Nameless

Tales of Beauty & Madness #1

by Lili St. Crow

An adopted princess. An immortal family. A snow-choked city. And one blood-red apple.

Snow White as you've never seen her before . . .

A battered child is found alone in the snow by the godfather of the Seven-the powerful Families that rule magic-ridden New Haven. Papa Vultusino adopts the girl, naming her after his dead wife and raising her in luxury on Haven Hill alongside his own son, Nico.

Now sixteen. Camille keeps her faded scars hidden under her school uniform. She opens up only to her two best friends. Ruby and Ellie, and to Nico, who has become more than a brother to her. But even though Cami is a pampered Vultusino princess, she knows that she is not really Family. She is merely mortal, with a buried, uneasy past. And it's not until she meets the mysterious Tor, who reveals scars of his own, that Cami begins to uncover the secrets of her birth-and of the mysterious white-robed woman who calls from beneath New Haven's twisted streets . . .

An eerie, darkly atmospheric retelling of Snow White from New York Times bestselling author Lili St. Crow.

Praise for Lili St. Crow's Strange Angels

'A vivid and dark world that will mesmerize readers.' Publishers Weekly

'Grabs readers by the throat, sets hearts beating loudly and never lets go.' Kirkus

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Retellings, Paranormal, Romance, Vampires, Fairy Tales

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 4, 2013

About the author

Lili St. Crow was born in New Mexico, bounced around the world as an Air Force brat, and fell in love with writing when she was ten years old. She lives in Vancouver, Washington, in a house full of stray cats and children.

Lili St. Crow also writes as Lilith Saintcrow.

Reviews

[Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really am torn as to what rating to give this book. It's an interesting concept, I loved the writing. However, after having finished the story, I still have no idea what the big reveal is and what it means, the book is that confusing. So, excellent writing, excellent atmosphere, interesting characters, wtf-world building, and a plot that makes my head spin. This is supposed to be a retelling of Snow White; if so, there must be a pretty big wiggle room for writers' creativity. Had I not known it from the start, and if not for the blatant references in the book (random-as-fuck craving and choking on the apple? Come on now.) I would not have a clue that this had anything to do with Snow White.

Despite my preference for light reads that do not make me think, I do enjoy the challenges of a complex book, and I like to think I'm not so far beyond overlooking the obvious. I don't need everything spelled out for me, but there are books in which it's necessary for the author to let the reader know the world into which they're being plunged into. It is not necessary to do so in a verbose and Dickensian manner. I've had enough of A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations from 10th grade AP English to last me a lifetime, thank you very much, but I do appreciate a good description. I love exploring new worlds, and when the author has seen fit to define a new genre (I say so because as stated above, I am confused as hell), it needs some descriptions. It needs some hints in the writing as to what the new world is like.

Ms. St. Crow has created a new genre of which I've never read. I would like to coin a new term for it, that of steampunk-dystopian-Godfather mafia. It's not just about vampires, although it is strongly hinted that the Families (did I say Godfather before? You think I was kidding? Nope) are vampires. The world is referred as being...post-Reeve. What the heck does that mean? What are the Twisted? What are Jacks? What are Minotaurs, if not actual minotaurs? Why are there trashcan-gobbling machine-monsters in the street? There are more questions than answers, and although the world-building is extraordinary, there is never enough information given to actually define the world itself. Some authors do a great job of giving us information without making it look like we're reading an encyclopedia; I would have actually appreciated a prologue or footnote or an actual encyclopedia, because the entire time I was reading this book, I had no idea what these strange new creatures are in this new world the author has built.

As for the characters; Nico. Oh, my. What a dream character. I was so angry when it seemed that the story was making him out to be the bad boy. Camille (Cami) was another story. I was torn between sympathy for her, feeling like one does not belong is not a good thing. She also has a terrible stuttering problem, which I hate to admit, got on my nerves a lot. I know I sound like a terrible person for saying that, I probably am. She is such a spoiled-poor-little-rich-girl, though, and I found my sympathies for her deteriorating rapidly. She has this wonderful family, who, although not biological, clearly loves her, worships her, and gives her anything she desires, yet she persists with this oh-woe-is-me routine, and frequently plunges herself into TSTL situations. She also sympathizes with those who are not deserving of it, making excuses for them. Cami is a very hard character to like. The others in the book are much more relatable.

I was satisfied with the ending, although it seems rushed, and again, too much information s omitted for me to truly enjoy the book. However confusing it is, and however much is left to the imagination, it is still one of the better books I've read lately.

[Wendy Darling]

Sounds fun. Just so long as the ending isn't like Strange Angels', you know?

[Whitney]

HOLY SHIIIIT. LILI DOES ANOTHER YA SERIES. *jumps around in excitement*

[Kat Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nameless is a bit like billowing, amazing clouds on a warm sunny day. It’s nice. Just really nice, you know? Sure, it doesn’t move fast and clouds aren’t the most gripping things to look at, but it was just really nice. God I really liked Nameless and I really like clouds. They’re so magical.


Unless they’re giving you goatse. Don’t look that up if you don’t know what it is btw.

Nameless wasn’t a perfect novel, but it was an enjoyable novel. I feel like most of the things it set out to do, it accomplished.

Things like creating, nurturing and building the relationship between Nico and Cami. Book, candle, Nico *cue heart melt* (you’d get it if you read the book). There felt like a depth of years to their relationship and that’s a hard thing to manufacture in a few hundred pages.

Nameless was a pretty ambitious story, which worked out for me because I’m a pretty ambitious reader, but it’s not going to float everyone’s boats. And that’s because it’s ODD. It’s just a really odd book.


Like Harley Quinn – twisted but in a really, really good way

Firstly, nameless is an alternate reality world with a whole slew of different rules and supernatural… things happening. And St Crow doesn’t hold no hands when she tells this story. She doesn’t sit you down and say, “Now children, this is a twist. It’s a person who has twisted in bad way due to emotions…” Nuh-uh. She just starts throwing this lore at you and expects you to catch up. You have to pay attention or you’re not going to know what’s happening.

And her lore isn’t simplistic. It’s a complicated world. Add to that, the fact that there’s so much going on. Camille isn’t just dealing with figuring out who she is and avoiding being turned into a heartless shish-ka-bob. She’s dealing with Nico learning to take responsibility for his temper and his life, helping her friends, developing a friendship with the mysterious gardener, finding a home and identity for herself and, most of all, trying to get people to damn well shut their mouths and let her express herself.

Which is hard, because she has a significant stutter all throughout the book. This had the potential to be frustrating for the reader. But I think St Crow really pulled it off. Instead of feeling frustrated, I felt HER frustration. That people wouldn’t wait to hear what she had to say, would assume what she was thinking because they were too lazy to wait for her to say what she really wanted, etc.

But, the thing with Nameless is that it’s a really slow burn. Just so slow. And since so much of it is internal, emotional issues being worked through, it sometimes felt like it was dragging.

There were some elements to the story telling that I wanted to be tighter. Stronger. The Snow White myth felt really lost in the story. Rather like it was grossly outweighed by all the other elements until, sometimes, it became easy to forget that this was a Snow White retelling. This is an issue because Nameless could easily have been a standalone novel with no ties to Snow White. I would have liked it still and wouldn’t have felt a little cheated on the fairy tale retelling aspects that felt largely shoe-horned in at the end to justify the label.

Mostly though, if you’re a fan of Lili St Crow, or YA Paranormal romances with a touch of thriller to them, then you’re really going to like this one.

This review, and others like it, are also posted on my blog, Cuddlebuggery Book Blog.

This book was provided to me by the publisher. This does not affect my review in any way because they refused to pay or bribe me. Greedy buggers. Left with no other option, I was forced to be honest.

[Paradoxical · Rating 1 out of 5]

...Okay. I need to get this out.

WHYYYYY.

What promised to be a beautiful book filled with danger and excitement and a stunning world just flopped right before my eyes. I kept reading and reading, and as I crept through the book I kept thinking to myself, it has to get better by now. It has to. ONLY NOPE. Some of the descriptions were pretty. Not that they made all that much sense. The situation that Cami finds herself in had real potential to be interesting! Only for Cami to be severely underutilized (HOW. SHE'S THE MAIN CHARACTER) and the plot inched along at a snail's pace.

What about world building? Haha, what world building. Here. Let me give you slips of information that makes no sense at all and pretend it's world building. But maybe the other characters...? Crash and burn. Okay! Cami has to be a strong, female lead, right? Or at least grow strong? What are you talking about, this is not that sort of book. It's a retelling of Snow White! Doesn't mean it has to be any good. I'll give you that the bare bones of the plot was somewhat interesting, but the execution was completely lacking.

