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A review by shanaqui
A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Alix E. Harrow's A Spindle Splintered is a delightfully meta take on Sleeping Beauty, inspired by the Spider-verse. Which makes it sound kind of gimmicky, perhaps, but it (mostly) isn't -- it's created out of love for the story, for all the ways humans have told the story of Sleeping Beauty, and what a modern take can look like.
Being a novella, it doesn't go super deeply into world-building or anything: the point is obviously the play with the tropes, the pure fun of summoning a space princess with a blaster gun to save a Sleeping Beauty from her fate. And it works: I tore through it, and loved Zinnia's relationships with Charm and with her parents, and with Charm falling head over heels for Primrose.
In some ways, I liked Zinnia's feelings toward her own narrative, the fact that she knows she's going to die, and sometimes I wanted to tell her to just give it a rest. Which would be unfair with a real person, of course, but it isn't always super fun to read about in fiction.
Overall, though, very enjoyable, and I'm keen to read the second novella soon too.
Being a novella, it doesn't go super deeply into world-building or anything: the point is obviously the play with the tropes, the pure fun of summoning a space princess with a blaster gun to save a Sleeping Beauty from her fate. And it works: I tore through it, and loved Zinnia's relationships with Charm and with her parents, and with Charm falling head over heels for Primrose.
In some ways, I liked Zinnia's feelings toward her own narrative, the fact that she knows she's going to die, and sometimes I wanted to tell her to just give it a rest. Which would be unfair with a real person, of course, but it isn't always super fun to read about in fiction.
Overall, though, very enjoyable, and I'm keen to read the second novella soon too.