enne📚 reviewed Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow
A Mirror Mended
3 stars
This is a sequel to A Spindle Splintered, about Zinnia Grey, multiverse fairytale hopper; she's been going through the multiverse saving other Sleeping Beauties, but gets sucked into a Snow White tale this time; she's forcibly enlisted to help the villainous queen and gets a lesson in learning that not everything is about her own tale.
Overall, I thought this was just ok. Something about the writing didn't work for me; part of it is that it was just a touch too silly for my tastes; I really enjoyed The Ten Thousand Doors of January, which had some bits of similar tone (such as silly academic title parodies), but this went a little far in a number of ways (see yikes quote, as a jarring but funny example). I also feel like Zinnia backslid on character and relationship growth from the first book and went back to running away from …
This is a sequel to A Spindle Splintered, about Zinnia Grey, multiverse fairytale hopper; she's been going through the multiverse saving other Sleeping Beauties, but gets sucked into a Snow White tale this time; she's forcibly enlisted to help the villainous queen and gets a lesson in learning that not everything is about her own tale.
Overall, I thought this was just ok. Something about the writing didn't work for me; part of it is that it was just a touch too silly for my tastes; I really enjoyed The Ten Thousand Doors of January, which had some bits of similar tone (such as silly academic title parodies), but this went a little far in a number of ways (see yikes quote, as a jarring but funny example). I also feel like Zinnia backslid on character and relationship growth from the first book and went back to running away from her problems.
I usually don't care for a villains-to-lovers style romance, but this villain gets some good backstory and character development, and honestly her character is the strongest part of the story. It's a nice touch that her overarching goal is really just to scratch out some agency in a world that is unwilling to give that to her.