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A review by coraline88
A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
This was such a delight from start to finish. Our main character Zinnia's humour came across, simultaneously jaded because of her precarious health condition but also hopeful for her own happily ever after. Indeed, it is her very fate that prompted her since childhood to aspire to fairy tale princesses, a dream which she narrates in quite an acidic tone.
Although typically I don't enjoy the mix of modern-day language, pop culture and technology with a more traditional fairy tale setting, it worked in this case as Zinnia got trapped in a fairy realm, where the characters in that setting spoke in an archaic way but Zinnia herself maintained her current-day jargon and speech pattern. I thoroughly enjoyed the commentary woven into the fabric of the story, whereupon Zinnia made allusions to women's limited roles in fairy tales while also commenting on how they have shaped the collective human experience, all of which added a nice meta element to this narrative. I also loved the focus on female friendship between Zinnia and Charm, their banter was so endearing and they felt very fleshed out to me. I also loved Primrose and the rest of the characters that were present in this tale and found the spin on the "evil witch" character and backstory so incredibly moving.
This story lacked nothing for me, it was such a solid read and has now become a new favourite book. What a way to start the year!! I can't wait for the sequel.
Although typically I don't enjoy the mix of modern-day language, pop culture and technology with a more traditional fairy tale setting, it worked in this case as Zinnia got trapped in a fairy realm, where the characters in that setting spoke in an archaic way but Zinnia herself maintained her current-day jargon and speech pattern. I thoroughly enjoyed the commentary woven into the fabric of the story, whereupon Zinnia made allusions to women's limited roles in fairy tales while also commenting on how they have shaped the collective human experience, all of which added a nice meta element to this narrative. I also loved the focus on female friendship between Zinnia and Charm, their banter was so endearing and they felt very fleshed out to me. I also loved Primrose and the rest of the characters that were present in this tale and found the spin on the "evil witch" character and backstory so incredibly moving.
This story lacked nothing for me, it was such a solid read and has now become a new favourite book. What a way to start the year!! I can't wait for the sequel.