It just kills me that Cami, the main character, is so weepy and she never confronts her fears and if she's just a ball of angst and horribly low self esteem. No. That's not what kills me. What kills me is that she doesn't grow from this. She's stagnant. What does she do? She runs around and gets into trouble and other people have to bail her out all the time. She never becomes a stronger character. She faces her past, but she's still essentially the same person inside. That's just so, so sad to read. All that potential wasted. I don't need a kickass character. I don't even need one that's mentally strong. But I expect the characters to grow and change, not remain essentially the same.

The romance was dull. It was tired. It didn't even make sense. Look. I'm actually okay with Cami having some sort of romance with Nico, even if they have grown up together as brother and sister because it's a book. Whatever. It's fine. But there's nothing there. No. It's worse than that. Cami's afraid of Nico a decent chunk of time. Sparks? What sparks? They barely interact with each other in a way that isn't melodramatic . They hardly ever even talk!

What really disappoints me, I think, is that the book had such potential and it just... fell apart as I read it. And I like this author. I enjoy her other books a great deal. But while the prose may sound dark and lovely, that doesn't help anything if you're confused a good portion of the time and the characters are a wash. 1 star.

[Melanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

See more reviews at YA Midnight Reads
DNF. Mini-mini review (There are mini reviews, then there are mini mini reviews which are like 3 paragraphs long) Stopped at 31%

It has come to my great despair to not finish this book. I have heard several great thoughts and reviews of Strange Angels so I assumed this would be just as good or even better. Well..maybe not. Originally, I started to read this book about a month ago, I stopped within 5 pages due to its mind fumbling writing and slow pace. At her picking the novel up again, I gave up because my first thoughts were correct.

Nameless showed great potential. I kind of understood the direction of where this book was going but confusion dominated this novel as well as the monotonous/cryptic writing. Okay, maybe not cryptic but incoherent. There was so much happening over shorts spurts of time, I just couldn't do it anymore.

Nonetheless, if you originally wanted to read this, go ahead, this is not one of my DNF reviews were I go off ranting on how bad it was, this one was more of the level of my patience and curiosity for this book. I may try in the future, but for now, it will remain as a DNF. Recommended to fairytale retelling book lovers.

This copy was given for review purposes, no compensation was fine to alter this review. Thanks publishers for the chance to read and review this!

[K. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trigger warnings: childhood trauma, death of a parent, abusive step-parent. The main character has a lot of scars from her childhood and she can't remember how she got them.

Soooo I picked this one up at work on a whim a month or so ago, and was intrigued by the cover and the fact that it's billed as a dark retelling of Snow White. And, like, it IS a dark retelling of Snow White. That's not the problem (one of the problems) that I had with it.

I'm just going to break this down into a list of issues I had, because it's easier. So.

1. The worldbuilding
More accurately, WHAT WORLDBUILDING??? You'r every much thrown in the deep end with this one. I still don't know if it's meant to be set in the US or in a fantasy world. The main character and her two best friends are OBVIOUSLY Snow White, Cinderella and Red Riding Hood, but beyond that? WORK IT OUT YOURSELF, YO. There's never any explanation of this world. Of the paranormal species in it. Of how magic works. Of how its weird blend of magic and technology works. There's really no explanation of ANYTHING.

2. The writing
I...wasn't a fan. I can't even pinpoint what it was that I didn't like about it. I just...yeah. No.

3. The romance
A lot of people have talked in their reviews about how cute the "book, candle, Nico" thing was to help Camille when her stutter was really bad. And, like, yes. It was. It was a tried and true mechanism that she and Nico has worked out over the years.

That doesn't change the fact that a) she's 16 and Nico is 20, b) they've been raised as siblings over the past 10 years, and c) the book ends with them engaged???? SHE'S FUCKING SIXTEEN AND HE'S TWENTY. STOP SHIPPING IT JFC.

4. The retelling
Despite it being obvious that this little trio of friends was meant to be Snow White, Cinderella and Red Riding Hood, the retelling side of things often got...lost...in amongst all the vampire-esque stuff. Like, I felt like Ellie was more obviously a retelling than Cami was, and she was a secondary character. So???

In short: this was a confusing hot mess.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars really...for what it could have been.
If I could use one word to describe this book, I would use potential.
It has an intriguing premise. The characters might easily have been something worthwhile. The familiar yet unique way of approaching the story of Snow White is both haunting and comfortable.
Oh yes, this could have been something good.
Yet I would argue...it is not. It is confusing. The characters are not properly developed, important plot points not explained. I really liked the ending, but it is to rushed.
Plot:
In a futuristic/fairy tale world, "The Families" run New Haven. Besides being like the Mafia, the heads of the Families are vampires. Ten years ago, the head of the Vultusino Family adopted a young human girl discovered abused and abandoned on the city streets and raised her along with his son Nico. He named her Camille after his dead, mortal wife.
Cami is now sixteen but nightmares give her a double world. She is part of one of the most important Families, but feels like an outsider. Her stutter keeps her apart. The secret of her early years eludes her. And somewhere...a White Queen continues the search for the heart of a girl who escaped her clutches ten years earlier.


Thoughts
I'll admit, I'm not much of a vampire fan. However, I enjoyed the Mafia/Vampire connection immensely. Something about "The Family" and "blood" worked really well together. I don't have much complaint as far as the plot outline itself goes. I appreciated the lack of a love triangle...though they did a good job drawing it out like there might possibly be one. No, my problems with this book run like this...

1). Cami. "The Nameless". Our Snow White heroine...So much of her doesn't fit with the story. She comes across as a typical 16 year old with an INCREDIBLY AWKWARD CRUSH on her old brother for most of the book. She is stupid, runs into danger, though she has some personality because of the stutter/way the book hangs around her POV. I could have liked her.
However, she spends a lot of the book contrasting her "richness" to Tor's "poverty". Or anyone's poverty. It was an entirely unneeded plot element, in my opinion. Soooo....one of her shirts cost more than anything Tor makes in a day? How is that relevant? She strikes an odd cord as one who is a "modern day teenager" and as some fairy-tale princess who is kind of useless.
The whole thing with her being "The Nameless" gets thrown in there randomly.
Also, her obsession about not being "Family" makes no sense. Everybody treats her with respect and kindness and she just turns into this little puddle of 'I'm going to be abandoned.' Why? Where does this come from? It was this extreme section of her life yet doesn't seem to have a source. it just IS and because of that she goes and throws herself into a stupid situation that was totally preventable...as Nico points out at the end.
Both of those things just lightly irritated me, really. I just felt like her character growth was entirely...random. One minute she is a very typical 16-year-old girl, the next....what? What is she exactly at the end? Still a 16-year-old girl? Yes, but to think of her that way doesn't work. She's a high schooler and she doesn't really change much but she gets herself into a dumb situation and is saved out of it. Have her worst fears really been...fixed? Will her nightmares go away? Will it all be better? I'm not convinced. We lose touch with Cami at the end because she has somehow 'fought' her destiny but done very little fighting. She has this weird crush-thing on Nico and that's weird and apparently all worked up but what?
I might as well go into that next.

2). Cami and Nico. Who are technically legal siblings. That was...weird. I guess I can overlook that part because I will admit their romance was cute but it is just strange that Nico would fall for her and propose and its all true love or whatever...
She is his little sister.
Legally, if not by blood. Apparently they were also raised as siblings too. "Took baths together" and all that fun stuff. I fail to see how they fell in love, frankly. I also thought the scene where she just RANDOMLY throws off her tank top was UNNEEDED. It was awkward. It was weird. It was when the story went borderline sketchy. (though I was grateful nothing else went down)
Can I remind the world that Cami is 16? There is nothing really about her relationship with Nico that hints at more than a school girl crush, really.
Anyway...

3). Nico. Nico alone was why this book drips with Potential. I don't normally fall for book characters in teen fiction, and he had his share of flaws, but I love him. He is a redeemable Bad Boy Character whose redemption could have been so much more developed. I can't be as mad about the romance as I want to be because honestly Nico has so much potential intermingled with his angst, earnestness, protection and love. But he makes no sense. Why did his anger turn to sadness so quickly? Is the change going to be long-lasting? Has he really taken his role as leader seriously? Is his love for his sister a little twisted...or romantic? I don't know. I wish he could have been more developed. The scene at the bar was a great start but I wanted more Nico/Cami time before he proposed...because it made no sense. Or even after he proposed. Or when he got his heart. ALL of that is intriguing. I thought his character was way more relevant than Cami's friends, who get equal or more time. Is this book a romance or not?
Is a fairy-tale a romance?
I think it would have been better if he has rescued her in the end. Or at least if there had been more focus on his part, instead of again equal/more mention of her friends. It made the whole modern teenage girl/fairy tale heroine separation more dramatic and distinctive but not in a good way. It was harder to understand.
I don't normally go for this, but maybe even stress a prophecy about the two of them or something. Anything to bind Nico/Cami together in a more sensible, less awkward way and make their romance another level.

4). A lot of this book is hard to understand. The whole magic/sparks/visible potential thing was never really explained. That was a problem from the beginning. It made it hard to follow what was happening. Also the whispers about who she was...when she actually begins figuring out who she is...confusing.

5). Um, what happened to Tor? He started out as sort of this third love triangle-ish dude....turned out to be her legit half brother and almost step father sorta? It was just WEIRD. He appears...flirts...is cool but keeps getting compared to Nico which is not cool...and then becomes useless but he has this great act of heroism...and disappears from the plot again as irrelevant. That was confusing. Is he important? Isn't he? Is he paranoid or are there actually people after them? Will Cami just let her brother go? There is an entire relationship there that could have been intriguingly developed.


In conclusion, I really fell for the characters. I just wanted...MORE of them. More of their development, emotions, character change and redemption. More interaction. The best friends really have little "foil" compared to Tor and Nico but somehow flicker through the plot as pseudo-Cinderella/Red Riding Hood. Plot good, needed more flesh. Less about Cami's weird emotional issues. Good for what might have been...

[Joy (joyous reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truth be told, I opened this review with: this is not your ordinary retelling of a beloved fairy tale, then deleted it altogether because even that line seems like a tired old phrase used to describe every single retelling that's ever grazed our shelves. I also wrote, this is Snow White like you've never seen her before, but then I read the book's jacket and it has the exact same quote from someone or other.

If you ask me to give you a little rundown of this book, then I'll have to decline because it's beyond me. Complicated, dark and gothic, shockingly beautiful and irrevocably unique. But I must warn you that the writing takes a bit of getting used to. There was a wide-spread usage of jargons that are entirely intrinsic to the novel as a whole. And yet, I didn't question it nor did I complain about it. The author substituted words that have been used and misused in every paranormal YA I've ever read. Words like: vampires, sucking blood and the process of which vampires die in a way that almost gives them the benefit of a soul is unheard of. Then I find myself thinking, how do you even know the Seven Families are vampires? It could be another species of mythical creatures altogether, for all I know. That's the beauty of this imagined world though, it's wide open to interpretation and pliable enough to cater every reader's imagination.

The romance. Oh the romance. There were two boys. It was weird. That's all I'm going to say about that. I think if I say any more, I would ruin it. But the second I realized the love triangle was impossible, I kind of wished it was. And that's saying a lot because love triangles fill me with abhorrence and disgust. But not here. I look forward to Camille's interactions with both boys on every page.

The world building is insane; a dichotomy of old world and the future, an ambiance that was romantic and dark, lush and forbidden - hard to explain and even harder to paint. It's a twisted world perfectly immortalized by the author's words.

Nameless may be a retelling of Snow White but St. Crow stripped it off anything that may deemed it fairy tale. Prince charming does not exist and the Princess was a stuttering mess. Bring your patience and an appreciation for the weird if you're thinking of reading this book.

[Tee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this book which bugs me so much cause I like to finish every book I read no matter how bad it is. It enables me to criticize it fairly.

However, lately I have this new "theory" or "belief" that says life is too short to waste time on reading books you don't enjoy.
Books bring me joy and bad books bring stress and sadness lol.
I can't explain the plot unfortunately since it was all mixed up and I didn't know much about any character really, such as their backgrounds or their family history or anything that would make sense. I just know the family that the main character is in, are a bunch of vampires lol.
This book was BORING. No world building whatsover. The author created a ridiculous world with no interest in explaining the year, the country or the relations to modern or old world. It was all so very vague. Annoyingly vague.
The characters were awful. I mean it's nice to add diversity to the characters since the main character stuttered and wasn't this perfect female but as a personality? She was so bad!
I absolutely hated Nico! I seriously still don't know if he was a pervert or What since he's Cami's adoptive brother. Cami is the main character btw. He seemed to have liked her since they were children and slept besides her and she was so silly about it. In one scene, she went on to describe how he slept next to her and cuddled with her and she felt his "private" part. Wtf? Are you 10 years old to feel giddy about that?
And the minute love triangle started to kinda appear, I am like NOPE, goodbye.

I seriously hated this book.

[Skyden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oooh what to say? I struggled to rate this book because there were definitely aspects of it that I loved and some that I hated altogether.

I fell in love with St. Crow's Strange Angels series and have been desperately hoping that each new YA book she writes will somehow come close to that series. It seems I'm doomed to disappointment, or at least I am with this particular series and the Romances of Arquitaine series.

Unfortunately, it seems Ms. St. Crow creates a more compelling story when she isn't busy creating/re-creating a world. This book, like the Arquitaine series, takes place in a twisted version of our world. It's like the author sat down and thought "what if this happened". In Arquitaine it seemed to be a re-imagined version of some Medieval European time frame (in Aquitaine perhaps?) full of courts, royalty, knights (similar to the romantic Arthurian kind) and the added twist of magic. In Nameless, we find that the setting is most likely during our current time frame--or a few decades ahead. In this universe, much as it seemed to in Arquitaine, magic has also appeared and run amok. People have the ability to use/practice charms, and those who have the talent or "Potential" for this type of gift run the risk of becoming Twists. As was true of the Arquitaine series, the author spends a great deal of time re-imagining the world and throwing odd words (mostly french) at readers as well as describing things like Twists, Jacks and the Reeve without fully explaining them.

Twists, apparently, are people who have mild or low potential for charms or magic (though charms and potential are very loosely explained in the books), who have either undergone a great amount of strain/anguish or anger. They "twist" which causes them to sprout feathers or other such odd animal parts. Once twisted they are considered dangerous or, more to the point, dirty. Jacks were never explained and the Reeve was the revolution when people suddenly began to recognize potential and charms as well as the first few appearances of Twists.

St.Crow mixes reality with her fiction, speaking about familiar cars and even mentioning Tesla. It's as if our past took a different path. Now, had this been all, it would have been alright (I think). Especially if things were explained a little more carefully. Unfortunately we add in the Families that sound vaguely like vampires who "Borrow" blood from others and having Living and Unbreathing members with roles to play in society. They are similar to mobsters or elite rich, running society (though this is a vague idea in the novel) and generally existing in their own snobby little world. There are also Fae as well, though they aren't as powerful as they generally are portrayed in other fantasy novels. On top of all this, the story itself is a retelling of Snow White and, after meeting one of the other characters, we'll likely have a retelling of Cinderella as well.

Overall, the idea was there. The potential was glimmering before me but I lost it along the way in reading this book. If there hadn't been a great deal of random things I didn't understand (Jacks and Twists to name a few), it would have been salvageable.

I found it hard at times to read, as it felt like there was so much going on in the "world" that I didn't know. Much of that information impacted the story, so my "not knowing" made things really confusing. I also felt like this could have created two very amazing stories if parts of the book were separated out into different books altogether.

Re-tell Snow White in one book, and expand on the amazing characters the Families could represent in another! In this story we catch a taste of the Families, and while we really only get to know two members of their kind, they could be so much more!

To give the book credit, however, I did enjoy the the meshing of the old Snow White tale with this version. It was cleverly done. The hair pin, the Hunter, the shawl/lace bodice, apples, mirrors and even the choking necklace make appearance (in one fashion or another) in the book in some interesting and unique ways.

But, in the end, after all was said and done and the "happily ever after" came with the "prince", I still felt like something had been left out. I needed more story and less gibberish I didn't understand. I think that it's a unique talent to create another world, but part of that talent is helping the reader to understand what the things in your world do/are. If you can't explain them well enough, they should either fade to the background of your story as nothing but novelties, or shouldn't exist. It's confusing and frustrating to read a story where bits of the world are important but incomprehensible or inadequately detailed/explained.

Overall, an okay read, but not nearly as amazing as I was hoping for. It seemed like there was sooo much potential to be amazing and that all sort of fizzled out as the book wound on. :(

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a glorious fever dream.

I can barely even describe what it's about. There's sixteen-year-old Camille, who was adopted by the powerful Vultusino family when she was found abandoned in the snow at age six. The Vultusino are vampires, and she has to deal with the fact that her adoptive Papa is about transition into Undeath while his son, her adoptive brother Nico, is running wild. There's a new gardener's boy at home too and he knows far more about Cami than he should. Everything is just getting too much for her.

I've read this book at least three times by now (hence I have no choice but to give it 4 stars) but I still don't know if I actually like it. The writing is gorgeous and lyrical, the worldbuilding is fantastic - but the climax of the book is weirdly weak, and I don't know how I feel about the romance. I love Nico, and I believe that he and Cami felt very strongly for each other, but I can't remember if they even kiss. The romance is just odd.

The ending is good though - I just wish it hadn't ended there. More explanation would have been better.

