Release Date - September 5, 2017
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages - 384 pages
My Rating - 4/5
**received for an honest review from publisher**
Frozen meets The Bloody Chamber in this feminist fantasy reimagining of the Snow White fairytaleFairytale retellings have always been a favourite of mine. It's one of those buzz words that will immediately get me to add a book to my to be read pile. Girls Made Of Snow and Glass offers a feminist twist to the classic Snow White tale, and blends it with a little heartbreak and magic.
At sixteen, Mina's mother is dead, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone—has never beat at all, in fact, but she’d always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king’s heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she’ll have to become a stepmother.
Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen’s image, at her father’s order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do—and who to be—to win back the only mother she’s ever known…or else defeat her once and for all.
Entwining the stories of both Lynet and Mina in the past and present, Girls Made of Snow and Glass traces the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start. Only one can win all, while the other must lose everything—unless both can find a way to reshape themselves and their story.
Melissa Bashardoust weaves in recognizable elements of the Snow White tale subtly. It's done cleverly and in a way that does not feel overt. The story shines because of the elements that are added to the story. It makes it a more well rounded story, and definitely offers a different perspective on a story we all know well.
The relationship between Mina (the Evil Queen) and Lynet (Snow White) is the heart of this story. It is effectively used to show how society and expectations are geared towards women be adversarial towards one another. Mina is the aging Queen who sees herself, in large thanks to the people around her, as easily replaceable by the young Lynet. It is a theme prevalent in society. There is the idea of the young ingenue replacing the old and bitter has been. The man who divorces his wife for a younger woman. These ideas are not new, and yet seeing the impact of this on both Lynet and Mina in this story felt fresh. This book also deals with beauty standards, and the pressure that is placed on women to fight the ageing process as hard as they can. It also shows the pressures for women to fit into a specific mold and life that may not be what they want. This feminist twist paints the Snow White tale in a completely new, and entirely welcome, light.
The magical elements in this novel are seamlessly woven into the Snow White story. The lack of heartbeat in Mina, and the fact that Lynet is crafted from snow form a unique angle to this story that is used to flesh out the overall arc of the story. I was hesitant about the magical elements, but they worked beautifully and enriched the story in many ways. The magic also defines the two characters in a lot of ways and allowed some insight to who they are, and the reasons behind their actions.
There is usually a Prince who saves Snow White in any adaptation of the novel. That is not the case here. This is really Lynet and Mina' story. There is, however, some romance to be found within these pages. Lynet's love interest is a smart young woman who catches her fascination. Their tentative steps toward each other offer a few genuinely sweet moments that the reader will appreciate. There is also some romantic undertones to part of Mina's story, with that one being more heartbreaking. Neither side plot overshadows the main focus, and instead serves to compliment it.
If you're looking for a unique take on the Snow White tale I highly recommend this one. It's a retelling where the author fully embraces making the story their own. It examines the story through a feminist lens and makes us look at both the Snow White and Evil Queen character tropes in a different light.
