5/5

Professional rescuer and part-time substitute Zinnia Gray has spent the last five years traversing the multiverse, saving every damsel in distress that she possibly can. After a dozen or so rescues, weddings, and burned spindles, Zinnia has begun to grow tired of her role in rewriting the narrative, yet duty awaits her hand on the spindle. At an afterparty one rescue later, when Zinnia glances into a mirror, she sees another woman staring back at her, and falls into the last fairytale she ever expected, Snow White. Coming face to face with the fabled Evil Queen, desperate to escape her own fate, Zinnia is tasked once again with saving someone trapped by their story. Eva is convinced that Zinnia is the way out of her predestined ending, and is willing to do anything to change her future, that is if Zinnia can be convinced to save the last person in this world she would want to.

The Fractured Fables novellas draw to a close with A Mirror Mended, a sequel that ups the ante that A Spindle Splintered had previously left to be amended. Alix E. Harrow is back at it, drawing together an adventurous narrative crammed full of meaningful prose, and tied in with an expanded critique on storytelling and their villains. Where A Spindle Splintered previously intersected a conversation surrounding damsels in distress in folklore and their saviors, Harrow turns her attention to the villainization of women in her continuation of the series. More closely, The Evil Queen, a figure that has consistently captivated audiences with her jealousy and enacted rage against her stepdaughter for her supposed beauty. As a huge fan of evil women in the fantasy genre, the examined motivations, and background of a classic fairytale villain intrigued me, to say the least. Eva is a layered character, well-written and trapped by her own situation and predetermined role. Narrative agency is an issue that Zinnia has constantly battled, even from book one, and it was nice to see that transferred over to an iconic villain like the Evil Queen. Eva’s situation is very closely mirrored in Zinnia's, as they both are trapped by their role in the narrative of their story. The bond that grew between the two characters, as a result, made a lot of sense and was really satisfying to witness (falling for the hot villain was absolutely on-brand for Zinnia). I delighted in Eva and Zinnia’s back and forth snark alongside the deeper moments of multiverse chaos. The added tension from the multiverse fracturing and blending into one another propelled this installment to an entirely new level from the previous one in my mind. Once again I am left awed by Harrow’s storytelling ability and the complex twist in traditional fairytales. A Mirror Mended is a razor-sharp exploration of feminist agency and the weight of the roles we carry.

Trigger warnings: terminal illness, violence

Review is up on my Goodreads and will be posted on my blog closer to publication.

Sleeping Beauty is dragged through the multiverse to the lair of Snow White’s evil queen in this genderqueer fairy tale mashup that continues the (mis)adventures of Zinnia Gray (last seen in A Spindle Splintered), as she continues rescuing other Sleeping Beauties from death and fates worse. Searching for another to rescue while avoiding her own inevitable fate yet again finds Zinnia falling through the mirror into a tale not her own. She thinks she’s there to rescue Snow White but discovers that it’s the evil queen stepmother looking for power, agency, and a way out of her own inevitable destiny. The fine line between villainy and heroism blurs to nothingness as Zinnia learns that even a villain can be a hero and that love can conquer both tyranny and fate if you are willing to write your own story.. VERDICT Readers who love stories that twists narratives into knots will fall for Harrow’s fractured fairy tale where evil discovers the benefits that come of doing good.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an advance copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

I have been waiting for this second installment for a long time it seems, so when I base NetGalley was offering an advance copy I immediately requested. I was so happy to be granted one.

The book was okay, although I did feel it could have been much more. It is a very short book and left me thinking why was it so rushed?

I was seriously disappointed in the length and poorly developed plot. I so wish could give one of my favorite authors 5 stars, but sadly, for me it is just a 3 star book. Felt like Harrow's heart just wasn't in this one. Such a disappointment.

This was a quick and entertaining second installment in the Fractured Fables series that I actually liked better than the first book. The concept is fun and original even if the storyline can get confusing at times. Our main character, Zinnia, is a whole bucket of sass and her interdimensional fantasy adventures feel a bit like channelsurfing through a TV that only shows Disney princess movies with all sorts of twists. The author does an excellent job creating interesting new worlds to explore with unique takes on the childhood stories that we all know and love. I’ll admit that I had a hard time with the swiftly moving plot and a somewhat awkward romance which is why I knocked my rating down to 3 stars but I still enjoyed the read overall. Definitely check this series out if you love feminist heroines who aren’t afraid of kicking some fairytale ass!

