I'd bought this to read about a month ago, but I'd been reading as many books as I could for the UKYA Extravaganza. But when I saw all the positive reviews and recommendations on a recent UKYA Chat, that Melinda was a guest author on, I knew I had to put down everything else I was reading and read it straight away!
This will not be a biased review, because I genuinely loved the book, but I think I need to put it out there that I love Melinda Salisbury! She sends me useful articles for my university dissertation, gives me a present at her event, and is all-round a wonderful friend and author.
The Sin Eater's Daughter follows Twylla, a young girl who is living in the castle of Lormere, as an executioner for those who have committed treason. She can kill these criminals with just her touch, because she is Daunen Embodied - a girl chosen by the Gods to represent their daughter on earth. To prove she has this divine quality, she must swallow a vial of poison, called Morningsbane, and prove that it does not kill her. This makes her skin poisonous, and only those with divine right - the Royal family - can touch her and survive.
Had Twylla not been chosen by the Gods, she would still have a destiny. Instead of killing people, she would conduct the ritual known as Sin Eating, like her mother before her. This involves consuming a feast upon the coffin of the deceased, an item of food for each sin they committed. It is of paramount importance to the ceremony that each sin is Eaten, or else the dead person's soul could not be committed to the afterlife, for their uneaten sins would not have been forgiven.
But Twylla gave up this destiny when she decided to go with the Queen to Lormere, be Daunen Embodied and become betrothed to marry Prince Merek soon. Once she is Queen, she will no longer be Daunen Embodied, and she will no longer have to cruelly take people's lives, which she hates. Twylla left behind her mother, the Sin Eater, and her sweet little sister, who would become the next Sin Eater in her place.
One day Twylla is given a new guard, Lief, a job not many choose to accept given her dangerous skin. Lief sees her as a person rather than a poison, and treats her as such. Theirs is a friendship of equals, something unheard of between a guard and his lady, despite the fact that Twylla is to be the next Queen of Lormere.
How can Twylla be happy with a life she has had no control over? Is everything as it seems? (Trying not to spoil anything, so I'm sorry if my review is vague!)
This book had be gasping audibly as I read it, there were so many twists I wouldn't have guessed, and it was written beautifully. Melinda has created an amazing world, and I don't want the characters I love being taken from me in the next book. I'm so glad this is going to be a trilogy, I'm too invested in it to be a stand-alone novel.
Seriously, if you haven't read it yet, why haven't you?! Read it now!!
Verdict: 5/5 <3
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