This sequel to A Spindle Splintered is just as satisfying as the first book, and fleshes out old and new characters. For fans of fairy tales, feminists, and lovers of sci-fi/fantasy crossovers.

This duology was such good fun. Alix E. Harrow takes the fairy tales we grew up on and turns them into stories that better reflect life in the twenty-first century. I loved the way this book ended!

I don't see another book in this series listed already, so I think this might be the end of this series and, honestly? While I came out of the previous novella thinking that there was a lot this series had to offer, I came out of this one feeling like the story had completely been told.

This novella picks up after Zinnia has been hopping between worlds, helping various Sleeping Beauties in the multiverse to avoid their endings. There is an allusion to her having fallen out with her best friend, but we don't get the story about why until much later.

This story isn't just about versions of Sleeping Beauty, however. It turns out that Zinnia's constant travelling between worlds has fractured the strength of the walls between them. We find this out after she falls into a Snow White world, and into the arms of a would-be Evil Stepmother.

The best part of this book was that it made me fall absolutely in love with this character, without giving her a name (other than Eva that Zinnia gives to her) and without markedly changing her character. She's someone who will do whatever she can to get out of the rough deal that fate has handed her.

It's a narrative that Zinnia can too well understand once she starts being honest with herself and makes the decision to stop jumping between worlds and actually live her life with her best friend.

A bit disappointing and ho hum after the last one. The best part was definitely the friendship and respect that formed between Zinnia and Eva.

I've made it clear by now that I am a sucker for a good fairytale relling, but did you know I'm an even bigger sucker for a fairytale VILLIAN arc retelling?

The wickeder the villian the more I'm excited for the retelling and no villian freaked me out more as a child than the Evil Queen from Snow White (like seriously, I couldn't even go on the Disneyland ride she terrified me so).

I really loved Spindle Splintered. Its such a well written, well contained story that I don't feel like it needed any more or less than what we were given. It was emotional, fun, and snarky. I don't know if I can say the same for A Mirror Mended. While I enjoyed the story, I found I wanted more explanations, more character development, just a little more plot movement. Zinnia is in such a different place here than she was in Spindle and the emotional impact of it feels shortened, not as thoroughly explored. I would've loved it this had been closer to a full length novel than a novella.

That being said, I still absolutely love Alix Harrow's writing. Mirror Mended is just as fun and snarky as its predecessor and will leave you feeling light and full of joy.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor for the ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really loved A Splinter Splintered, so I was so excited to hear their was a sequel! Zinnia Gray is still working her way through the Sleeping Beauty multi-verse, saving princesses, when she falls through the fairytales. She lands in Snow White, summoned by the Evil Queen to help her have her own better ending. It’s such a unique story. It’s sharp and witty and so original. I did want more out of Zinnia though. I adored her friendship with Charm in book 1 and I feel like this one took a lot away from that and I just wanted more growth from Zinnia throughout. But the prose is beautiful and captivating and I love how the fairytale were woven together. There is such a dry wit in the writing and it just made me never want to put it down! As a fairytale retelling, it was so cool seeing this approach to Snow White and I really was rooting for the Evil Queen to have a new ending. It’s fun and creative and an enjoyable read.

I really enjoyed this book. It continues from the first book perfectly and dives deeper into what is really our happily ever after? What and how is our story told and how our story finishes. I love how the author has tied other stories into this and truly turned it into a Grimm multiverse. Such a fun, short read!

The sequel was so much better!
With more character development and a more interesting narrative, this book showed it grew from the first book. I enjoyed the talk and mention of other versions of fairytales being discussed and finally, the discussion on perspective; because a villain is a hero in their own story.

Plus, the mixing of world in ours and the story world was exciting, and I hope this continues as it has peaked some real potential for storytelling.

This is a lovely sequel to A Spindle Splintered and we continue following Zinnia as she travels to more stories in the fairytale-verse. This time she ends up stuck in the Snow White story. Once again, our expectations of the story and characters are subverted and we see it all through a feminist lens. I thought it was a fun romp if not terribly deep. We get to see some favorite characters from the first book again, and I was delighted by the new light we get to see villain in. It was original and satisfying.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tordotcom for giving me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Representation: Terminal illness, sapphic romance.

Sexual violence? No...well, there is a kiss. Other content warnings? Terminal illness, description of torture, cannibalism, imprisonment.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
A Mirror Mended follows Zinnia, who we know and love from the first book. The story starts off with her telling us about some of the adventures she’s been on since we last heard from her and how she’s burnt out on happy endings. But then, she’s pulled out of her story and into the story of Snow White. The evil queen is asking for her help. What ensues is funny and heartwarming.
I loved with my whole heart that we got to see Zinnia get a happy ending. Even though it wasn’t a traditional happily ever after, I really loved the way it felt right for her after all the growth and learning her character had done.
I absolutely loved the romance. That shriek you heard? That what me squealing when I realized this book was sapphic. The banter had me smiling to myself and laughing. I really loved the two of them together.
The only compliant I have is just that I wanted more! I wanted to see Zinnia on all of the adventures she talks about at the beginning of the book. I wanted more banter and wild antics from Zinnia and the queen.
Overall, I loved this. I will definitely be recommending both this and the first novella. I think Harrow’s writing was beautiful and lyrical as always. I just love the way that she writes. I loved the main character and I was happy to see Charm again. You don’t want to miss out on this one.

I feel like this book was unnecessary. The first book felt like a standalone, and this just felt like too forced of a story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan – Tor/Forge for providing an eARC in exchange for a review.

A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow continues Zinnia Gray’s story from where it left off at the end of A Spindle Splintered. Having thrown herself into the business of finding and fixing the stories of as many multiverse versions of Sleeping Beauty as she can, Zinnia is shocked to look into a mirror and see the evil queen from Snow White asking for help. Things get even weirder when the queen manages to pull her through into the multiverse of Snow White stories, where Zinnia is forced to confront her own ideas about which characters are trapped in their narratives and who is worthy of help.

In A Mirror Mended, Zinnia has moved on from clawing for any chance at survival and is struggling with living her own life story now that she actually has one. In helping the evil queen, dubbed Eva because she doesn’t have a name, Zinnia recognizes the way she is also running from the idea of settling in and living out her own story. Along the way, we get some fun mashups of various versions of Snow White, a new sapphic romance, and some pointed realizations about the ways Zinnia’s hang-ups are impacting her loved ones. This series is such a fun blend of self-consciously meta fairytale retelling and multiversal hijinks that scratches the same itch as Seanan McGuire’s Indexing series for me. A Mirror Mended is a fun continuation of the series and a very quick read (took me roughly 2 hours. It felt like the end of a duology, so I’m not sure where the series will go from here, but I would recommend it for anyone who enjoyed the first novella in the series.

I love this series !!! I am such a huge fairytale/fairytale retelling fan and when I come across one that’s unique I get so excited. The author definitely has hit upon a plot that I haven’t seen done before, and I really have enjoyed it. I can’t wait to read more!

Zinnia fixes fairy tales, but she’s getting tired of it. When she is ready to give up helping the sleep beauties, she looks into a mirror only to find a face she hadn’t seen before, and evil queen. The queen gives her a request, help her from being evil but will she be able to.
This book is really short (257 pages) and it is the second book in this series. You do not need to read the first book to understand this one, but it would be helpful. This book is interesting, with LGBTQ representation and strong female lead. The way the characters interact with each other is probably the best part of this book. My biggest problem with this book is that it was just not as great as the first one. The new characters did not have the interesting banter that the characters did in the first.

I am a massive fan of Alix Harrow and her style of writing. A Mirror Mended is the second book in the Fractured Fables series, and I found this book to be better than the first one. The main character Zinnia Gray was a bit of a sad sack throughout the first book but became more of a badass in this one. A Mirror Mended strays from the typical damsel in distress and introduces a villain trying for a form of redemption. When the Evil Queen from Snow White sees her unfortunate fate in her mirror, she is desperate to create a new ending for herself. One day Zinnia is no longer traveling through the various Sleeping Beauty stories and has come face to face with the villain of Snow White's story. Together, the Evil Queen and Zinnia try to change the villain's horrible fate.

After binge reading A Spindle Splintered, I was super excited to dive into A Mirror Mended. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy it.