Years after the events of A Spindle Splintered, Zinnia Gray is still interrupting fairytales to save all the variations of Sleeping Beauty. Her friends are moving on with their life and mostly just keep a spare room for Zinnia for the brief times when she pops out of an alternate universe long enough to stop in.What Zinnia hasn’t quite had the heart (or time) to tell them, is that she’s still dying but she’s not keeping up with her doctor’s appointments or her medications. She’s still been granted years past her original expiration date, so she’s out to do some good. Or maybe she’s just avoiding the subject by staying away.

This time, the Sleeping Beauty story is rather different and next thing you know, Zinnia’s touched a mirror and gets yanked through into none other than a Snow White tale. She was entirely unprepared for PLOT TWIST and she’s also been tied up by the evil queen. You see, the nameless evil queen ended up with Zinnia’s book of fairytales (multiversal disturbances) and has seen how her story ends - it’s bad and she wants out and Zinnia’s going to help her find a way. This is something Zinnia understands to a disturbing degree because she's wanted nothing more than to find a way out of her own tragic story.

This is the fairytale version of Multiverse of Madness and I loved it. Perhaps not quite as much as the first book, which was shockingly good, but A Mirror Mended was an epically fun (and also kind of disturbing) exploration of the Snow White variations. The thing is, I don’t usually like novellas this much because I feel they leave me wanting for more, but both of these so far have been the perfect length with just the right amount of detail, emotion, and characterization packed in. I don’t know for sure if there will be a third book, but there’s certainly room for more stories and more fairytale worldhopping.

You can’t keep running from your story.
Evil queen meets sleeping beauty and they embark on a quest to run away from their stories. This book was very sweet. I loved the dynamic between the two main characters. Also the relationship between Zinnia and Charm and the struggles they go faced when one friend is going through a rough time and how friends can often forget that their friends issues are just as important even if their’s feel bigger. The challenges in the story keeps you very interested but it’s the messages about living your life and not running from you circumstances that really stand on. This is almost an inspirational fantasy book, filled with lots of blunt quotes.

I rated three stars but it’s more like 3.5. I will be continuing the audiobooks in this series.

Thank you to Macmillan publishing and the author for sending me this ARC and audiobook ARC through netgalley

Zinnia Gray is back and this time she seems to have gotten herself stuck in Snow White. She is also not speaking with her former best friend, Charm and her wife, former Sleeping Beauty, Primrose. There were just too many stories to make right and so Zinnia has run away from her problems (and imminent sickness). While leaving yet another Sleeping Beauty trope, she gets roped into the Evil Queen’s story. This novella follows Zinnia as she tries to save another princess. Or maybe the queen.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Tor.*

I loved A Spindle Splintered and had high hopes for this one. And I liked this book, but nowhere near the level of the first one. Partly it felt like this book was a little disjointed and partly it didn't quite have the same charm as the first book.

The story itself was a great idea--Zinnia finds herself out of her own story (Sleeping Beauty) and into an adjacent story (Snow White) where she meets the Evil Queen, who asks Zinnia to help her get out of the ending of her own story. And there are some really good scenes and there is character growth, but it felt like there needed to be more. The first book worked perfectly as a novella. Maybe this one should have been longer with a little more time for development?

But I did still like this book and am happy to have read it. Perhaps if I hadn't gone into it with such high expectations, I would have enjoyed it even more?

Some out-of-context quotes that I loved:

"But that's not how it works. You have to make the best of whatever story you were born into, and if your story happens to suck ass, well, maybe you can do some good before you go."

"We don't get to choose our stories, but we get to choose what we do next."

"We can't keep running from our stories forever."

A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow
4/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

•••Spoiler free review below•••

I read book one in the Fractured Fables series earlier this month and really enjoyed it so I was so happy to be able to read the second one right away!

Set 5 years after A Spindle Splintered, Zinnia has been traveling between fairytales and has rescued 49 other versions of Sleeping Beauty from their fates. When she is sucked into a different fairytale, she must be willing to help the villain if she wants to escape back to her reality. And, just maybe, she will realize that everyone deserves a happily ever after. Even an evil queen.

Fast paced, witty, and wholly unique, I enjoyed A Mirror Mended even more than the first book. It will be released June 28th, and if it's not already on your tbr, it should be!
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Special thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for sharing an arc with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

I loved this installment even more than the first book. We really get to explore Zinnia as a messy, flawed character who makes buckets of mistakes. I love the friendship struggles and the way Zinnia had to figure out what to do with the rest of her life after thinking she'd pass away at 21. Harrow is a masterful short fiction author and I cannot wait to read more.

