A Mirror Mended

Zinnia is back and getting into all sorts of funny yet sinister trouble with Snow White's The Evil Queen at her heels. I didn't expect this installment to be so poignant and beautiful, while offering a few new perspectives on dark fairytale characters and their true natures. I can't wait to read more.

I've been ecstatic since I saw the announcement of this book because I had assumed A Spindle Splintered was a standalone but I'm so glad this exists. And I just had to read it as soon as I got my arc because how can I wait.

Did I just forget how funny and snarky the first book was or did the author just take it all up a notch, I don't know. But the main character Zinnia's internal monologue as well as most of the things that come out of her mouth are very sassy and outright hilarious. She is ofcourse employing this tactic so that she doesn't have to show her vulnerable side or face her own reality, but is prepared to dive into universe after universe to save different versions of princesses from their terrible fates, just so that she doesn't have to face hers. But this time, she is in for something different.

When she comes face to face with the Evil Queen from a different fairytale, Snow White, she is not prepared for it - how do you help a woman who is also probably actively trying to torture you? Their interactions go from bitter to snarky to forced to honest, showing a growth in both their characters. Zinnia understands that she can find her happiness within her life without worrying about when it will end, and the Evil Queen learns that she doesn't always have to make choices just to survive, she can also make them to live a life on her terms. We also get some little cameos which prove to be the necessary catalysts for our two characters' growth; and we also get to see how the story of Snow White and the Evil Queen gets warped into different versions across realms, where the lines get blurred between heroine and villain, between good and evil. Add in some chaos across the multiverse, and it makes for an exciting romp of a novella.

Overall, it was a delight. I loved being back in this world and I liked this ending because it felt hopeful for everyone involved. If you are someone who likes fractured fairytales with lots of humor, sassy women and some very interesting feminist takes on the age old tales, do go for this series. While I couldn't get access to the audiobook this time around, I'll probably still recommend that format because I remember the narrator bringing a lot more personality to the story and just overall making the humor come alive.

It has been an exciting five years for our dimension traveling heroine, Zinnia Gray. We have moved past the traditional simple sleeping beauty type stories and into just about every variation on theme that can be imagined. Every country, every type of world and even some off world, Zinnia has stepped in and did her best to “help” the titular princess. She has burned fifty spindles. “Just when Zinnia's beginning to think she can't handle one more princess, she glances into a mirror and sees another face looking back at her: the shockingly gorgeous face of evil, asking for her help.”

Now, what fairy tale do we know of that has a gorgeous face of evil staring into a mirror?

It is none other than the worst of evil stepmothers, the poisoner of many apples, The Evil Queen. And she needs help. Although at the time of jumping through the mirror, Zinnia did not know that. Even the worst of the worst might have a redeeming quality buried deep inside them, and they need a better ending than to be put in hot metal shoes, or crumble and wither to dust. Or, if you take the Disney version, driven off of a cliff. Either way, The Evil Queen's future is one of horror, and she wants a new ending.

“You have to make the best of whatever story you were born into, and if your story happens to suck ass, well, maybe you can do some good before you go.”

I have often said that Alix E. Harrow cannot write a bad thing. For me, as a reader, her words and stories indeed resonate. When I hear that she will have a new release, I look forward to it for months. A Mirror Mended is no different. I highly enjoyed this story, with a few caveats. Like the first in this series, Zinnia is snarky and likable. I get her humor; maybe it is because I, too, have quite the sardonic tongue. A Mirror Mended is a story that does not take itself too seriously. How could it? Fairy tales, while important culturally, are often a bit tongue and cheek. I am glad that Harrow moved on to another fairy tale just as dark as Sleeping Beauties. Disney sure does enjoy tarting up stories for the masses, especially when the underbelly of the story is figuratively infested with worms.

Harrow is also a master world-builder. Granted, the world of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White were reasonably solid from the original stories, but she takes all those ideas and convincingly twists them. It is one of the things I enjoy about her as an author; she knows how to make the unbelievable into the believable.

“The mirror showed me you, out of all the possible people in all the universes,' It sounds almost like an apology. ‘Why?'
‘Well, what were you doing at the time?'
‘I was looking into the mirror, obviously. Wishing for a way out.'
‘Well, so was I. As it happens.”

The caveats as mentioned above are that Zinnia's quippyness, her snark, came off less as a popping soap bubble of humor and more like a defense mechanism, and given the context of the story, it didn't quite fit right for me as a reader. This might be entirely on me and what I see in Zinnia as a character, but often her dialog seemed too forced. And in a story this short, something like that can quickly drive out a reader, as it did with me.

Even with this sidenote, this is a hell of a good story. Her record for writing killer novels and short stories continues. I highly recommend this as a nice little jaunt into fairy tales. Make sure you read the first novel, A Spindle Splintered, first so you can get all the references and enjoy Harrow's mastery.

This is the second time this year I've read a Fairy Tale themed book filled with obscure modern references. I guess it's an attempt to connect with the reader. It has an "Oh the Cleverness of me!" - Peter Pan vibe to it. And frankly it's annoying. Just as I was getting absorbed into the story, the author would insert a random modern reference which would take me completely out of the tale. My mind would wander to follow the reference instead of continuing on the with story. It's unfortunate because the premis of the story was really interesting. I would have loved to learn and explore more. The fact it is so short is really an injustice because the story has a lot more to offer. Am I glad I read it? Yes. Would I pick it up again? Maybe. But only to flip to a few pages.