[Blog] - [Bookstagram]

[Joie]

OOOH!!! Fairytale + dark retelling + Lili St. Crow= pure awesomeness!

... but it better not have an ending like Strange Angels.
No. Just NO.

[Lil · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disclaimer: This is not a review of the entire book. I decided to DNF on page 102, so you are about to read my thoughts about the portion of the book I read not as a review, but as a record-keeper if I ever decide to come back to this.

I was really looking forward to this one, so I was slightly upset once I began reading it. I've never read anything by Lili St. Crow before so I don't know if this was just a bad book for an amazing author or if her writing is normally like this. There are several reasons why I chose to DNF and I want to explain them now.

The world-building.
I was about a third of the way into this book and I still didn't fully understand this world. There were so many aspects to this world and so many creatures that I just couldn't grasp anything. There's this thing called the Waste which you don't want to go into, but faeries can. Then there's the Family of Seven which is supposed to be super powerful and feared, but they're like vampires from what I've gotten, though they have this ritual called Borrowing that I don't understand yet. And then normal people have Potential that shines through in charms and these people can do crazy things when they're emotional, but when they hit puberty they can become a Twist which is an evil person of some sort. And there are jacks who are creatures born with deformities like feathers and scales, if I'm grasping that correctly. There was some sort of altered history after WWII and that's pretty much all I got. Oh, and scarecrows and minotaurs are real in this world as well, but minotaurs form from extremely Twisted humans or something of the sort. I'm really confused and this entire little paragraph is me explaining what I did grasp thus far, which is why I'm frustrated because a third into the book I can't tell you, flat-out, about anything because I'm not sure of anything.

The characters.
I didn't really feel a connection to any of the characters. We're introduced to Cami who is the main character and she immediately felt flat to me. I didn't connect to her emotionally, nor did I really have a desire to because I felt as if the pity card was constantly played with her stutter, the nightmares from her past, and her constant talk about hiding her scars. The insecurities were overplayed. We meet her two friends, Ellie and Ruby early on as well. Ruby's supposedly this really gorgeous girl that every guy wants to get with and she loves shopping, so her shallowness did not appeal to me. Ellie has an evil step-mom who likes to ground her and she's poor and I think she is also physically abused, so Cami often buys her a lot of things with her extra money. We met the man and leader of the Seven that adopted Cami and I happen to like him. He's pretty much an ailing Italian mobster, and I like characters like that. We also meet his son and future heir, Nico. Nico is really twisted and self-destructive, which I didn't mind initially. He likes to fight, disobeys his parents on purpose only to get beaten later, and even took a knife to everything in his bedroom because he likes to destroy things. It's now obvious that he's really just a self-serving rich brat that likes to make people's lives difficult.


The "re-telling."
Re-tellings are re-tellings, they're not supposed to stick to the tale 100% though some try to. I understand that, but I saw no remnants of Snow White in this besides artificial things. Cami's lips were red and she had big blue eyes that stood out from her glossy black hair that nobody else in this written world had. Randomly, she would have thoughts about a specific apple that made her weak in the knees. Hearts, as in human hearts, were mentioned oddly and some guy even said she ate a heart as a child before she was found and adopted by the Seven. That's pretty much it. When I first saw the name of the Seven families I thought they would be her dwarves, but this girl is no Snow White. She's not commanding, she's slightly pitiful, and these Seven are extremely powerful dark families dealing in something like a magical mafia. They aren't dwarves. Where are the dwarves? I'm just confused.


The initial romance.
So, I saved the biggest reason of all that I chose to DNF for last. The synopsis above hints that there may be a romance in the book later on with Tor, but a third in we've only just met him to learn that Cami is fascinated by him because she thinks he's hot and he tends to always look up whenever he senses she's near. It's a little cliche if you ask me. But there's some type of romance before them and that would be between Cami and Nico. There is no kissing, no declarations of love (at least not any in the portion I did read), but it's hinted that they are more than family and they're too close to be just brother and sister. I initially got the incestual vibes very early on in the story and continued on hoping I was wrong, but I reached a point in the story that had me rolling my eyes and I finally decided I was done. Here's an excerpt taken from page 101 - 102 of my ARC after Cami woke the house up from having a nightmare and Nico calmed her down.

Another laugh, this on more genuine. "Good. Move over."
The covers were a mess. And the cloth sticking to her skin was clammy, like the touch of cold fingers. Cami shook, stripping her sodden tank top off while he was punching the pillows into submission. When he settled with a sign onto his back and slid close enough to put her head on his shoulder, he stiffened.
"Whoa." But his arm didn't pause, he hugged her close and she realized they weren't kids anymore just as her entire body turned into one of Marya's crackling fires.
"S-sor-r-r--" Oh, damn it.
"It's okay. Shush." He relaxed all at once. "Nothing I haven't seen before, jeez. Marya used to put us in the tub together."
Well, yeah. But that was years ago. "Th-they kn-know y-you're u-u-u up h-here." The stutter got worse when she tried to whisper, now. Stupid thing, her tongue in revolt.
"What, you think I'm bad for your reputation?" But there wasn't any bite to the words. He sounded, of all things, amused. "Better get used to it."

...WHAT! She took her shirt off without realizing it in front of her brother. Like, you can't not be conscious of doing that. And he doesn't freak out or anything, says he's seen it all before. But you're teenagers now, not little kids sharing a bath....and your siblings! And she relaxed at that. It just bugged me out and made me slightly uncomfortable, such a thing was not necessary to the progression of the story or realistic at all. I read FALLING KINGDOMS which also has incest in it, but the entire story the character is fighting himself because he knows he has wrong feelings which made it almost appear in a tasteful manner. This almost seems tasteless in comparison. I don't mind darkness in novels, but this excerpt was weird to me and made me take note of the page and close the book. I no longer want to read anymore of this awkward brother/sister romance/relationship/closeness even if one is adopted.

All in all, I know many people who have enjoyed this one. Having gotten over an illness that has kept me from reading for an entire week, I don't want to read books that don't impress me anymore. I had troubles explained above, but the romance was what really did it in for me. The incest in this novel was odd and it's not something that I wanted to continue reading because I felt it was done in a strange manner. I think this book and I just weren't meant to be because many others were able to move past something that I wasn't able to and found this book to be an overall enjoyable read.

[S · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Read the review on my blog here.

I’m going to try and frame my thoughts about Nameless in a coherent manner, because I really liked it up until the climax. Then I was raging as I read to the end. I so so badly wanted to like it, because Lili St Crow has a way of writing addictive stories and this was no exception. Just… THAT ENDING. I feel like it would have sat better with me any way except the way it actually went.

≫ THE PLOT:
I’m not gonna lie, this book is very slow going. Little to nothing happens for most of it. Nameless follows the life of Camille, a teenage girl who was left in the snow as a child. She was saved off the streets from certain death, and luckily for her, her saviour was Enrico Vultusino, the head of a Godfather-style family that has a serious vampire feel to it. She lives in the lap of luxury, goes to an expensive private school, has a clique of friends, a foster father who dotes on her, and a foster not-quite-brother who loves her something fierce. But Cami still worries about where she came from and who she really is, and shit begins to hit the fan. Very, very slowly. (Just by the way, this is a retelling of Snow White, but that doesn’t really factor into the story much until the big reveal. I feel like if the plot had been original, but inspired by Snow White, it would’ve worked itself out better.)

≫ THE SETTING:
Again, not gonna lie. The world that Nameless is set in is as enchanting as it is… completely confusing. Are the Families vampires? Seems like it. What is the Reeve? Don’t really know. What exactly is Twisting? Uh… What’s Potential? If I had to take a pop quiz on this universe, I’d flunk. Sometimes it’s frustrating not knowing exactly what every creature is, but mostly the world building is really fascinating. Like a movie you’re watching that’s really aesthetically appealing, only you don’t know what’s going on… but it’s so pretty, who cares.



≫ THE PROTAGONIST:
Cami’s timid, meek, docile, she hates conflict, she’s a dutiful daughter, she’s… almost a mouse. But I have to say I didn’t mind it for the most part. Stress on most. Yes, she was a doormat at times. Yes, she was pretty passive. And yes, the whole privileged rich girl with the heavy dose of self-pity got irritating at times. It wasn’t too bad though – when she wasn’t making TSTL decisions and moping about ridiculous things.

When I say ridiculous things, I mean her friends. Camille’s best friends are two of her classmates, Ruby (clearly Red Riding Hood) and Ellen (clearly Cinderella). Their dynamic was really nice to read – girls who will stick up for each other and have each other’s backs, no matter what the cost. I thought that meek little Cami was actually the one holding boisterous Ruby and sensible Ellie together, balancing out their personalities. I enjoyed them so much that I was willing to overlook the fact that their threesome consists of one loud ‘slutty’ fight-me friend, one sensible, talented, smart friend, and the MC. But then Cami reveals her crippling insecurity about her friendship. She constantly frets about being the third wheel, a feeling I could certainly empathise with her for, but it seemed to come so out of nowhere that I was confused. She didn’t seem to be the tag-along friend to me – she did things with Ruby and Ellie separately, they pretty much adored her. I figure this was supposed to fit in with her feeling like she never belonged anywhere, but it came off contrived.

