by R. C. Lewis
YA Science Fiction
Snow White Retelling
Link to Goodreads
Princess Snow is missing.
Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthais and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back - but that's assuming she wants to return at all.
Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fills her days with coding and repairs for the seven loyal drones that run the local mines.
When a young man name Dane crash-lands near her home, Essie agrees to help the pilot repair his ship. But soon she realizes that Dane's arrival was far from accidental, and she's pulled into the heart of a war she's risked everything to avoid. With the galaxy's future - and her own - in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival.
My Review
I really enjoyed the book when I first started reading it. In fact, I couldn't put it down. However, once Essie was kidnapped my enjoyment started to wane. I did not agree with her reactions. Essie seemed too attached to Dane, even though she was still angry, but it was the attachment that came out of no where. There was nothing really leading up to that, and during the build-up to the kidnapping everything made it seem like she would just be in a blind fury, unable to control the rage.
Essie is not your normal "Snow White" princess. She does live with seven.... well... drones (ones she made herself); but rather than the delicate little princess, Essie enjoys cage fights and stitching together computer and mechanical components. Living on the frozen mining planet Thanda, Essie thought she had escaped her past until Dane appears and kidnaps her in an attempt to ransom her for Exile prisoners.
I did like Dane's character. His development was much smoother than Essie's. You do not fully understand Essie's aversion to people touching her until about three-quarters of the way through the book. And even then, it is hinted at but not fully realized until the very end. It turns out she wasn't just running away from being murdered by her step-mother, Olivia. She was running from her father as well.
Overall, I think it was a clever adaptation of Snow White, and fairly well written. There were just a few character development flaws and a few situations that did not quite work for the story.
Recommended, especially for fans of classic retellings. 4 out of 5 Stars.
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