The Wishstress

By Nadine Brandes

Content Meters

Sex, romance, and nudity:: 50%
Violence and gore:: 60%
Language:: 0%
Substance use:: 10%
Negative messages:: 10%
Positive messages:: 80%

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Recommended:: Ages 18+
Read time:: 15 Hours
Reviewed on:: May 4, 2024

Spoiler-Free Overview

Did you grow up on fairytales? Have you always loved the down-and-out stories of Cinderella and Rapunzel while craving more cultural depth from stories like Frozen? Then you’re in the right place. The Wishstress is a fairytale fantasy with palpable Dutch and German cultural ties in a world where the powers of Talents and Banes are about to collide.

From the very first page, tensions begin building and every page seems to bear worse news than the one before. It all starts when Myrthe wastes two wishes on a character you’re never supposed to like, and then she is cursed for it with only one possible solution… reach the Well of Talent for some vague hope it will cure her.

Meanwhile, Bastiaan hunts her down and decides not to turn her into the new king, at least not yet. Unlike some authors who use multiple perspectives (*cough* Sanderson *cough*), Brandes introduces the characters to each other very early, although they have no idea the way fate will tie them together until Bastiaan finds his mark and realizes he has more to lose by turning her into the crown.

Myrthe and Bastiaan’s epic adventure is constantly interrupted and eventually, they have no choice but to face their greatest fears… the challenges that surround the Well of Talents and the baleful waters of the Night Well

While I can recommend this book to adult, fairytale lovers who are ready to get invested in a longer book, I cannot say the same for those who expect to be invested on the first page. Myrthe is an interesting character with equally interesting complications to her power, but once she is cursed, it becomes very difficult to like her as she pushes her emotions away. The very thing that draws you to her at the beginning of the read is dead and buried for about half of the book.

The breaks in the narrative where Bastiaan and his sidekick, Runt, come into play were easily my favorite portions of the book. Although he has lived many years outside of time, Bastiaan has all of the impatience of a 17-year-old boy. He is flawed and yet compassion runs beneath his skin like living water. He is broken and yet dares to hope at every turn. This compassion and hope draws Myrthe from her hard-heartedness and leads them both to make sacrifices that leave a mark on Fairhoven forever.

I hope you’re ready to dig deep on this one because from start to finish, there is no good stopping point.

Spoiler Alert

Venture beyond this point at your own risk!

Detailed Content Meters

Sex, romance, and nudity:: rating: 50%

Kissing is a regular occurrence and the main character, Myrthe, talks about her high-school sweetheart, so to speak, holding her tighter in the winter than the summer and how she misses it. She and Bastion hold hands and Mirth’s thoughts describe wanting to never separate from him.
A character is given new life and a new, unclothed, body in the well of talents. The only descriptor is that the hole in his abdomen is closed and then he climbs out and puts on clothes.
There is mention of a child being sold as a sex slave to pay off her father's debts and then having a child as a young teen.
Violence and gore:: rating: 60%

The book begins as Myrthe makes a wish that kills her father and makes her mother forget her.
Her grandmother raises her harshly, forcing her to cry to pay for rent. Myrthe mentions that sometimes meant inflicting severe physical pain. There are many mentions of her grandmother being physically abusive.
Many battles result in wounds, maiming, and even deaths, including that of two children drowning beneath a frozen lake. Not only are swords and arrows used, but winter's freezing breath and Banes also inflict many severe injuries.
Runt, a ten-year-old boy, spends a stent in the dungeon where he and another prisoner are tortured.
Anouk is found bruised and chained up after being caught attempting to reach the Well of Talents.
Language:: rating: 0%

“Winter’s breath” is the catch-all phrase for cursing in The Wishstress. There is a mention of shouting curses after someone, and there are literal curses spoken over people (namely the heroine, as it sets off the entire book).
Substance use:: rating: 10%

There is one mention of Banes feeling addictive and Myrthe often uses a knock-out drug like chloroform to keep herself from crying.
Negative messages:: rating: 10%

The love interest, Bastiaan, is chronologically 107 although physically roughly the same age as Myrthe.
Anouk chooses to stay by her husband’s side after he tortures her. While not the choice Myrthe wants Anouk to make, she does respect it.
Positive messages:: rating: 80%

Of the many positive messages in The Wishtress, the greatest is learning to trust in God. The Well of Talents is a clear one-for-one with God and its guidance is always right and always full of both grace and truth.
Romantic love is taught as both a choice and an overflow of the heart in proper balance.
Following God’s direction is a constant choice in the book, and it is never too late to recommit oneself to Him.
There is room for grace even in the greatest mistakes.
This book teaches both man’s responsibility and free will as Myrthe wrestles with everything being within the Well’s plans and yet not of the Well’s nature.
Selflessness is tempered by wisdom as Myrthe desires to be compassionate and is taken advantage of time and time again.
Myrthe struggles with the purpose of life about three-quarters through the book as she realizes she is fighting against death simply for life. This is resolved by finding the value of life inherent in every person. Bastiaan explicitly makes this value known as he talks to Runt very early in the book.
Anouk’s marriage to the new king would, at first, seem to put her and Myrthe at odds, but Anouk makes clear that though they are on different sides, she is not Myrthe's enemy. This makes a powerful statement about the ties that bind us all together.

Detailed Overview

The Wishstress walks a fine line in its presentation of good versus evil. Myrthe is oppressed before the story even begins by her grandmother of all people, and Anouk's body is sold to men far older than her by her father. Characters are tortured for their loyalties. Men kill for Talents and allow the control of Banes when they do not get what they want.

The fallen nature of man is palpable and heartbreaking, which makes the shining light of compassion and hope all the more powerful. Even as things continue to fall apart, Myrthe and Bastiaan find hope in the well and strength in their compassion for others.

One point I believe should be highlighted is the romance of the book. It adds both to the ideologies and the plot of the book, but I could have done without the ageless-teen trope for a teen/young adult read.

It sheds light on why Bastiaan is so skilled and knowledgeable even though he is a commoner and isn't an issue for adult readers, but the chronological difference between his and Myrthe's age could be confusing for younger readers. As the old psychologist, Erik Erikson would put it, they are not ready to enter the sixth stage of development, intimacy versus isolation, because they have yet to resolve identity development versus role confusion. In other words, young readers have enough on their plate figuring out their identity.

At the very least, this ought to be discussed with a younger reader so they do not develop the idea that “age is just a number” or “if you’re mature enough, age doesn’t matter.” Ideas like these can lead young girls into bad situations.

Still, Bastiaan is a far better choice than Anouk’s decision to marry the power-hungry prince just because she had a child with him at fourteen. Even Myrthe is aghast at that.

Getting back to the plot…

When the prince becomes king, he becomes infatuated with the Night Well and its banes, hatching a plan to turn everyone in Fairhoven into a Bane user and thus taking control of his kingdom. This puts Bastiaan between a rock and a hard place, much like his mysterious relationship with the previous king.

While Bastiaan believes Talents are meant to serve the crown and the citizens, the king's edicts do not serve the people. This philosophy cannot stand in its current state and tears at Bastiaan's mind until he realizes that the Talents are to serve the Well and, in doing so, all people.

When Bastiaan and Myrthe choose to surrender to the Well of Talents and act in humble servitude, they send Fairhoven into a new era where every man may choose who he will serve.