What can I say about this book? After reading the description of being an alternative storyline for the Nutcracker is what drew me in. I am a sucker for retelling of classic tales, especially this one as a former child who took ballet classes.

I want to say good things, as I always do about books I read. However, it’s hard to figure out what might be “good,” as harsh as that may be to say. What I would have liked to see/read: a better development of the magic, clearer “fight” scenes, a better understanding of who is who and how things are created or destroyed. And it seemed a bit much trying to fit in historical turmoil and people into the story, though one character did seem to fit into place. But even that might seem like a stretch.

I thank NetGalley and Dutton Publishing for the opportunity to read this e-arc. However, there were multiple times I did not feel like finishing.

Book Review: The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen

The Kingdom of Sweets is a fantasy retelling of The Nutcracker about a pair of twins divided by jealousy and dark magic.

Natasha and Clara were declared to be “light” and “dark” at birth by their self-appointed godfather and local magician, Drosselmeyer. As they grow older Clara the “light” and beautiful twin is paraded around town by their parents while Natasha the “dark” and unattractive sister hides in their home with her books. When Natasha’s parents, her twin Clara, her lover Conrad and godfather Drosselmeyer betray her on her seventeenth birthday she finds herself pulled into a magical land of sweets created from her sister’s imagination. There she will learn more about the dark magic that propelled Drosselmeyer and divided the sisters. Natasha will seek her revenge on Clara for her betrayal in that enchanted land but not without consequences in their own world.

The Kingdom of Sweets is a twisted and dark fairy tale of magic and sisterly competition set against the backdrop of a changing country on the verge of revolution. Johansen’s world building and characters are top notch and she isn’t afraid to show the dark side of humanity (or the land of fairy). Although this isn’t the feel good read of the holiday season I highly recommend it to fantasy readers who enjoy magic, complicated heroines and beautiful writing.

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I feel like I have simultaneously so many thoughts and also no thoughts at all.
I do not often read retellings but was intrigued by this one. Unfortunately it didn’t work for me the way I had hoped. This book was broken up until several “Acts” (which I appreciated in connection to the break-up of a ballet/play such as The Nutcracker is) but it honestly felt like the multiple acts were disconnected. Like the central plot seemed to change too many times and I wasn’t sure what kind of book I was reading.
The beginning, learning about the twins and their connections and their difficulties, the workings of their blessings/curses… all of this was interesting and I loved. When they go to the Kingdom of Sweets and the subsequent actions taken there, I was even more intrigued and looking forward to where the story would go.
But the further into the story I went, the less I understood where the story was going. It went from a fantastical story of interpersonal drama/betrayal to a thriller-esque story, which then morphed into a supernatural theme, then a political revolution, and finally ended up being in a cosmic-realism-fantasy for the resolution. It felt like too much happening to make a lot of sense to me.
Because of this, it felt like this story just kept dragging on and on, being much longer than it really is.
On top of all of this, I had the hardest time visualizing ANY of this fantastical elements of this story beyond the first visit to the Kingdom of Sweets. The shadows and the mirror and the castle/dollhouse were all very confusingly described at times. Which I think was part of the point, but it was unclear.
I do think this is a really unique take on the well-known Nutcracker story, giving it a new life with new characters and twists. A lot of deeper concepts were discussed, but maybe it tried to tackle too much?
I am giving this three stars because there were elements I really liked, but overall it did not work the way I had hoped. I see the potential for someone really liking it if they can get a full grasp on everything going on, but it was just too much for me.

This was a rare instance for me where I enjoyed the book even with the characters being only ‘meh’ for me. Nat isn’t very like able and her twin Clara is hardly given much detail at all, but the story itself did have some interesting parts that kept things going. I enjoyed the dark turn that the Kingdom of Sweets took, and while there was a bit of drag in the middle, I was satisfied with how things ended.

Note: arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for honest review

The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen- a standalone by a 1st time read author for me

✔️ Gothic/Magic
✔️ The Nutcracker retelling/fairytales
✔️ Sci-fi/Fantasy/YA
✔️ Christmas


This is the story of cursed twin sisters Clara and Natasha. Clara is favored by light-beautiful and charming while Natasha is ignored and unloved. Their godfather Drosselmeyer sends them to the Kingdom of Sweets with sugar and snow and everything magical. Clara and Natasha are swept up in a dark twisted fantasy of love, hatred, betrayal, and death.

The world building is spectacular. All the pomp and circumstance from the Nutcracker. The magic of Christmas, toys, and snow but everything changes in the alternate world-The Kingdom of Sweets. Natasha meets the Sugar Plum Fairy and bargains with her to get what she truly wants. The problem is when people get what they want, they don't want it anymore or it wasn't what they thought it would be.

