Intricate, Innovative, Well Researched
Briar Rose has a lot going on, shifting back and forth in time, amongst settings, and between the realms of fantasy and reality. It has a complex structure, even though it doesn't feel like a super complex read.
That's because the author uses stylistic and structural markers, such as putting Gemma's storytelling sections, which are set in the past, in italics. That way, when Chapter 11 opens with, "It took a hundred years," we instantly know that we're in the middle of a flashback, not jumping forward a century for Becca. (11.1) Pretty handy, huh?
The italics flashback thing is one example of how the author is innovative. Another is how she approaches the plot, taking an old story—Sleeping Beauty, a fairy tale that everyone has heard a thousand times (unless you're Becca, in which case at least a few million)—and shaping it into something modern and new. If life were a contest, we'd definitely give Jane Yolen extra points for creativity.
Finally, even though Yolen is not afraid to use her imagination, it's clear that she hit the books, doing her homework on subjects like World War II and Eastern Europe.
Just to take one example, the sheer number of Polish words and places she uses is pretty impressive. For example, maybe you didn't know that księżniczka is Polish for "princess," and that "it's pronounced Kshyen-zhneech-kah. With a nasal 'n' like in French." (10.44) Yeah, we didn't either.
Please don't ask how many tries it took for us to type "księżniczka." Let's just say it was a lot.