Frozen meets The Bloody Chamber in this feminist fantasy reimagining of the Snow White fairytale 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 … 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.
“In Girls Made of Snow and Glass, Melissa Bashardoust has given us exquisite displays of magic, complex mother-daughter relationships, and gloriously powerful women triumphing in a world that does not want them to be powerful. A gorgeous, feminist fairy tale.”
–Traci Chee, New York Times bestselling author of The Reader
”Girls Made of Snow and Glass is like reading a particularly wonderful and vivid dream, complete with imaginative magic, delightful characters, and beautiful language. Melissa Bashardoust’s debut novel is everything a fairy tale should be.”
–Jodi Meadows, New York Times bestselling coauthor of My Lady Jane
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A beautifully written, moving book that I was still thinking about days afterward. There are strong girls, elements of magic, queer characters, so much depth and compassion, great twists and secrets, and a satisfying ending. And the author got me to care about the villain or a character causing pain, by bringing us into her past traumas, self-doubt, and growth. I loved this book so much!
I found this book to be so very engaging! I was hooked from the first… I have been looking for any other books from this author… ! A Great Read!
This is a young adult re-imagining of the classic fairy-tale Snow White.
Told from two POV’s Lynet and her stepmother Mina’s this is narrated from in both a past and present viewpoint jumping between the two time-frames.
A reckoning and cultivated rivalry between two young women.
Both want nothing more than to be loved for what’s in their hearts and though they seem so different initially both just really want the acceptance of those around them.
This is a story of strong woman and weak men, its not really about good or evil and neither woman here is all good or all bad, instead, this is more a story of family bonds and sisterhood.
I actually had great sympathy for Mina and what she had evolved into, she was a product of her past and was used to coming in last, so It was not really surprising that she acted the way she did.
Kindness is not something she has had directed her way before so she believes she is at her core unlovable.
So why the low rating for this one, well, in a nutshell, I was bored, it moved at a snail’s pace and I didn’t really enjoy it at all.
I found myself skimming whole chunks of text and if it wasn’t for the fact this was an arc I don’t think I would have bothered finishing as I just wasn’t invested in this at all.
There was nothing actually wrong with this and the writing itself was fine it was just a bit blah and unexciting.
If you like fairy-tale retellings you might like this one.
I usually am a big fan of them but this one unfortunately just didn’t work for me on any level.
I voluntary reviewed a copy of Girls Made of Snow and Glass
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
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The most beautiful and elegant fairy tale retelling I’ve ever read.
Girls Made of Snow and Glass starts its narrative as a retelling of Snow White, and soon turns itself into something completely different. Devoid of the classic take on jealousy and female competition, Bashardoust gives the tale of these two women shades of emotional complexity, coming-of-age narrative, female agency and conflicting feelings.
A character-driven story, Girls Made of Snow and Glass focuses on two main characters, Mina and Lynet, the would-be evil queen and her step-daughter. Told through flashbacks and their two different points of view, it weaves a story of both powerful betrayal and hope.
Mina, trapped by her own idea that love will forever elude her, grows hungry for power and pushes everyone away. Calculating and obssesed with power, one can’t help but sympathise with her loneliness and her longing for that which she believes herself uncapable of.
Lynet, living under the shadow of her own mother, whose memory her father is obssesed with, struggles to find her own identity, and can’t help but find a role model in her step-mother Mina. Her coming-of-age story rings believable and heartfelt as she figures herself out and tries to free herself of the ghost of her mother, all the while handling her relationship with Mina, the only mother she has ever known.
Ultimately, this book is about the complex relationship between these two women, which takes on the theme of mother/daughter dynamics with dexerity and great detail. Refusing to follow the core ideas of the classic Snow White fairytale, Girls Made of Snow Glass brings the two characters together in unexpected ways, creating something completely new and filled with surprising emotion.
The lesbian relationship in the story is subtle, and while not the main subject of the book, it rounds the narrative along many other themes, such as gender roles, growing up, femininity and sense of self.
I highly recommend Girls Made of Snow and Glass to fans of fairytale retellings and dark fantasy populated by complex female characters. The dash of lesbian romance is only a bonus that adds to the beautifully rendered female relationships, the fairy tale twists, and the nods to the original Snow White.
Oh my goodness. This book is so precious and perfect.
Although it was a Snow White re-telling, it was such a unique and new story that hasn’t been told before. Both the pacing and the set up were perfect.
However, my favorite thing was the mother/daughter relationship in this book. It was absolutely beautiful.
There was also LGBT representation in the book with one of the main characters which was so refreshing to see in a fantasy.
This was marketed as a feminist fairy tale and it is that. So well done.