What do you think?
Rate this book
The Sleeping Sickness
Malena is a successful inventor of machines and potions. The papers are calling her a genius! But in all other aspects of life, she isn't such a genius. She bungles friendships and even allows one of her potions to fall into the wrong hands. But when the heir to the throne is in grave danger, it is up to Malena to save the day.
Kindle Edition
Published January 21, 2018
7 people want to read
About the author
A.R. Hellbender
4 books97 followersWhile starting a degree in German language and literature, A.R. Hellbender began writing her first book (in English).
She currently lives in Washington with her husband, three dogs, two cats and a leopard gecko.
She also makes booktube videos at http://www.youtube.com/c/unicornhunte...
She currently lives in Washington with her husband, three dogs, two cats and a leopard gecko.
She also makes booktube videos at http://www.youtube.com/c/unicornhunte...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 23, 2018
The Sleeping Sickness is a short novella that is a cool, steampunk spin on Sleeping Beauty. It follows an amazing engineer/genius Malena as she creates mechanical crows and dragons, and then sets out to right a wrong she (was forcefully) committed against her friend Briar.
I really liked this and how some of the key elements of Sleeping Beauty were there but also morphed into a super cool steampunk existence. I also liked how Malena, who was obviously based on Maleficient, wasn’t the evil queen she’s always portrayed as being but was instead just a clever woman who was very focused on her work, and found it a bit too easy to distance herself from the world around her.
This was a nice little interlude from a very long book I was reading, and it gave me a pleasant read, and because it was short, the instant high that finishing a book, any book, can bring you. I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for something nice and adventurous to read for a bit of a break, as well as anyone who loves a unique fairytale retelling.
I really liked this and how some of the key elements of Sleeping Beauty were there but also morphed into a super cool steampunk existence. I also liked how Malena, who was obviously based on Maleficient, wasn’t the evil queen she’s always portrayed as being but was instead just a clever woman who was very focused on her work, and found it a bit too easy to distance herself from the world around her.
This was a nice little interlude from a very long book I was reading, and it gave me a pleasant read, and because it was short, the instant high that finishing a book, any book, can bring you. I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for something nice and adventurous to read for a bit of a break, as well as anyone who loves a unique fairytale retelling.
December 1, 2018
Great Concept, so-so execution.
The Sleeping Sickness has an interesting concept with Sleeping Beauty meets Steampunk and it was an enjoyable read.
However, it did seem like a lot of the scenes ended suddenly before they should of, this causes some characters feelings and motivations to be glossed over like they didn’t matter too much. Such events that were affected by this are the friendship breaking down between Malena and Briar, (To me it seemed like one day they were best friends and then they wasn’t simply because Briar became friends with Prince Seth before marrying him.) Malena making the potion for the princess, (It felt like she accepted the job far too quickly for someone who didn’t want to kill a baby, even if it would take years to take effect) and Princess Rose’s aunts finding her asleep once the potion finally took effect (One moment she was awake after the cut and then her aunts were in the room. Where were the aunts finding her? Why was this skipped?).
Most of the characters did have a point to the story, but Tristan did seem to have been shoehorned in just to play the part of “Prince Charming” from other adaptation of Sleeping Beauty and as a result was the one who saved Princess Rose and not Malena alone as the synopsis suggested.
This book clearly didn’t have an editor because of two mistakes I came across that an editor would have. The first was two words together when there should be a space, and near the end, there was a P in front of Tristan’s name (again with no space).
Despite the issues, this was an enjoyable read, but more work was needed.
The Sleeping Sickness has an interesting concept with Sleeping Beauty meets Steampunk and it was an enjoyable read.
However, it did seem like a lot of the scenes ended suddenly before they should of, this causes some characters feelings and motivations to be glossed over like they didn’t matter too much. Such events that were affected by this are the friendship breaking down between Malena and Briar, (To me it seemed like one day they were best friends and then they wasn’t simply because Briar became friends with Prince Seth before marrying him.) Malena making the potion for the princess, (It felt like she accepted the job far too quickly for someone who didn’t want to kill a baby, even if it would take years to take effect) and Princess Rose’s aunts finding her asleep once the potion finally took effect (One moment she was awake after the cut and then her aunts were in the room. Where were the aunts finding her? Why was this skipped?).
Most of the characters did have a point to the story, but Tristan did seem to have been shoehorned in just to play the part of “Prince Charming” from other adaptation of Sleeping Beauty and as a result was the one who saved Princess Rose and not Malena alone as the synopsis suggested.
This book clearly didn’t have an editor because of two mistakes I came across that an editor would have. The first was two words together when there should be a space, and near the end, there was a P in front of Tristan’s name (again with no space).
Despite the issues, this was an enjoyable read, but more work was needed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 3, 2018
Hellbender does it again, totally surprises me with the world she creates! This steam punk version of sleeping beauty is one of the best alternative versions I have ever read. It is imaginative and she has some amazing detail of the different machine animals as well as the very cool airships. I love all of her characters and the story is great.
June 17, 2024
Ebook
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews