Gruesome, macabre, nightmarish at times, bizarre. I have so many problems with this novel I don't even know where to start. First, I read the author's afterword and I'm still not sure now much of this is actually historical. Was there a Queen Isabel? King Christian? Syphilis epidemic among the royalty? I forget what country this is set in but I don't really care enough to figure it out and then research these people. 
 Second, Christian develops a crush on the guy/courtier whose job it is to attend to his needs on the toilet. Gross and awkward. 
 Third, I didn't really understand Ava and Midi's relationship. When did they become friends? Or did they just stick together because they had to? 
 Another point, Queen Isabel is bat shit crazy until she has some words of wisdom to impart to Ava about forgiving yourself and then she's perfectly fine. Really? About five minutes ago she thought a wax doll was a real human child and now she's spouting aphorisms like Oprah and the girls are awestruck. Just no. 
 I also hated the structure - bouncing between characters to the omniscient narrator to the fairy tale bits just didn't work. I didn't like the perspective shift between 1st and 3rd person. 
 Finally (view spoiler)[it seems like everyone just forgot about the original Elinor and the other folks in prison and left before they found out whether they'd survived. (hide spoiler)] 
 Was there anything about this book that I liked? Maybe the beginning when we get Ava's background. 1.25 stars.