≫ THE OTHER CHARACTERS:
I actually really liked this cast of characters. Cami aside, there’s the entire Vultusino household, Emilio’s son Nico (*heart eyes* I hated the parts where the narrative was turning him into a bad boy), Ruby and Ellie, Tor, and Ruby’s enigmatic, super-powerful grandma (and the nod to the French origins of the Red Riding Hood fairytale!) I was a bit eh on Ruby and Ellie being the overused two friends, but other than that I think the characters were done really well.

≫ THE ROMANCE:
The thing that kind of weirded me out about the romance was that it kind of blurs the lines between sibling and romantic relationships. And… that makes it sound really creepy. Nico is sort of Cami’s brother, though she thankfully never refers to him as such, but they clearly have a little somethin’.

I just really liked Nico, though, so it’s all good. No, kidding. The reason I wasn’t supremely disturbed by this is I just never really got the sibling vibe from the two of them. I always thought they had that… little somethin’.

≫ THE ENDING:
Major spoilers and trigger warnings for suicide.
Here’s the thing: when it comes to the big reveal, I want there to be some amount of clues. Yes, I knew, because of the fairytale and the dreams/flashbacks, that an evil queen and heart-eating were involved. Nasty. But… a weird cult? That was kind of way out, and I wish it had been better foreshadowed.

But my real problem with the ending?

Cami goes into the evil queen’s lair like a prisoner to the guillotine. Like Harry to the Forbidden Forest during the Battle of Hogwarts. Except with one crucial difference, a difference that makes all the difference. She doesn’t choose to confront the queen so she can, like, free her slavish followers and liberate Tor or whatever. She does it because she thinks she can’t resist the hunters forever so she might as well turn herself in because no one will miss her anyway. No. NO. I cannot emphasise how wrong that felt. The attitude she had facing certain death was almost suicidal, and it made me nauseous. It felt too much like romanticisation to me, and that did not go well. Her sacrifice was pointless; it didn’t make her seem brave.

And yet she’d been nothing but a problem since she’d run out in front of Papa’s car. An extra puzzle piece, a snarl in the yarn, a break in the pattern.

She was going to fix the problems she’d made for everyone. Take the extra piece out of the puzzle, and throw it into the trash where it belonged.

Tor. He’ll live, I guess. Marya, though she won’t miss me for long. Rube and Ellie, poor Ellie. They’re be okay. Ruby will take care of it. Nico… he’ll be fine. They’ll all be fine really.

Tell me that doesn’t sound off to you.

But, okay, Cami eventually comes to the realisation that her friends and family do need her. A little late, but she does. And then what happens? She does a dramatic turnaround, kicks ass, and escapes? No. Well, that would’ve been pretty unbelievable. But she’s rescued. By her friends and family. And… I guess that was the clincher, that they do need her and care about her, but I was disappointed that she never saved herself. Yes, that’s in keeping with her nature, but I expected some kind of growth (e.g. growth of a spine). The opportunity to rewrite fairytales means that princesses don’t have to wait on their saviours. Screw that, they can save themselves! But Cami doesn’t, and that’s what annoyed me. Other people can do a lot to up our self-esteem and confidence, but what’s seriously important for teenagers especially to understand is that you don’t really need anyone else to make you feel good about yourself – you can do it on your own, whether that means breaking out of a glass coffin or feeling confident about your appearance or your identity. So yeah, I was annoyed that Cami’s pretty much a damsel in distress at the climax scene when I really hoped she would finally do something for herself.

And then her stammer disappears. Because other people save her. -_____- Just… no.

≫ TO SUMMARISE:
Nameless has a fascinating setting and several characters that I loved. But I think it failed as a retelling in that it didn’t seem to fundamentally alter any aspect of the original fairytale – including the way that matters most to me. That climax really beat down my enthusiasm. Nevertheless, I think I do want to read the rest of the series, just to live in this world for longer!

[Rachel MacNaught · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LIKED IT. I WILL NOT APOLOGISE. I AM SUITABLY EMBARRASSED AND AM UNSURE HOW TO JUSTIFY THIS IN A 'REVIEW'. IT'S Y.A. AND EVERYTHING YOU'D EXPECT FROM THE GENRE. AND I ENJOYED IT, DAMMIT. CAPSLOCK.

i'm going to approach this in mostly point form. i don't know how to approach this one so i'm going to do it in a choppy 'just putting thoughts on paper' way. the good, the bad and the ugly.

THE GOOD
- the protagonist stutters! AWESOME. when i was young i had a stammer that resurfaced for a bit in my early twenties and when i'm tired or stressed it rears its ugly head. i say the wrong words and everything mumbles and stumbles.
it's a frustrating thing that i'm so familiar with. the concept of being unable to get words out when you physically need to have that release. the concept of someone you care about needing to hear your say some words but you just can't get them out. and from the storyline point of view, it left a REASON open to why a character didn't just say something to avoid a problem and made for more imagined body language. and no filler talk.
- Nico and Cami killed me in the early chapters. chapter 5 especially. the comfort between them is so almost savage to me in that it wasn't so much the cerebral 'HE UNDERSTANDS' but more the.. two kittens curling up together for comfort. and i was awash with memories of moments in the dark like that one. the bed interactions (SEX FREE, TOO!) were so soft and warm and familliar to my own memories i just 100% bought it. i ship it. i ship the living hell out of it.
- creepy as fuck, a bit dark without being campy to me, and unexpected. the antagonist and the hunt actually made me uncomfortable. great villian. found the apple smell thing overdone but the rest.. the mirrors, the hounds, the setting of the ..place i won't spoil for the reader, the minions, the hands, the words.. awesome.
- not a storyline i'm used to lipsyncing along to - this isn't a villain taking over the world where a magic object or special quality of our heroine can fix it.
- the world potential. the Family are vampires, Gran seems to be a werewolf or something similar. but it didn't ever become a vampire versus other magical things. it felt like a distorted mob world and the fantasy elements a bit new in how i perceived them.
- the mandatory young adult story aspects weren't cookiecutter. or were written so that i just enjoyed them more. the expected GREAT BETRAYAL moment was no secret and not a surprise but HOLY CRAP THAT MOMENT OF IT JUST MADE MY SKIN CRAWL. i read it so creepily. and the equally expected I MUST LEAVE THIS PLACE FOR THE GREATER GOOD was not drawn out and full of selfpity.
- a door's personality made me smile and and want to hug it. i don't know. it was just really cute and personified.

THE BAD:
- the tagline. "A tale of beauty and madness." no, Lili St. Crow. just no.
- lol i can't buy the author's name. i just read it as i typed the above line and i'm laughing.
- the plot features two boys, one that 'gets' our heroine and one that she is deeply connected to who borders on abusive.. and all the garbage that comes with that. unnecessary and often forced dramatics, the predictability. a lack of logic. problems that could easily be solved.
- flat writing at times. the author really wanted to hammer home how fragile and nervous Cami is so she's constantly flinching or holding resisting the urge to flinch. how about she recoils? or braces herself? or backs to the wall? or maybe a METAPHOR? that'd be cool, Lili Saint Crow. it was just a bit tiring to read. it's not even so much a MY WORD THIS IS NOOOTT WRITTEN UP TO MY STANDARDS complaint. hell, i write in lower case because i think it looks more monotone and makes me smile. i'm in no place to nitpick. i just find details like this take an observant reader out of the story. breaks the spell of the moment.
- IT'S CHARMTACULAR SITTING AT MY CHARMDESK WITH MY CHARMHAIRPINS AND MY CHARMPENCIL AND MY CHARMING CHARMED CHARMBLAZER WITH CHARMS ON IT. and while this barely exaggerated line gyrates against touches on the previous point, i just found it baffling. charms were never explained. why is the hair ornament charmed? isn't it literally just a hairband they're wearing? what is a charmer. what do they do. where does the ability come from. why is EVERYTHING charmed? it was thrown in but never became part of the plot. so if you're world building, you can't just stick zebras on everything and not explain it. WHAT WERE JACKS? OR THE TWISTED? OR THE REEVE? WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE WASTE? there were a lot of loose details in this book.

annndd THE UGLY. the two hot button topics: and i felt about them

- bad relationship model. yep, Nico has a temper he cannot control. Cami is afraid of him. classic YA. a lot of me just sighs because the people who are into this aspect of the genre are alone, or in bad situations when they do date, for a reason. it's a very young mindset that i wish i could spare people. i wanted to save the untouchable, beautiful mean boy, and the mean boy physically abused me for a long time. badly. i wouldn't wish that on anyone so i don't feel right in having books for teens romanticising people who, if in person displayed these qualities, would end up being abusive. but thennnnn i also do see and understand the darker side of things. i understand the allure, in retrospect and with the less monstrous boys in my past, of being arms length from someone with a chip on their shoulder. it's just hard to convey that balance to a young mind.. to anyone.. because abuse is a slow build. it can sneak up on people. and it's more likely to if you're into/conditioned to find this sort of relationship appealing and normalised.
and i think this book went about it pretty okay. for the first half of the book Nico has flaws but there isn't any abusive aspect. he's just a bit of a young dink living his life who cares for his Cami on the side. it's only once Tor enters that Nico was suddenly a monster out of no where. ignoring how i found that ill-fitting to the plot/character at that point, it meant that what we know and like about Nico did not grow around the obstacles of his personality. Cami isn't attracted to someone with a chip on his shoulder, instead, her best and closest friend has a chip on his shoulder. it's secondary. more human. but also allowed us the opportunity to see Cami not put up with that and call him on it.