Instead of trying to save a damsel in distress, this novella sees Zinnia tangled up with an evil queen (who's kinda hot) who doesn't want to be killed as the villain all while Zinnia is trying to run from her real life, the uncertainty of going through her illness all over again.

It's another fun read, subverting expectations and playing with many different versions of the Snow White story. It's also the most multi-verse filled book, starting off with a lot of hoping around, very Doctor-Strange or Loki-esque. After talking about, but only glimpsing a little, of the multi-verse in the first book, this was a lot of fun to see more variations of Snow White.

This is the last book, I think? The ending certainly seems to round things off satisfactorily. We have a conclusion for Zinnia, a sense of peace for the future, even if it's uncertain. I would not object to another, but I liked how it concluded.

This is a sapphic short story following Zinnia when she accidentally finds herself removed from the Sleeping Beauty-Verse and stumbles upon the Evil Queen from Snow Whites story. But not everything is always as it seems.

I loved the representation of Zinnia having a life threatening disease that is incurable. She is still a very strong protagonist who knows what needs to be done and will do the heroic thing even if it isn’t always easy. I definitely look forward to the next installment of this story.

A Mirror Mended is the next installment in USA Today bestselling author Alix E. Harrow's Fractured Fables series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the opportunity to read and review an advanced readers copy of this book. This in no way affects my review, all opinions are my own.

I'm so happy I decided to continue this series! I liked this sequel much more than the first installment. To recap, the first novella in this series follows Zinnia Gray as she travels through a Sleeping Beauty-themed world to help a girl desperately trying to change her story. I felt like A Spindle Splintered was a little all over the place and hard to follow, but now that this storybook multiverse is solidified, it makes this follow up novella read much more smoothly.

I'm giving this book 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4) because I think Harrow did a fantastic job relating this story of a villain not being what she seems. The characters had so much chemistry this time around and the world Harrow built was mesmerizing and the perfect escape from my day. My only issue is the excessive amount of pop culture references - some of them landed, most of them didn't. But if you can get past that, the story itself is so much fun. Harrow creates the most powerful feminist characters that will make me pick up any book that she writes. I can't wait to see what she writes next!

After reading the first one, I should’ve known I wouldn’t like this one either. I don’t like the characters or writing style.

Thanks so much for the ARC!
I did enjoy this, but I do not think I liked it as well as the first book. I mean, I know she can't stay in the same story for a series probably, but landing in another fairy tale felt weirdish. Still thought it was fun, though.

Well take some well known fairy tales and give them a new leash of life and that's exactly what this author has done. The twist is Zinnia just keeps going round and round 'saving' the princess who is cursed to sleep aka Sleeping Beauty. Doesn't matter how many times she's drawn into another version of the story Zinnia saves the day until she doesn't because her next jump gets her imprisoned by the evil queen from Snow White ! Are you confused because Zinnia sure is and apparently even villains want a happy ending but at what cost ?
Very original and this has an engaging protagonist who my heart went out to. We are encouraged to think beyond the traditional and add our modern sensibilities to the narrative. If frank it's relatively short so pretty easy to read but I was left feeling a little melancholy although strangely enough with a sense of hope. Well written, original with a smidge of romance.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

This is really a review of the two books in this series together, because it's hard to separate them, but I don't recommend reading A Mirror Mended without first reading A Spindle Splintered anyway - and you should ABSOLUTELY read both, because they are phenomenal.

I was completely hooked from the opening pages, mostly thanks to Zinnia’s fantastic narrative voice, which is modern without being overly try-hard, and instantly compelling thanks to her arch wit. The story itself is relatively simple – Zinnia pricks her finger and finds herself transported to a fairy tale world – but it’s so very entertainingly told, with dry humour and so much cleverness that it barely even feels like reading. Zinnia as a whole feels so fiercely real and likeable, and I certainly found her an extremely natural character to identify with. I could say I wished these books were longer, but I think that would be doing them a disservice, because they feel like they’re exactly the length they need to be – just perfectly formed stories that take the exact amount of time they need.

I really loved the world(s) Harrow has built here. There’s a rather meta element to the concept of the parallel worlds where different versions of fairy tales play out (and the meta comes to the fore even more so in A Mirror Mended) but while that could be annoying and pompous, it’s done in such a down-to-earth way, full of Marvel references and jokes about narrative structure, that I found it very enjoyable. You can text between dimensions, for goodness sake! What I truly, truly loved about these books, though, is that fairy tale knowledge (both in terms of the content of fairy tales and in terms of scholarship and reception of them) is tossed around as if it’s a perfectly normal part of conversation, which was incredibly validating for me, a lifelong fairy tale nerd and scholar – if you, like me, are someone who knows the Aarne-Thompson-Uther index back to front, and gets frustrated when people can’t hear the word ‘fairy tale’ without thinking ‘Disney’, then I urge you to read this book. It’s like having the most fulfilling conversation with a like-minded friend.

