For What It's Worth


Thursday, October 16, 2014

Review: Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis


16067008Princess 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. With the galaxy’s future—and her own—in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival.

Goodreads | Source: ARC provided by Disney-Hyperion in exchange for an honest review

Review:
I think the initial response is going to be to compare Stitching Snow to Cinder/The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer. It’s not totally unfounded. There are similarities. A mechanic, hidden princess, heroine and a few other bits that I don’t want to spoil. But the writing style is completely different. For one there’s only one pov. That could be a plus or minus depending on your own preferences but for me it was welcome. The one thing I don’t like about Meyer’s Lunar Chronicle series is how much it spins out of control with all the different pov’s. It also can be read as a stand alone. I have no idea if Lewis plans on writing another retelling but Stitching Snow is a complete stand alone story.

So now onto the actual retelling part. I liked but didn’t love it. Essie has escaped her home planet and spends her days working by coding & repairing (stitching) the seven drones that help workers in the coal mines. On her off time she fights the men in cage matches to earn money for spare parts. Essie is pretty kick ass and I liked her a lot but this book plunges you right into the world without any preamble. It took me about 70+ pages to get a handle on what was going on and the slang.

The seven drones are supposed to be the seven dwarfs but they are drones – therefore lacking in the personality department. They do add some humor and they do have a certain loyalty to Essie but they feel more like – oh we need seven of something to be like the seven dwarfs in the book. Fun idea, but they don’t ever feel like true friends, and we only find out the name and personalities of a few. Kind of a let down.

The romance is enemies to friends which I enjoyed. Dane is kind of an ass at first but has really good reason to be. It’s slow brewing and cute but then rushes to “I love you” and I felt like I missed a step. The story takes a modernized retelling route for most of the book then tacks on a throwback, rushed fairytale ending. I believed in it but it seemed forced.

Now there’s one thing that really bothered me about this book and I’m not sure how to deal with it without spoiling. Snow has to deal with her father and evil step mother. This takes a turn into something rather serious and sinister that is merely hinted at a few times before the big battle. It was so subtle that I had to go back and re-read to see if what I thought happened really happened. Then when I thought back to earlier in the book & things that happened to Essie it angered me even more. More on that below under the spoiler button. To be fair – most people on Goodreads don’t even mention it and only two were upset so maybe I am (once again) being over sensitive. Wouldn’t be the first time.


So overall – I LOVED Essie. The romance was sweet, a little rushed, but cute in a fairytale kind of way. I didn’t think it did a great job incorporating the Snow White elements from the original but the world Lewis created was interesting anyway. The villains are mostly off page and so damn evil that it deserved more page time. That is some seriously f*cked up sh*t and shouldn’t just be glossed over imo. But I also had friends that didn’t even notice anything happened or weren’t bothered so everyone reads a book differently. Ya know?

28 comments:

  1. The fact that I missed the spoiler ..or too vague for me to figure it out. I enjoyed what I did read of this book lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's so funny but I'm glad you enjoyed it Julie.

      Delete
  2. I was worried when I first heard about this that it would just be a copy cat of the Lunar Chronicles but it sounds like it stands on its own. I also like that it reads as a stand-alone. Too many "first book syndrome" lately where it's merely an intro for what's to come. Great review, Karen! I'm still undecided if I'll be giving this one a try - I think a lot of things you mentioned would annoy me as well. But we'll see! >.<

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is the same in many ways but I felt once the story got going the author had her own unique take on it and her writing style is very different.

      Delete
  3. I was super curious as to how they seven drones would be incorporated in the story, and while it does seem like they were thrown in, I'm happy that they're at least cute and funny.

    I've heard a lot of people comparing this to Cinder. Once I read the book, I'll come back and read the spoiler, then we can discuss Karen!

    Amber Elise @Du Livre

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They were cute - just not as developed as I had hoped.

      yes! get back to me after you've read it. I've had friends that loved it, hated it, and dnf'd it so it will be interesting to see where you fall in that.

      Delete
  4. Hm, interesting I have been reading mixed reviews so I don't know how quickly I would get to this. Thanks for the great discussion on this book. I would have the same issues you do.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This one is sitting in my tbr pile, and I really wasn't sure I wanted to read it or keep putting it off... some of the issues you had with the book have helped make my decision easier!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had a few friends that loved it. I think it's tough for the book because everyone is going to compare it to Cinder and it will probably pale with that comparison but I felt like it was it's own story.

      Delete
  6. Rushed but cute romance? Hmm, but you mentioned a few things that I might not like. So I'm worried. Thanks for the heads up and for the honest review as well. :)

    Precious @ Fragments of Life

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was sweet but fairytale-ish. If you can let some stuff go it would be enjoyable.

      It was nice that it was a stand alone but also rushed the romance some.

      Delete
  7. Ive seen this at another blog and did remind me of Cinder. Not for me though, Snow White is my least favorite fairy tale.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really? I'm a beauty and the beast girl myself. I don't care what genre - I always love that story.

      Delete
  8. This is the second Snow White re-telling I've come across this morning. WEIRD! I'd never heard of any before today, and now here's two of 'em. Fairy tale romances never fail to make me swoon, and I love me some especially evil villains. Nice review!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well there are really evil villains in this :-))

      Delete
  9. The sweet romance and Essie being sweet do sound like positives even though issues with some of the others

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I REALLY liked Essie. The romance was a tad uneven but I just tried to go with the fairytale/HEA thing and it was fine.

      Delete
  10. I think the same thing would bother me. I've read books like that and it usually ticks me off as well. I do like the sound of Essie so I still may give it a whirl. At least I'm forewarned about what happens.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She's an awesome character. I have friends who loved it so I would definitely recommend trying it.

      Delete
  11. I've heard so many things about this book, mostly negative but your review gave me hope! I do have to start this one soon because I have an ARC, awesome review!
    -Jon from Bookish Antics!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the biggest hurdle this book has to overcome is the Cinder comparison. I really tried to put that series out of my head to judge SS on it's own merits.

      Delete
  12. Glad this stood on its own. I like the seven drones and that they added humor. Sounds like a win, even if you didn't love it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love a fairy tale retelling (my fave is Beauty and the Beast too--saw up in the comments lol). The enemies to lovers is always an interesting one. Kinda fun to watch that happen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really liked the enemies to more aspect of the story. It was probably my favorite part.

      Delete
  14. Okay, so of course I peeked. I tried the first few chapters of this and I just don't think it's for me. But thanks for filling me in!
    Jen @ YA Romantics

    ReplyDelete