- Cami ain't no heroine. in fact Cami is DELICATE FLINCHY TERRIFIED SOFT TINY DELICATE HELPLESS KINDA AT TIMES INFANTILE SO CUTE AND LOVELY CREATURE WHO CAN BE EASILY DENTED. i've actually never seen such a passive protagonist.
AND I THINK I LIKED IT because it was more real to me than 'I WILL SUMMON MY INNER STRENGTH AND USE KARATE INSTINCTIVELY WHILST SOLVING PUZZLES I AM MY OWN WOMAN' or the 'I AM SNARKY AND A BADASS'. the Mary-Sues of the former are overdone and the sassy sarcastic alternative isn't something i could ever relate to, or want to, and i get this girl i can identify with more. some people are softer.
and it was nice to have a character with an actual problem. no 'awkward' or 'hidden beauty'. she fucking stutters. which is a nightmare to live with, let alone go through puberty with. and she's covered in disfiguring scars, neck to toe. and being isolated as both above others but also subhuman in the upper crust. a lot to be insecure about. and she.. wasn't overbearingly insecure. there was no whining or self pity. there was embarrassment and frustration, but it didn't ever wallow. it had the mark of a real problem. though i feel like she should have been given something to write with, because having her flounder with so many words and being unable to say any did cause unnecessary drama and was a bittt painful to read.


SO. I DID NOT EXPECT TO WRITE THIS MUCH. and i took my sweet time, it's been two hours of me sitting here staring at my computer screen between cups of tea.
in the end, it's nothing groundbreaking, it's probably not for everyone.. but i liked it. unexpected.

[Completely Melanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

After getting about halfway through this book after multiple attempts to read it, I decided to DNF it. I was just not a fan. This is a Snow White retelling but instead of 7 dwarfs, they are a "family" of vampires that are kind of like a mafia. It was weird.

[Ratnika · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a lot of potential. The world building and the whole magical element would have been great if only the author would have explained things better. I don't really need a word-by-word description of every strange thing, but give me something! It was very frustrating to have to keep guessing and trying to imagine what everything was and even looked like. I would have still given this book a better rating except I got really annoyed with the MC. She kept doing all the obviously wrong things (sigh!). The whole Nico-Tor thing also got too confusing. Still, I liked the whole spin on Snow White and the story had a bit of the horror factor (again, could have been a lot better). Overall, I liked the other characters so much more than Cami, especially Ellie, Nico and Marya. Ruby got on my nerves though. I will still read the next book just to see how it goes and 'coz I want Ellie's story.

[Vanessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't think I've ever been so confused about a book as this one. The world building was seriously lacking to the point where I had to stop, put down the book for a minute and do quick search online to see if I'm actually reading the 1st book in the series (which I was). Nothing about this world is really explained, there are different creatures in the book (at least I think they're creatures) called Twisted and Jacks and there are Potentials (which I think are human, kind of like witches...I think), but none of it is explained well. I kept waiting for the world to be explained better and it never happened; all I know is some of them have powers, some of them have fangs (so I'm guessing they're vampires) and the ones with powers can turn into a "Twisted" which is a bad thing, though not sure why.

The book is also pretty slow paced, it takes forever until something interesting starts to happen and the whole ending with the Queen and Cami is also confusing and weird. I'm still not quite sure what happened. I also don't understand why Cami's past is so important. I get that she's important to the Queen but her past didn't seem important to her storyline or how she's shaped as a character. She always felt like she didn't belong in her family and she always wondered about her past and where she came from but when she found out about her past and where she came from it didn't seem to have a big effect on her. It didn't change her, she was still the same character as before (which was another thing that annoyed me).

From the beginning of the book Cami kept saying she didn't belong and "I'm not family" and she kept questioning her place within the Vultusino family even though her father loved her and cared for her and she was brought up really well and by the end of the book she's still saying "I'm not family, I don't belong". That really annoyed me, I was hoping by the end she would finally realize that just because she wasn't born into the family doesn't mean she doesn't belong, her family loved and cared about her but she's too blind to see it.

**Spoiler Alert**

Speaking of her family's love, her and Nico's relationship was kind of weird to me. I get that he's not biologically her brother but she was still raised with him and grew up with him since they were little kids. They saw each other as brother and sister, so it's weird that they got engaged and were going to get married. Plus their interactions is kind of weird because half the time she's afraid of him and scared that she'll make him angry and he'll hurt her. If she's so afraid of him hurting her, why is she going to marry him?

Overall this book was just way too confusing and I didn't get it, so I'm going to have to give it a 1 star.

[Chelsea Moreen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I much prefer this authors strange angels series by a ridiculous amount. This was a quick and easy read that is an interesting take on Snow White. However the world building was a mess, the magic system confusing and the romance was pretty messy, I’m personally not into controlling boys ://
Just not good.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

**Content Warning at End of Review**


Why I added this book to my TBR list in June of 2013 is truly anyone’s guess. It could have been one of the Saturdays I spent walking around Barnes and Noble adding any book that seemed vaguely interesting before getting something from Starbucks and reading a book without buying it (Listen I was a poor college kid at the time). If that is not the case, I have no idea how I heard of this book because I never remember anyone talking about it. I picked it up now because it was part of my “ABC” challenge this year and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.


Nameless follows Cami, a child who was found beaten and terrified in the middle of the road by Enrico Vultusino, one of the heads of the Seven Families in New Haven. Ten years later and Enrico is about to transfer to an Elder, leaving his angry and unpredictable son Nico in charge of the Vultusino family. Cami is unsure where she sits within the family and the world as a whole, which is all the more hard for her to navigate due to her severe stutter making it difficult for her to communicate. A chance encounter with a Wooden Man when out with Nico starts Cami to have more nightmares about her childhood that she never remembers when she wakes and hears dogs barking during the day. When a new gardener Tor joins the family staff, Cami might finally get answers about her past, but it is unclear whether she will survive finding out who she truly is.


It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize that this was a Snow White retelling, more than halfway through the novel. It wasn’t until the Queen looked into the mirror and saw herself aging that everything clicked. I think it is a fascinating take on that tale and isn’t beat for beat from the fairytale. I also enjoyed how other fairytales were woven into this story and will be addressed in companion novels. The mystery of who Cami is was what propelled the plot forward, but most of this novel was just navigating this strange and dangerous world. This is a story about a young woman finding her place in the world and how important she is to the people around her. As a young adult novel, I think this navigation of feeling like no one and useless is so important, especially with the stutter representation, though I am not sure how accurate it is. I do have some issues with the romance elements, but I think this journey Cami goes through, especially with her bouts of depression, is important to have on the page for teenagers to see and relate to.


The thing that I enjoyed the most and was also the most frustrating was the world-building that St. Crow did in this novel. The way that vampires, werewolves, magic users, and other magic creatures are presented in this novel is fascinating. However, St. Crow just drops you into the story and never gives a real clear explanation for anything. I got an overall feeling for the world and some of the laws of the world, but not enough to understand the full scope of the world. As Cami grew up in this world I understand that she wouldn’t be sitting around thinking about all the rules, but I still have no idea what makes a Twist or what is happening in the Core of the city, which shouldn't be the case by the end of the novel.


My biggest issue in this novel was the way that the romance was handled. If this was an adult romance and we have a complicated relationship with Nico, I wouldn’t comment on it, saying that this book leans more toward a dark romance. As a YA novel, however, I don’t like the message that is given with Cami and Nico ending up together. Nico is older and on multiple occasions, Cami thinks that it is only a matter of time before he hurts her. At one point, he does almost hurt her, and other than comforting her after her nightmares, he doesn’t do much to show he cares for her other than through anger and violence. Then, in the end, Cami is just like “he is angry because he is scared” and that’s it. No sign of growth or anything from Nico. It just feels like the message is if someone is angry and almost hurts you, they are just misunderstood and you have to be kind to them. Not a good message in a YA book, but everyone’s mileage may vary.