There are, as with all of Harrow’s work, strong themes of feminism and letting yourself be who you’re meant to be, not who other people tell you that you are. In Zinnia’s case, this comes with a large helping of medical trauma and thoughts about her terminal illness, so I do advise reading with care if these are sensitive subjects for you; Zinnia often treats them flippantly, but you can tell there’s a very serious undercurrent underneath. I didn’t find it disturbing, but I can see how people might. But it isn’t all doom and gloom, at all – these are mostly upbeat books. The romance in A Mirror Mended feels seamlessly woven in with this; I adored how it panned out and I am massively, enormously here for “at least three-quarters straight” Zinnia just being fearlessly confident about her sexuality however things pan out. More bi characters who don’t need to have exactly equal attraction shown to be valid!

These are Tordotcom novellas, and as such they’re ridiculously expensive for the page count, but even though I had an e-ARC of A Mirror Mended, I’m absolutely going to be shelling out for the hard copy, and I do think that for me, at least, they’re totally worth it. I can already feel them becoming favourites and comfort reads. And that’s not even to mention how pretty they are – the hardback of A Spindle Splintered is chock-full of doctored Rackham art that adds a wonderful touch (I assume the second book will be too, but the e-ARC was plain text).

Listen, the only thing I didn’t like about these books is that I didn’t write them first. Ten out of five cats!

So far, each of the Alix E. Harrow books that I have read is amazing. And this one is no exception.

In this bite-size novella, we encounter Zinnia Gray again, five years after her first foray into the real world of fairy tales. She’s been rescuing Sleeping Beauties galore from their stories, and offering happily ever after to these women. But I guess even that can make a person feel disillusioned and stuck, even while hopping between stories in the fairy tale multiverse.

Zinnia is still terminally ill, irreverent, sarcastic, and hilarious. But now she’s grown distant from the people who mean the most to her, in her efforts to escape her own life by saving others. And just when she thinks she can’t handle one more Sleeping Beauty, she winds up in a very different story—one with a villain as the protagonist.

Somehow, she transfers from the Sleeping Beauty story to the Snow White story, and finds herself enchanted with the evil queen. And while she’s used to critical examination of fairy tales, she’s forced to confront a different side of the story, that of the villain. As she gets to know the evil queen, I couldn’t help the fact that the queen grew on me.

Now that the queen has discovered how her own story ends, like Zinnia, she is desperate to escape it. And these two reluctant allies set off on a journey that is completely unique. I love the way that this series flips fairy tales around, adding a distinctly queer flavor to them, as well as allowing us to get to know the darker side of the stories, rather than the sanitized Disney version that so many of us are more familiar with. But on this romp through the stories, Zinnia is forced to confront some hard truths about herself and her own life.

It’s always nice for me to see chronic illness represented in stories, especially characters who have symptoms that wax and wane. Zinnia is facing a significantly shortened lifespan, although she was allotted more time than she was originally expecting, and how running away into these stories is a literal escape from facing her own issues, which she has been avoiding. Without Charm, her best friend, by her side, her experiences are completely different—she doesn’t have a safety net, and needs to figure out what she really wants from her own life. I’m seriously hoping that this series continues, because it’s fun and intriguing, and I love the way that modern slang is brought into these semi-medieval settings. Ultimately, I’m hoping that Zinnia finds her own happily ever after.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

When I read A Spindle Splintered, this books predecessor, I didn’t love it. I though it was okay but was not very impressed.

This one was soooo much better. Maybe I just like a villain centered story better then a princess? But this book had all the humor I did enjoy of the first book with a storyline that I was much more invested in. I even liked the main character better in this book.

This is a book that rewrites the story of the Evil Queen and gives her the backstory and substance that maker her a complex character and not just a cookie cutter villain. And the final few chapters brought it to a hopeful yet slightly bittersweet end.

This is a well written book. It has some fine lines, amusing snark, an engaging narrator, a few well-conceived set pieces, a fair share of perceptive and insightful observations, and lean dialogue. It's also good, sharp fun. I would encourage inquisitive readers who like playing with genre conventions to give the book a try.