Natasha is our storyteller, but I would have liked a deeper look into Clara. Shoutout to Tchaikovsky, Marie/Clara Stahlbawn, the doll named Clara, Drosselmeyer-local councilman and magician, Fritz (my real brother's name), and The Nutcracker Prince.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

~•~•~
Publish date 11/28/23, Read 11/24/23.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this ARC❤️! I voluntarily give my honest review and all opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book felt like a villain origin story in the best way possible. The first third of the book was so intriguing and had me hanging onto every word on the page. I loved how dark the story turned during this part of the story and the introduction to the Kingdom of Sweets. But from that point on, the story fell flat for me. It dropped in intrigue as the pace of the story significantly fell and the main story arc we were following seemed all but finished. At that point, it just felt like I was reading a slice of life story.

Sadly, I wanted to love this one more but settled for a three star rating. I think it has a really strong beginning but weakens as the story progresses. I hope other readers enjoy it more than me!

Twins, Natasha and Clara, were doomed with a destiny they never asked for thanks to their godfather, Drosseleyer bestowing gifts on the day of their christening--dark and light, respectively. From that moment on, Natasha was forced to live in her sister's shadow. One fateful Christmas Eve, Natasha has the opportunity to change the tide and snatch her chance at revenge when she and Clara are dragged into the deceptively beautiful world: the Kingdom of Sweets. Once there, Natasha is offered a gift from the Sugar Plum Fairy, who presents her with a power greater than any sorcerer. With the shadowy destiny weighed on her shoulders, Natasha must reckon with the choices she makes

This is not your momma's Nutcracker story. I love The Nutcracker and dark retellings, so this book was one I was drawn to and excited to read. The twist of Christmas twins, emphasizing the light and dark concept, had a strong start. The tension between the sisters, the events of the Christmas Eve party, and the immersion in the dark Kingdom of Sweets... all strengths of this book. We hit a quite dark turn, and then I as a reader hit a wall. For me, the rest of this book was slow. After such a strong start, it was hard for me to remain focused on the story. More twists came later in the story that I enjoyed, but I wish they hadn't taken so long to get to.

I would suggest this for people who love dark fairytale retellings, gothic fantasy, descriptive world-building, family drama, and Nutcracker-inspired tales.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for this ARC.

“Blood does matter, but it isn’t a saint’s pardon for all sins… though the blood of twins might be a different matter.”

Erika Johansen, bestselling author of the Queen of the Tearling series, returns with a fresh and dark twist of The Nutcracker in this new standalone novel. This enchantingly bitter and grim retelling brings to life a story of vengeance between sisters cursed since birth whose lives will not be the same after receiving an enchanted doll one memorable Christmas Eve.

The Kingdom of Sweets is a dark, gothic retelling of the Nutcracker centring around twin sisters, Clara and Natasha, who where cursed at birth by their godfather, the sorcerer Drosselmeyer. Clara, bathed in light and grace, has lived an easy life, while Natasha has been forced to live in her sister’s shadow. On a fateful Christmas Eve, a magical nutcracker doll gifted by their godfather transports them to the Kingdom of Sweets. Contrary to its name, the kingdom is a decaying, dark place that tests the sisters and changes their futures forever. A place where Natasha is presented with a chance to get revenge; she meets the Sugar Plum Fairy who brings dreadful bargains to her. Natasha will have to uncover the dark destiny she was given and lean on the power offered to her to decide which of the worlds she belongs to.

The book is largely about the sister’s contrasting lives and the jealousy that arises between them. Their relationship is a tangled and filled with bitterness and spite. They can’t see past themselves and their problems, which in turn make their decisions and actions be self-centred and careless causing disastrous repercussions to others.

On another note, the narrative is filled with vivid descriptions that bring the Kingdom of Sweets to life. However, the story can feel slow and drag at times; and the characters, despite being complex and engaging, are not particularly likable. The book ends with a twist, introducing real-world events and places that can be a bit confusing to the reader and even pull them out of the story since from the beginning the setting feels more like a fairytale land in a faraway kingdom from long long ago. This makes for a bitter-sweet read.

With themes of jealousy, betrayal, love, hate, and vengeance, as well as the moral failings and complexities of the sisters, The Kingdom of Sweets is perfect for those who appreciate morally grey characters and dark, atmospheric retellings.

When christened, their 'godfather', Drosselmeyer, assigned twins Clara and Natasha 'light' and 'dark'. While Clara grew up cheerful, blonde, and able to charm an entire room with her bubbly smile, Natasha ended up morose, brunette, and antisocial. The only thing that Natasha has going for her is her ongoing relationship with Conrad, the son of a duke who she has not-so-secret feelings towards. One Christmas Eve, Clara and Conrad's engagement is announced, causing Natasha to spiral. When a gift from Drosselmeyer takes her into a fantasy world made of sweets, Natasha gets the option to take her revenge on Clara and overcome the curse that has left her with nothing.

'The Kingdom of Sweets' is a case of how too many ingredients can ruin a story. It's a retelling of 'The Nutcracker', but it's also dark and edgy, but it's also a body switching novel, and also a disillusionment with the rich, and weird vague twin magic that is super-powered by Christmas, and the Sugarplum Fairy being a witch queen whose son was kidnapped, and toys that murder people, and Rasputin and Lenin are there. It's simultaneously too short and too long a novel for the things it wants to cover--Lenin shows up in the last 30% of the book while an out-of-wedlock pregnancy plotline is dropped in the first third, but heaven forbid we miss the opportunity for Natasha to tell us how she's jealous of Clara, or how unloved she was by her family. The pacing of the epilogue chapters is also weird, with about 20 years and three countries worth of scene changes that stay past the narrative's welcome.

While there are some clever references to the source material, some of the choices seem needlessly spiteful towards the short story and ballet. While Clara from the ballet isn't a particularly complicated character, it feels weird to have a sweet kid who took a liking to a nonstandard/weird toy (to the point of bandaging it when it got hurt) reimagined as a selfish bimbo who hopes that being knocked up will give her bigger breasts. Natasha, on the other hand, is groan-inducing with how 'not like other girls' she is. Unlike Clara, she reads books instead of playing with dolls! She mentions how much she hates ballet at least twice, which also feels like a potshot towards the original. While she does admit some of her faults later on in the book, it's a too little too late situation, and she hardly becomes a likeable character.

To avoid being entirely negative, I enjoyed how the titular land of sweets morphed into a horror setting. It's rare to see a candy land actually rot and spoil, and I think that's a great idea for making such a happy fantasy world scary. Otherwise, the 'darkness' of the story felt less like gothic horror (I groaned whenever 'Dracula' was mentioned... another book I'd rather be reading) and more like bleak misery. I don't need every story I need to be happy, but when every character is annoying and petty without any charm, it's hard to keep interest.

One last thing... was the story supposed to take place in Germany or Russia? The character names are all German, but Natasha uses the term 'Mother Russia' and there are cameos of some famous Russians. This is complicated all the more when Natasha is reading things in English, not Russian or German. I don't mind the setting being vague and I think it works in its favor, but it makes the last 30% of the book even weirder in hindsight.

If you are on the hunt for a dark holiday read that's going to leave you feeling a bit uncomfortable through it and a fantastic pay off this is it! I loved that this goes beyond that initial christmas eve with the twist of the twins. I do admit that the pacing threw me off a bit at first but once I adjusted to the expectation of it the book sucked me in.

This was dark… I kind of loved it. It was such a weird, kind of sad, dark story. This was a bit of a retelling of The Nutcracker, but it’s also a creative fantasy spun from its influence. Very atmospheric!
The pacing was a bit odd, but I had the sense that everything was done exactly the way it was to make the reader slightly uncomfortable.. just in a way to keep us I’ll at ease, unable to settle into a story where we want to root for someone or something, since everyone was flawed.
The book wasn’t a fast paced heart wrenching story with any romance, but if you’re looking for an intriguing story peppered with evil and strangeness and magic, this is definitely a good story to pick.

This is a very dark and clever spin on the concept of The Nutcracker. I found the characterizations and world building to be very intriguing. The plant pacing were generally very engaging, although there was a stretch in the middle where I felt like things dragged on a bit and the ending felt a little hurried and tidy by contrast. Still, on the whole, I found the idea of the light versus dark and the relationship between twins to be fascinating and really lend itself to a dramatic tale, particularly given the presence of the uber-creepy Kingdom of Sweets backdrop and of Drosselmeyer and Orlov as foils for Natasha and Clara. This was a cool story...

DNF @50%

This was ok at first, but I hate the main character. And the pacing is all over the place and I don't care for the writing.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for sending me an ARC of The Kingdom of Sweets in return for an honest review!

I grew up going to see the Nutcracker ballet every year with my family, and it's always been a favorite memory of mine. So when I saw this Nutcracker retelling, I had to check it out!

The Kingdom of Sweets is a unique, dark story about the steep price of magic. In this story, Clara has a twin sister, Natasha, whose perspective the entire story is told from. At their christening, the twins are blessed to be light (Clara) and dark (Natasha), which sets the course for their entire lives. Conflict between the sisters grows, and one fateful Christmas Eve leads the girls on a journey to the Kingdom of Sweets – but this one is very different than what we've seen in the ballet.

I like that this story goes on far beyond that first Christmas Eve, taking us through years of Natasha's story, as she realizes what her decisions cost, discovers whether what she gained was worth it, and goes on a journey to restore what she lost.

This book is definitely a much darker take on the children's tale, but I really enjoyed where the author took this story. The writing was really beautiful and it was an enjoyable read.

I just stepped out of the shadows of this dark Nutcracker retelling, and let me tell you, it’s a literary journey that’s both unsettling and intriguing.

It is a chilling blend of the Nutcracker, Hansel and Gretel, and a dash of Sleeping Beauty. The author, known for the Queen of the Tearling series, takes us on a haunting ride through a world draped in shadows, where every page oozes with a palpable sense of dread. The interplay between light and dark adds layers of complexity, making it a gloomily thought-provoking experience.

“Love might be real, but it was also utterly precarious, just waiting to turn to hate.”

Ultimately, I was not entranced like I wanted to be. While the Queen and Drosselmeyer add an intriguing touch, the rest of the cast is easy to despise, adding a layer of discomfort that fuels the story’s darkness.

Minimal dialogue creates an atmosphere thick with internal musings, sometimes to the point of losing interest. The author’s signature style, as seen in the Queen of the Tearling series, is less prominent here. It’s a departure from what I expected, and while the darkness is vividly painted, I missed the narrative depth that drew me into her previous works.

It is a journey into the darker corners of Christmas lore. It’s a story that makes you question the innocence of toys, parties, and people. While it didn’t captivate me as much as expected, I wonder if my limited knowledge of the Nutcracker impacted my experience. Definitely a read for those seeking a holiday tale that’s more shadow than sparkle.

Thank you to Dutton books and NetGalley for the copy!

The writing in this novel was so lush and descriptive! I truly felt like I was inside the sickly sweet Kingdom of Sweets. This story was certainly dark and definitely kept me hooked since I had no idea what to expect for this Nutcracker retelling. I enjoyed the first half of the book but then things went a little awry during the second half of the book and for the ending. I got a little lost with the different plot points and characters towards the end. I also don't think the inclusion of historical events during the last part of the book was necessary. But I do think that if you want a darker fantasy holiday read, this will be right up your alley!

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I will confess I am in general not a huge fan of ballet so while I have seen the Nutcracker it is not a story I revisit every year. I was intrigued by this reimagining of it and honestly it was almost like a whole new story for me because most of the original was lost to my memory. I liked the focus on Natasha and the consequences of her actions. This story is full of magic and wonderful things but it is also full of greed and heartbreak and how the price we pay is often more than the value of what we receive. I’m not sure the lesson meant to be taken from the story, but it was an interesting story. It read like a young adult story, but I’m not totally sure that is the right audience for it, if so it is on the mature end of young adult. Most of the characters are a little flat, but we also only see most of them through Natasha’s eyes and we often only see part of a person. I do wonder what would have happened if we could have seen more of the story from other perspectives, at least from Clara. Natasha and her twin sister Clara were born on Christmas Day. Their mysterious (and creepy) godfather came and “blessed” them with gifts. Clara was named light and was beautiful and charming and attracted all the blessings of the world. Natasha was named dark and was left with eyes open to the truth, homely appearance and invisibility in society. Overall I gave this one 3.5 stars which I rounded up because I did get caught up into the story.

Tantalizing, horrifying, and the fantastical orchestration of morality and greed.

Erika Johansen is a gifted storyteller, weaving life lesson and notions that linger long after you finish.

I love the full circle of this novel. The craft of building a false world in the “Kingdom of Sweet” when in reality it is more of a terror.
Natasha learns an important lesson even though it takes her years to realize the truth. Naivety of youth. Cynicism of age…. And that’s no human is perfect.

Johansen is very poignant in how she phrases thing. I have highlight lots of passages. So many fairytale woven in this story. I loved the ending. Definitely would recommend this story.

I was sold immediately after seeing this was a Nutcracker retelling, a christmas staple for me as a kid. solid opening, but I started getting bored quickly and was about to dnf at around the 40% mark, until something happened that grabbed my attention and I was finally hooked. I am not a big fantasy reader, this one skews more on the magical/fairy tale side of things, but I did find some of those elements a bit confusing or out of the blue, but the plot itself was quite compelling.

.A dark and twisted tale involving twins and sorcery in pre revolutionary Russia. The story is narrated by the darker and plainer sister who makes a bargain with the Sugar Plum Fairy to assuage the jealousy she has of her twins life. As we know all Magic comes at a cost and unsurprisingly the bargain is not without complications. Additionally this is not the Sugar Plum Fairy of your dreams
The story definitely held my interest even with mostly unlikeable characters.