While I might not like the romantic relationship in the novel, I adored the relationship between Ruby, Ellie, and Cami. I truly believed that they were friends and cared about one another, which does not always come across in YA novels. There is also a protectiveness that all three of the girls feel for the others that I just loved. There is also something so real in Cami feeling at times that she is the third wheel and not important to the other girls. Hell, I am 32 and still have moments when I am sure that all my friends hate me. Yet, again and again, even when Cami is at her most depressed, the three girls continuously show that they love and will fight one another. This relationship is the main reason I am going to continue with the series.


Overall, I am pleasantly surprised with this novel, which spent too much of it confused to give it more than a 3.5. I am excited to continue with the other novels, especially when I figured out who the other two girls are in terms of their fairytale retellings.


**Content Warnings**


Blood, Physical Abuse, Child Abuse, Cults, Human Sacrifice

[Jay G · Rating 2 out of 5]

Want to see more bookish things from me? Check out my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfer...

Cami grew up in New Haven. She is considered royalty, a daughter to Papa Vultusino one of the most powerful of the seven Families that rule the city. Cami knows she is not really Family and when a mysterious garden boy named Tor enters her life, she soon discovers who she really is.

Honestly, I was just confused for most of this story. Nothing was really explained very well and I had so many questions left unanswered. I was bored for most of it and didn't grow attached to any of the characters.

[Maddi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a dark fairy tale retelling that has everything! It’s got witches, fairies and vampires. It’s a really cool concept! When I first received this book I was so excited to read it! The cover is amazingly cool, the synopsis sounds dark and interesting, and Lili St. Crow has a very good reputation for writing excellent young adult series. While I did really like this story and I found myself very intrigued by the world that Crow has created, at the same time there were a lot of things that I just struggled with.



The characters are very cool and dark, much like the story. I particularly love the supporting characters Ellen and Ruby who are modeled after Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. They were fun characters who I thought added a very interesting touch to the story and am wondering if each of them is going to get their own story which could be very cool. I wasn’t a huge fan of the main character Cami though. She’s one of those characters who just wants to “know where she belongs” even if that kills her. It sounded like she was just constantly whining about how she didn’t fit in and that if she disappeared no one would even notice so of course she does and of course they all notice. Ugh. I hate this sort of attitude in people and don’t really enjoy reading about it. It just makes me want to slap her!

The love story is a bit of an odd one too. First off, I enjoyed that this story isn’t at all about the love story. There isn’t even a kiss which is a nice change in YA literature. BUT I found everything to be a bit odd. At first you’re thinking Nico is the love interest, then you’re thinking its Tor the garden boy and then you’re just confused. Now, after finishing I’m looking back and just thinking “what?“. It really seemed like she was attracted to Tor, there was electricity when they touched and he bought her presents!! But now that I know everything it all just seems very very weird.



The adaptation of the traditional Snow White story is done very loosely. So if you’re expecting a full on obvious Snow White story, don’t. I didn’t really see the similarities with Snow White until the very end. Even then the story is a lot darker and way more twisted than any Snow White I’ve seen before. For example the Queen totally marries her sons. Yeah. Weird and twisted. But I did really enjoy the direction that this was going in. I’ve heard a few complaints about the lack of parallels but honestly Snow White has been told a lot and I like that this one mixes it up a bit!

Ok but here’s the thing – do you ever have those moments when you don’t fully understand what’s going on but you nod and smile anyway? That was what I felt like for a lot of this book. This world that Crow creates is totally new and abnormal but she really doesn’t pause to fully explain everything. There are so many characters, creatures and words that I still only have a fuzzy understanding of even after finishing. For me, this was the major flaw of the book because if everything had been a lot more clear I’m pretty sure I would have given this one at least 4 stars.

This ARC was given by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Camille Vultusino should want for nothing. Her papa, Enrico Vultusino, is one of the living Seven Families and gives her nothing but the best. Enrico’s son, Nico, would give his life to protect Cami from anything that tried to harm her. But Cami doesn’t know who she is. Found bloody and abandoned in the middle of the snow when she was six years old, Cami has no recollection of her parents, her home or anything in her life before Papa found her. Now ten years on, Cami has two best friends (Ruby and Ellie), loyal fey maid and servants to cater to her every whim.

But Papa’s mortality is leaving him and Nico is unstable and getting in fights left and right. Girls are going missing by the dozens all over the city and Cami is scared. One of the garden boys, Torin Beale, comes into her life and offers her comfort when her emotional security is fading away. But not everything is as it seems. Mirrors hide their secrets and when is an apple more than just fruit? Cami’s past is coming to haunt her and her only hope is remembering who she was before it is too late.

Growing up I only knew the Disney version of fairy tales. My mother was traumatized by the Grimm Brother’s versions as a child and forbid us to read them. It’s only now, as an adult, that I’ve read the morbid tale in its original state.

Lili St. Crow had done an incredible job at weaving the traditional story in with a new dystopian version of Snow White. She has used so many of the elements found in the Grimm tale in Nameless whilst creating a unique dystopian world for her retelling to be set. Blood-sucking families representing the dwarfs? Somewhat ingenious.

Whilst the character of Snow White has never been one of my favourites I thought that St. Crow captured her vulnerability and naivety perfectly in Cami. Victim to the core with good intentions never quite being thought through, Cami was the epitome of Snow White to me. Ellie and Ruby as Cinderella and Red Riding Hood respectively are equally representable of their classic fairy tale counterparts. Ruby captivated me – Her feisty and take charge attitude contrasted well with Cami’s passiveness and I can’t wait to see what happens next for the trio.

For me, one of the best parts of a fairy tale is the romance and I found it somewhat lacking in Nameless. The roles of Nico and Tor in Cami’s life felt somewhat confused and I have to admit the ending didn’t satisfy the romantic in me.

Family, abuse, blood-ties and self-worth are all issues faced in this novel and dealt with in interesting ways. This is not the Snow White story you would be familiar with however I thought it was a great addition to the genre.

This is a dark and twisted fairytale retelling that would appeal to people who don’t mind a scary rendition of a childhood classic.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

Nameless is the first book I have read by Lili St. Crow and the first two words which popped to mind after reading it was strange and unusual. It was a book which confused me but also mesmerised me, I was intrigued by the creativity and spectacular world created but also wanted and needed more in terms of explanation.

Nameless was inspired by the Brothers Grimm story, Snow White which I have always loved but it certainly didn’t depict the story in quite the same way, I really enjoyed the creative spin Ms. St. Crow put on this classic fairy tale.

The story follows 16 year-old Camille who was found abandoned and beaten in the snow at the age of 6 by a man known as 'the vulture' , Enrico Vultusino who is the leader of one of the seven most powerful and influential families who rule magical New Haven.

Sent to St. Juno's, a pure human charm school and raised as a member of the wealthy Vultusino's, Cami's life is of privilege but she has never felt that she quite belonged. I really liked Cami as a character, she was selfless, self-conscious of her stutter and devoted to those she loves, I adored her thought processes and her actions and reactions were believable.

Trying to explain everything is quite difficult because I am still a tad clueless about who is who and what is what, we have Fausts, Families (Vampires), Griffs, Charms and Minotaurs but despite my confusion, I found the story creative, dark and unique and filled with mystery about Cami's traumatic past, questions about why young girls are being stolen from their homes and the reasoning behind it and also fascinated by the strange setting and vivid world. I was surprised by a few outcomes so I am eager to see how certain aspects are followed up, especially now Cami knows where she belongs.

The love interest in the book is Nico Vultusino, the rebellious son who will run the Family once Papa Vultusino passes to the Undead; he was so protective towards Cami but I wasn’t quite sure where his feelings really lay – brotherly or more but in the end his actions ended up speaking for themself and I quite liked the outcome.

Lili St. Crow's writing is gripping, the plot flowed well and I found the pacing was consistent throughout; each of the secondary characters were likeable, the twist we are given about Tor, a Vultusino groundskeeper I found to be really interesting and definitely not expected, I hope we see more of him in future installments.

The A Tale of Beauty and Madness series has great potential, I am really eager to see where Lili St.Crow takes the story in the sequel.

Thank-you kindly to Razorbill for providing me with a copy of Nameless.

[The Twins Read · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 1.5/5

No matter how much money she has in her purse, or how protected she is as a Vultusino, Cami knows that she's different from everyone around her. For starters, she doesn't have fangs, and once she's dead, she's staying put in her coffin, thank you very much. Cami thinks that she is living a lie, and when the mysterious new gardener makes her question everything she's been keeping inside, Cami's not going to stay put within the Vultusino territory when she could have actual answers outside. Outside, where the truth is deadly.

