingdom of sweets is a retelling of the nutcracker which i didn’t realise was quite as homicidal when its presented in ballet form. here though, there’s no holding back though i would agree that everything can be improved with some interpretive dance.

overall i enjoyed this, i’m still not sure how i feel about some of the themes around beauty and nat’s “not like other girls” mentality but i guess it is fitting with the source material and the time period. i found the unreliable narrator and generally unlikable characters interesting and the world in which the girls found themselves was sickly sweet in the best way.

thank you @netgalley for the early copy.
kingdom of sweets is out next week!