Another sharp, layered look at fairy tales that took me back to my college days deep diving into comparative analysis of various iterations of similar tales. Harrow presents us with some of the analysis but as woven through a fun, fast story of two women hopping through the multiverse, sorting out ways to alter the prescribed endings of each of their tales. What the heroine shook up in book 1 she now has to set to rights, sorting story from story until her own emerges in a form she's able to embrace. I love the layers in these books. For short reads, they give me loads to think about regarding gender and power and age and beauty and paradigms of good and evil. They're also joyfully entertaining. If Harrow wrote ten books in this series, I'd read them all. As it is, I'm glad we have the duology. Recommended for fairy tale lovers who enjoy a bit of snark and a heavy dose of meta-storytelling, with a hint of surprisingly sweet romance. Consider me a fan.

Endings. Who needs 'em? Not Zinnia. Not her own, at least, though she's perfectly happy tripping through dimensions and rewriting fairy-tale endings for all the Sleeping Beauties across the multiverse. For five years, Zinnia has spent her free time on rescue missions without much self-reflection of her own. Although Zinnia has survived her health scare, she hasn't started living her own life yet. She has chosen to embroil herself in others' lives, in other worlds, even at the cost of her best friend. Can't stop, won't stop.

Until.

Multiverse wires get crossed, magic mirrors get magicked, and Zinnia ends up face to face with an evil queen from one horrifying version of Snow White. How did she get there, and why? And so what if this queen has smoldering good looks behind her wicked, witchy gaze?

What follows this near-death, meet-cute is a tale of redemption, of facing your future, of growing up and finding what home truly means.

Harrow’s prose is as elegant as ever, with sharp humor, cutting social commentary and clever dialogue. However, one aspect where I felt this book to be lacking was the story itself. The plot bent some of its own rules to get the story where it needed to go, and some problems resolved themselves out of luck and convenience. It wasn’t what I’ve come to expect from a Harrow novel, of which I have a very high bar set.

Small story grievances aside, this book serves as a lovely companion piece to A Spindle Splintered and a fine sign-off for Zinnia and friends. Even if this is the last we see of Zinnia (for a while?), I am eager to read any other fairy-tale multiverse stories Harrow might have knocking about. A Mirror Mended was a pleasure to read, chock full of romance, adventure, snark, and joy. You’ll be hard-pressed not to finish it without a smile on your face.

3.5 / 5

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the requested advance copy for review. All opinions are my own.

You know how some stories seem to be made exactly just for YOU? Alix E Harrow’s books all feel like that for me. I adored A Spindle Splintered. This was a cute follow up story. The snark, the side comments, the meta-commentary are all so amazing. The story itself didn’t capture me quite as much as the first one, maybe because Zinnia was separated from Prim and Charm and I had loved them. But I did love the idea of having agency and choosing your own “happily”.
If you liked the first one, I think you’ll definitely enjoy this one too!

A Mirror Mended is another delightfully meta, multiverse take on fairytales. Our Sleeping Beauty from Ohio, Zinnia, has decided to use her happily ever after to rescue other Sleeping Beauties from their curse; nearing her 50th rescue she is pulled into a Snow White story by an Evil Queen who is looking for her story to turn out differently and believes Zinnia can help her. This is a sarcastic, witty, madcap adventure that winks at its audience and leans into the meta. I laughed out loud through most of this - it’s wonderful to see a queer, feminist, funny story both lean into and play against fairytale archetypes and structures. If you’re a fan of fairytales or Harrow’s longer works, you absolutely must read this series.

2.5 stars rounded up

I absolutely loved A Spindle Splintered! But while I had fun reading A Mirror Mended, I feel very "just okay" about it and don't know that it really added much to Zinnia's narrative arc. The concept is cool- Zinnia falling into a Snow White story with a hot older woman as the "evil queen".

In theory that could be great, but I didn't feel like this formed a cohesive story, and I was left wondering why THIS was the way we continued things. After having left Zinnia with a satisfying story arc at the end of book 1, the way this was continued felt contrived and she had made choices that felt a bit out of character.

Now, I enjoy the modern, snarky tone and the commentary on fairytales, gender, and how we place women into archetypes. I certainly liked the IDEA of a romance with this hot evil queen, but the execution of that romance felt rather lackluster. In general, I would say I don't have strong feelings about this book either way, it just failed to leave as much of an impression as I was hoping based on book 1. If you enjoyed A Spindle Splintered, this may still be worth reading I would just temper your expectations. I received an advance copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own.