Nameless is one of the strangest books I have ever read. I haven't tried any Lili St. Crow book before, so I wouldn't really know how the author goes about writing her books. Nameless has a lot of terminology, and St. Crow doesn't really spell them out for the reader so it takes a bit of a guesswork to find out what they mean. The novel may also be categorized as a retelling of Snow White, but I'd like to think that it is instead, inspired by the ebony-haired, red-lipped princess. There's obviously the apple, but I thought that the story was getting weirder and weirder as it progressed. Like, cryptic, incomprehensible, what-am-I-reading weird. I might as well be stuck in a dark room, groping the walls for the light switch.

The characters were uninteresting and too dramatic for my liking. It was hard not to get annoyed what with the lead character being too docile and fragile all the freaking time! The romance was odd and not very convincing. The romantic interest, Nico, runs hot and cold, and sometimes even both at the same time, and boy, is it frustrating.

The Snow White aspect only really shone through in the later half of the book, so the Cami-and-the-apple thing just left a weird taste in my mouth. She was acting fine, but all of a sudden, she starts craving apples? I felt like that bit was just thrown in there because the novel was supposed to be a retelling of Snow White, and thusly felt a bit shortchanged.

Nameless isn't really a book I'd revisit anytime soon. Granted that I might make more sense out of it if I'd read it over and over and made all these hypothetical connections in my head, I'm pretty sure I'm calling it over with this one.

[Adrienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't have a lot of thoughts on this book so I'm just gonna keep my review short. It has only a two-star rating because although the story was very dark and intriguing it had a very slow pace and I couldn't help dozing off a few times. It just didn't hold my attention.

Quick Overview
Cami was found in the snow at six years old and adopted by the well-known Vultusino Family. She stutters when she talks and only opens up to her best friends, Ruby and Ellie, and her step-brother Nico (who may or may not experience non-brotherly love for her.) She's convinced that she doesn't belong with the people who've adopted her so when Tor comes along and starts to shed some light on her past she jumps at the opportunity to find out more about where she came from.

Likes
● Nico Vultusino. He had some serious anger management issues. But I knew that he cared deeply for Cami and that he would never let anything happen to her. His dedication to her was admirable. (And yeah, he's partly the reason why I gave this book another star.) But apparently, Cami and I had different opinions when it came to Nico. And half of the time that pissed me off.
● The sense of foreboding this book had. This was a dark retelling of Snow White by Lili St. Crow and the alterations the author made added up nicely to the whole mysterious aura of the book. Very unique. There were also snippets of Cinderella here and The Little Red Riding Hood.

Dislikes
● Cami Vultusino. She was annoying as hell. The decisions she made didn't make any sense to me. It was like she did those things to purposefully stir up some trouble. She made me want to tear my hair out.
● The whole romance thing. It seemed like there was a love triangle in the book and there wasn't. It drove me crazy.
● The ending. That was it? I suffered through three hundred four pages for THAT? Thanks a lot.

This book had lots of potential. Sadly, the author didn't use it to her fullest.

[Hafsah Faizal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with blood, snow, and mysterious characters NAMELESS is a much much darker version of Snow White - but as a lover of fairytale retellings, the words Snow White alone were enough to pull me in.

When Camille was six, she was found in the snow by Enrico Vultusino. Now, Cami is sixteen and lives as a Vultusino heiress. But something is happening, and Cami's carefully built world is beginning to crumble. Enter Tor, a mysterious garden boy, who has scars of his own, and who seems to hold the keys to her mysterious past. A past that is springing to life once again.

I wouldn't say that I loved NAMELESS. Although the author created a fantastic story, she didn't really explain anything, and the world building? I'm not even going to begin to explain. So yeah, that part could've been improved. But still NAMELESS was pretty good. You could see where Lili St. Crow mixed her imagination with various fairy tales. The confusion won't really matter, because by the time you turn the last page, you'll be dying for more.

Read Full Review Here

[Jilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is like a double rainbow (a unicorn double rainbow) - so beautiful, so intense, but what does it mean?


It's a little tough to figure things out at first, but it is totally worth it. The world is dark and disturbing, the writing is artful, and the story is intense. It is not your Disney Snow White at all. As a matter of fact, I forgot that it had anything to do with that story for most of the book.

As soon as you start to figure out what things are, and what is going on... kind of. It's over. Thank goodness there is another book because this one was like a drug dealer giving you the first one for free!

[Bec (Aussie Book Dragon) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Major Selling Points:

Fairy Tale Retelling

It's always exciting when one of the tales you love and grew up with gets a new interpretation. Snow White is a story I know well but never remember really watching/seeing. And a retelling where the dwarves sound like mob bosses and Snow (Camille) is raised by one of them that also has a sort of dark sound to it is something I want to experience.

Mysterious Past

A little girl found in the snow with scars, trauma and no memory. Who is she? Where did she come from? What happened to her? Something bad, obviously. But how bad. And Why? I want to find out.

Swashbuckling:

This is very character driven. We followed Camille as she slowly unearthed the truth about what happened to her and as her relationship with other characters and position in the Families evolves and shapes itself into some wonderful scenarios. Unlike St Crow's Strange Angels, this wasn't action packed. The main (and kind of only) action scene right at the end. All the exciting moments were the ones when I figured out the very dark, very twisted connection to fairy tales and started flailing because they were so cool! 

The world added to the greatness of this novel. It's a dark world with magic and monsters which has resulted from a different outcome from one of the World Wars. Such a beautiful and mad world evolved similarly but differently to ours and has painted the perfect setting for these retellings.

Crew:

Camille Vultusino

Camille was a precious main with such an interesting upbringing and a completely different personality to St Crow's previous heroine, Dru. She was so quiet and nice, the third wheel in her friendship group of three (which I find very easy to relate to). Camille was very loyal to her family and friends, and often struggled to express how she felt. This could be attributed to her stutter she had throughout the novel, one element of her character that I though might get annoying but actually didn't. It embarassed Camille, so she didn't speak as much as she could have at times.

It was interesting reading as her identity and the reason she was found in the snow was slowly revealed. Camille is not your traditional Snow White in any sense of the word. What she had to go through was very, very traumatic. It's no her mind blocked it all from her, the poor girl.

Tor

I have a lot of conflicted feelings for Tor. One part of me is in love with him and his mysteriousness. Another is kicking myself for not realising his identity sooner. And yet another just feels so sorry for the poor bastard. His past is just as dark as Camille's, maybe darker than hers. Tor was forced to things he really didn't want any part in, and no matter how hard he tried his will was always defeated. I'm hoping he returns later--I don't think we've quite seen the last of him--but after the ending of Nameless, I don't think he'll recieve a warm reception.

Ruby & Ellie

These two girls are the best friends I wished her. Ruby is the strong protective one. She may be annoying at times, outspoken, and reckless, but she will stand up for those that need it. She is extremely loyal to her friends and will do anything to help them when they're in need.

Ellie came across as the voice of reason in the trio. Smart, quiet, but not afraid to argue and express her opinion. She came across as a good confident and counsel. Home life is a struggle for her (a little fact I hope may be more explored in the next book), but she doesn't let that effect her friends and tries to deal with it herself.

They're also, I was pleased to figure out, fellow fairy tale characters. Red Riding Hood and Cinderella. Compared to Camille, their retold troubles are only just beginning. I can't wait to see how their stories are retold and developed.

Swoonability:

Romance did develop in Nameless and it was good, squishy romance. I enjoyed it. The love triangle was one I didn't mind which way it went. I was happy to watch the relationships developed and shipped quite a few different characters. Then we got to the end. And I find out something about one of my OTPs that made my really strong shipping (I was shipping this couple SO HARD) that made it really awkward. I started feel weird about shipping it. But it's okay, they didn't end up together. And the final couple got together in a way that was really adorable, but isn't something I sure I approve of yet.

Ships:

Nico x Ruby
Cami x Nico
Cami x Tor 

Lingo:

St Crow's last YA book was, if I remember correctly, narrated in first person by a very stong, BAMF female protagonist who was being put though action/conflict scene after action/conflict scene. Camille is almost the complete opposite to Dru. And when the book opens with a prologue in first person, the difference in voice is immediately apparent. But then the rest of the books is told in third person, with select flashbacks/dreams being told in first. It was slightly confusing.

Despite this, it was very easy to read Nameless. Pacing was pretty much spot on and it flowed well. The world was described very well, although it did initially take me a little while to figure out and grow used to the world-specific vocabulary. Camille's stutter was applied perfectly, not once becoming annoying like it had the potential too, and the rest of the dialogue was great. Each character had their own distinct voice which I really enjoyed.