Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis

Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis

Release Date - October 14, 2014

Publisher Website - Disney - Hyperion
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages - 336 pages
My Rating - 3.5/5
**received in exchange for an honest review**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

Princess Snow is missing.

Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias 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 mysterious young man named 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.

In her enthralling debut, R.C. Lewis weaves the tale of a princess on the run from painful secrets . . . and a poisonous queen. With the galaxy's future-and her own-in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival.

Fairytale retellings are some of my favourite books to read. I especially like anything that takes a fairytale and twists it into something completely new and different. With Stitching Snow, RC Lewis has offered up a quirky, fun take on the classic tale. It's a story that, sadly, didn't garner a strong reaction either way for me while reading. I didn't feel myself fully pulled into the story, but it was a pleasant, quick read.

Essie is not your typical Snow White. She cage fights, tinkers with machines, and is able to create computer code with little effort. She, for all appearances, has a tough exterior that sends a clear message for other to not mess with her. Underneath is a different story. She's still that scared girl who ran away from the palace. Seeing Essie change, and evolve throughout the novel should have been the main focus. She does, arguably, have the most development of the three characters, but I am hesitant a to whether it's all earned.

There is a unique twist to the seven dwarfs that was, by far, my favourite part to the novel. They felt organic to the world that has been created, and tied the main character to the world at the same time. You come to care about these drones, and their personalities really pop off the pages.

The later half of the novel is not as strong as the first half. The ending felt rushed, and the romance felt like it did not have time to develop properly. It worked up until that point, but did not quite come together in the end. The Snow White parallels ended up feeling like a checklist towards the end, rather than a natural, integral part to the story.

The 'evil' Queen and the poisoned apple was another delightful nod. It was done in a clever, and realistic way that, again, felt like it belonged within this world. I wished we had gotten some more characterization of the Queen and Essie's father, but they remained pretty surface level characters.

This novel worked best when going outside fairytale tropes. Sadly, it also utilized them frequently. The romance was quick and easy like in most fairytales. The villains are caricatures with little to no development. It could be overlooked as a nod to the original, but I wanted more. I wanted this novel to break some of those usual ideas. It did this very well in the beginning, and I desperately wanted it to continue.

A fun, if predictable, retelling of the Snow White tale. Overall, it's an enjoyable read that perhaps feels a little too reminiscent of other retellings. Those who are hardcore Snow White fans will delight in the nods and that makes it worth the read.