“Death means no uncertainty. No pain. No sadness. Why, it’s almost like being in a dream.”
“She had told her sister to stop listening to fairy tales. That stories were shared to placate and distract from reality, but they would never be tools to survive in it. All this time, she feared Elly would die in the crossfire of soldiers, be snatched by men with leering eyes, keel over from hunger and poverty. But she hadn’t lost Elly to any of those things. In the end, her sister had run away to chase the most dangerous thing of all: hope.”
As is typical in most YA stories, The Secret World of Briar Rose really wastes no time taking off as we’re dropped right into the hectic life of Corin, a jaded thief who semi-accidentally ends up wandering into the subconscious dream world of a princess who has been asleep for a hundred years in search of her missing sister. Which, honestly, is one hell of a premise. Cindy Pham’s wild imagination instantly had me enamoured, and I loved the balance between the wonderful whimsy and brutally dark horror of it all.
Now, I can totally see why some readers might bounce off the dreamy, flowery writing style and the introspective, character-driven storytelling, but it really worked for me. I am unfortunately a sucker for pretty imagery and emotionally damaged people making questionable life choices while drowning in trauma, and that is basically The Secret World of Briar Rose in a nutshell. Corin’s trauma and her fierce love for her sister Elly quickly pulled me in despite how purposefully unlikeable she is, and the unexpected developments in their relationship were a strong emotional anchor for me amidst all the nonsensical chaos.
“If Corin was the darkness, Elly had been her light. Her sister was the thorn in her side that she refused to pull out. Some pain in life was too excruciating to bear. The loss of their parents. Her betrayal to their friends. The slow death of her dreams. And then there was some pain that made it worth staying.”
The multiple POVs and dual timelines also really worked for me, because as much as I enjoyed Corin and her disaster energy, I found Princess Amelia and Malicine even more compelling. Amelia and her alter ego Briar in particular made my heart ache, because my girl is stressed, depressed, and just a tiny bit demon-obsessed, which honestly makes her one of the most painfully relatable characters I’ve read in a while. Even without knowing how much of the story was inspired by Cindy Pham’s own experiences with depression and suicide, you can just feel that pain woven throughout the story, and the unflinching yet empathetic exploration of that made me feel so seen.
“She was born a beautiful girl with a beautiful life. They told her she could become anything. And so, she became nothing.”
Malicine also really took me by surprise, because I wasn’t expecting to be fangirling over a demon, but here we are. The way that Cindy Pham explored their inner turmoil and constantly played around with the concepts of villainy and morality through their actions was just endlessly compelling to me, and the themes of otherness, loneliness, and the desperate need for connection hit especially hard through their eyes. We support demon’s rights and demon’s wrongs around here, just so you know.
Anyway, the heavy symbolism and layered metaphors worked for me for the most part, although I have to admit I didn’t always understand how all the logic was logicking and I sometimes felt like the larger plot was working against itself. See, there is so much going on and everything feels so detached from reality that I struggled to really let myself get invested on a deeper level, which unfortunately made most of the world building, side characters, emotional gutpunches, and especially the romantic relationships fall a bit flat for me. Still, I will always be here for messy queer yearning, and The Secret World of Briar Rose definitely delivered on that so I can’t even complain too much.
“She was afraid of dying, while the girl holding her was afraid of living. They had never met each other, not truly, and still, Corin had to believe that their dreams were enough.”
Ultimately, there is no denying that The Secret World of Briar Rose has its flaws and it will absolutely not be a book for everyone, but I personally devoured it and I loved how the ending was somehow so diabolically rude, painfully poignant, and beautifully fitting all at once. To me, this feverdreamy tale feels a bit like Caraval meets Strange the Dreamer meets Alice in Wonderland, except make it aggressively queer and significantly more emotionally unstable, which is honestly the combination of my dreams. Absolutely recommend, that’s what I call a bold and promising debut.