eBook, 128 pages
English language
Published Oct. 5, 2021 by Tor Publishing Group.
USA Today bestselling author Alix E. Harrow’s A Spindle Splintered brings her patented charm to a new version of a classic story. Featuring Arthur Rackham’s original illustrations for The Sleeping Beauty, fractured and reimagined.
“A vivid, subversive and feminist reimagining of Sleeping Beauty, where implacable destiny is no match for courage, sisterhood, stubbornness and a good working knowledge of fairy tales.” —Katherine Arden
It’s Zinnia Gray’s twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it’s the last birthday she’ll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that no-one has lived past twenty-one.
Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia’s last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, …
USA Today bestselling author Alix E. Harrow’s A Spindle Splintered brings her patented charm to a new version of a classic story. Featuring Arthur Rackham’s original illustrations for The Sleeping Beauty, fractured and reimagined.
“A vivid, subversive and feminist reimagining of Sleeping Beauty, where implacable destiny is no match for courage, sisterhood, stubbornness and a good working knowledge of fairy tales.” —Katherine Arden
It’s Zinnia Gray’s twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it’s the last birthday she’ll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that no-one has lived past twenty-one.
Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia’s last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate.
This was a very enjoyable listen. I didn't expect the combination of a terminally ill young woman and the fairytale of Sleeping Beauty to be so entertaining. I liked how the various versions of the story were used here. Highly recommended if you're in need of a short and entertaining fantasy tale. I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.
This was a surprisingly short read and it shouldn’t have taken me as long as it did to finish it. The beginning of the book didn’t pull me in at all so I struggled until after around the thirty-percent mark when it picked up the pace.
This book is a feminist spin on a classic fairy tale and I think it was done okay but from a rather white feminist perspective. I think what misled me was that majority of reviewers labelled this as “diverse” on StoryGraph. To an extent, that’s true—the protagonist is terminally ill, and the other two prominent characters are lesbians. But there are no significant characters of colour. I guess people of colour can’t exist in fairy tales or Ohio?
Anyway, that was quite disappointing. White people need to remember that diversity doesn’t and shouldn’t just end at LGBT representation.
The writing also came off …
This was a surprisingly short read and it shouldn’t have taken me as long as it did to finish it. The beginning of the book didn’t pull me in at all so I struggled until after around the thirty-percent mark when it picked up the pace.
This book is a feminist spin on a classic fairy tale and I think it was done okay but from a rather white feminist perspective. I think what misled me was that majority of reviewers labelled this as “diverse” on StoryGraph. To an extent, that’s true—the protagonist is terminally ill, and the other two prominent characters are lesbians. But there are no significant characters of colour. I guess people of colour can’t exist in fairy tales or Ohio?
Anyway, that was quite disappointing. White people need to remember that diversity doesn’t and shouldn’t just end at LGBT representation.
The writing also came off as too frivolous and juvenile at times. Like, what the hell is this:
I wonder if I look hot, sprawled limp and lifeless among the roses.
A Spindle Splintered has all the right elements, examining the sleeping beauty archetype in folklore through a feminist lens. Connecting the dying princess story to that of a contemporary terminally ill girl.
So why didn't I enjoy it? The writing is clunky, there is hardly any challenge, Zinnia can just walls into a mediaeval castle and do as she pleases. All she needs is attitude. The opposition is ludicrously inept or turns out to be on her side.
I recommend reading: [b:Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower|54391767|Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower|Tamsyn Muir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1594041962l/54391767.SX50.jpg|84877379] by Tamsyn Muir instead.
his book starts off strong, but doesn't maintain momentum through to the end.
I borrowed this book from the library and read it in a day.
It was a good read,about sleeping beauty,more like in our era.
The characters in this book are really likeable.
If Princess and Princes are your thing, fairy tales,and fantasy,this is a one to read. It even has humid to it.
I intend to read more of the author's books in the future.
The reader is told a lot, not shown. I guess that's somewhat required for brevity, but I didn't enjoy it
Like every other piece of Alix E. Harrow fiction I've consumed, this was fantastical, heartfelt, and an absolute delight from cover to cover.
I'm not even mad about the outrageous tor dot com novella pricing because the illustrations are stunning.
Purchasable
https://www.litalist.com/book/9781250765352.