After last week’s fantasy book, why not review another fantasy book? Cindy Pham’s debut novel, The Secret World of Briar Rose, came out at the beginning of last month, and I know I’m already late to the party. If you aren’t familiar, Cindy Pham is a YouTuber from the channel readwithcindy, and her popularity came from her sarcastic and often snarky reviews of books and TV shows/movies. So I was curious to see if that side of her would show up in her writing as well. Thank you to the author, the publisher, Penguin Young Readers Group/Kokila, and to NetGalley for a copy of this book.
Title: The Secret World of Briar Rose Author: Cindy Pham Publication: June 2026 Length: 14 hours 35 minutes Genre: Fantasy, Queer, Romance Pace: Medium Story focus: Plot & Character
100 years have passed since the last heir of Gyldan fell into eternal slumber and doomed the once-mighty kingdom to poverty and invasion. At least, that’s what the fairy tales claim. Corin is a jaded thief who doesn’t believe in fables, even when she searches Gyldan’s underground tunnels to find her younger sister, Elly, who ran away to find the sleeping princess in hopes of a better life. Corin’s conviction is challenged when she discovers the ruins of the ancient castle, maintained by beings from the kingdom’s golden age, who protect a hidden portal into Princess Amelia’s subconscious. Following Elly’s voice, Corin jumps into the portal and seals the entry behind her. Inside the lush world of Amelia’s dreams, the sisters reunite for a new adventure as they meet Briar Rose, Amelia’s whimsical alter ego, and Malicine, a sharp-tongued demon with a gift for magic. But as they explore, Corin suspects Briar Rose is hiding darker secrets behind her “perfect” paradise.
Do I need to do a disclaimer again? I’m doing the disclaimer. Fantasy is not my preferred genre. I rarely read any fantasy because I don’t care about fairy dust, wands and spells. So all those details in the story will fall flat to me and not contribute to my enjoyment of the book. So take my review with a grain of fairy salt.
The Secret World of Brian Rose is a queer fairy tale retelling of Sleeping Beauty, and I loved how Cindy unravelled it all. She picked up the formula and not only mocked it for its absurdity, but also spun it on its head. The girl didn’t need a prince to be saved. In fact, she didn’t want to be saved at all. The villain was actually not the villain, and the true villains were hiding in plain sight. And we saw what came after the supposed happy ending. In this case, something very bad.
The story is told in two different timelines: the present following Corin, and 100 years in the past following mostly Amelia and Malicine. The fairy tale happened 100 years ago, and now Corin, who doesn’t believe in any of that, only cares about surviving for another day. The world is at war, and with no one in charge, it descended into chaos. And this is a direct consequence of how the fairy tale ended.
I mostly preferred the chapters set in the past because they had all the mystery. What happened to Amelia? What happened to Malicine? What happened to the fairy tale? And that’s also where we get to know Malicine better. They were a character that made me think of that quote from How the Grinch Stole Christmas: “[…] the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day”. They are presented as the villain of the story, but, like the Grinch, they were just bullied from the start. And when we go past any biases or prejudice, we start to see Malicine for who they are, and they are far from being a villain. (I’m also using they because that’s the pronouns Malicine uses, just so we are all on the same page).
Cindy hasn’t shied away from stating she wrote this book during a very bad mental health moment. Therefore, one big theme of the story is depression and suicidal ideation. And for the most part, this is seen in the characters simply not caring about the world anymore. Not caring if they are living in a fantasy world instead of the real world. Not caring if a prick on the finger by their eighteenth birthday will plummet them into a slumber for years on end. For a long time, there’s this sort of dormancy to the characters that comes from being hurt and also avoiding the hurt. But by the end, that’s when all the depression becomes more evident.
When Amelia breaks through and finds a reason to stop living and believing in her depression, that’s when it becomes crystal clear what she was experiencing. All throughout the book, there isn’t a mention of depression, suicide or mental health. It’s only exposed through the characters’ conversations and feelings. And by the end, the message “I hear you, I see your pain, but the world is much better with you in it” becomes louder.
The characters were interesting, although I didn’t connect with them as much as I would prefer. And I’m starting to see that for me to enjoy a fantasy story, I need to enjoy other things to a greater degree because the plot isn’t working for me. Since it’s a fantasy, that’s what the plot focuses on, which means I need something else to keep me invested. In this case, there wasn’t much. I mostly had the mystery of the past and a curiosity to know how this story would end, because at some point all the possible endings were anything but happy.
Due to the heaviness of the topics that move the story, it becomes dark. I think the brothers Grimm would even appreciate this spin on the Sleeping Beauty. The story isn’t only about depression, but also grief. These three characters will meet and start to unpack all the hurt and secrets each one has been harbouring for a long time. And with that comes a lot of negative emotions. However, it does have a happy ending, if we count bittersweet as being half happy.
Still, I’m glad I gave this book a chance. It allowed me to explore more of the fantasy genre and understand better what I enjoy and what I don’t enjoy. Apparently, I’m totally fine with fairy tales. Disney for sure trained us well. In the hands of the right reader, I think this story can mean a lot, can bring hope and maybe even a hug that better days will come.
Goodreads | The Storygraph | Literal | Fable
