A child that is born to the river shall return to the river.
All her life, Moss has lived in the Tower of London with her father, who serves as the executioner for King Henry VIII. Prisoners condemned to death must face Pa and his axe—and Moss, who holds the basket that will catch their severed heads.
Twelve years you shall have. To love her. To hold her.
With the king sending more enemies to the block each day, Moss knows she can’t bear to be the executioner’s daughter any longer. She’s desperate to see the outside world, especially the River Thames, which flows just beyond the Tower’s walls. Even the chilling stories about the Riverwitch, who snatches children from the shore, won’t stop her.
After that, the child belongs to me.
When Moss finally finds a way out of the Tower, she discovers the river holds more dangers than she imagined—including the Riverwitch’s curse. The Riverwitch once helped Moss’s family in exchange for a terrible bargain; now she expects Moss to pay the debt.
Description taken from Goodreads.
This was described as a YA read, but it’s not one. It’s undeniably middle-grade, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The Executioner’s Daughter is about a little girl who grows into a teenager through the process of escaping the tower she’s lived in all her life.
The best parts to this book were the character development and the world-building, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who’s not interested in either one of those two things.
The character development was what drew me in, because I have no particular love of Tudor life. The Executioner’s Daughter isn’t a true adventure story in the sense of pacing and plot. It’s more about the main character’s mental journey. Once I realized that, I came to love Moss as a character. She’s strong-willed, she’s immature, she’s just a kid. By the end of the story, she matures greatly, and it was good to see that.
In that sense, this story is more traditional middle-grade than what you see these days. People who love old adventure stories may be interested in picking this one up.
But if you’re in it for the descriptions of Tudor life, you should know that the world-building is very well done. This does get a little brutal in some scenes, but it’s not that bad. If I had to name a general age range, I would say anywhere from 9 or 10 is a fitting age. The Executioner’s Daughter is a good introduction into the era, and people who love that time period won’t be disappointed.
All in all, not quite the action/adventure fantasy I was looking for, but a good read that I would recommend. The ending was pretty satisfactory for me, so I don’t know where the series will go, but I’ll be checking it out. 3 stars.
pg count for the hardback: 288
Series: The Executioner’s Daughter #1
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