Stitching Snow

by R. C. Lewis

A futuristic retelling of Snow White in which seventeen-year-old Essie, a master at repairing robots and drones on the frozen mining planet Thanda, is pulled into a war by handsome and mysterious Dane after his shuttle crash-lands near her home.

• ISBN10: 1423185072
• ISBN13: 9781423185079
• Publish Date: 20 November 2014 (first published 14 October 2014)
• Publish Status: Transferred
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Disney Publishing Worldwide
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 332
• Language: English

Reviews

[nannah]

I'm giving this a 4-star review for sheer enjoyment. I couldn't put this down, and I thought about this all the time when I wasn't reading it. It was so fun to read! But it also had so, so many flaws, so much that thinking back on it, it's hard to think of it as an actual ... well-written book. It's still fun! Just not ... that well put together.

Book content warnings:
rape
incest

Stitching Snow is a sci-fi revolving around four planets: Thanda, Garam, Candara, and Windsong, the last of which rules over them all with two corrupt monarchs. Our protagonist, Essie, lives on frozen Thanda, repairing and coding mining drones, and living a rather monotonous life until a man named Dane literally crash-lands into her life. And with him comes the interplanetary war she was trying to hide from, as well as her past.

It's hard not to compare this book to Cinder by Marissa Meyer.
- both have a female protagonist who's really good with robotics/electronics
- both have a protagonist with a robot (or drone) friend
- both are sci-fi retellings of well-known fairy tales involving multiple planets (or in Cinder's case, a planet and a moon)
- both have an evil queen
- both have a protagonist who's secretly the princess and who gets with a prince from another country/place

And it's nearly impossible not to believe this had to have been at least heavily inspired by Cinder. Not that it's a terribly bad thing; it's definitely its own book, but sometimes even through my enjoyment I found myself thinking if it started out as fanfiction. :S I know that's like, considered the worst insult when referring to published authors for some reason, even though some fanfictions have been more enjoyable and better written than many published books I've read! That besides, many phrases from this book have been some I've seen very, very often in fanfiction, as in so often that they're almost trademark bad fanfiction phrases:

"His eyes flashed" "His eyes darkened [in rage]" "a series of emotions flashed across his face, first surprise, then grief, then anger ..." etc.

And yes, I read fanfiction. No shame. But some of the word usage in fics just don't make sense ... and really should have been caught by professional editors before being published.

The ending also seemed too quickly patched up. After Essie's broadcast, everyone seemed to accept the King and Queen's betrayals so easily. They switched loyalties so easily. Not to mention the subplot of Garam wanting Essie's expertise of the drones seemed to vanish. No one else from Garam was interested in that? In that huge opportunity? It was hard to believe.

And lastly I'll touch on world building. At first glance the worlds seem fairly fleshed out. One world contains a mineral the others use, so it's full of mostly the poorest, and what's "considered" the stupidest people to mine it for the elite worlds, etc.

But therein also lies the problem: if these planets were countries, it would seem more plausible. But grouping one type of people by an entire world? My brain can't even wrap itself around that. How can a whole world contain just one type of person (aka people that can be persuaded by money to switch sides - as described in the book). Everyone from all four worlds spoke the same language, and hell, practically the same dialect. Thanda seemed to have a slight dialect (somewhat of an English-based one?), but that was all. There was no mention of how they all shared a language, or how even in Thanda, a country so remote from everyone else, in a place on Thanda that's extremely remote, the people there spoke the same language. It didn't seem organic.

Okay, anyway, even with all its flaws, I still love this book. I don't know how, but I do.

I'm a huge fan of Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles series (specifically the audiobook versions) so when I heard about another sci-fi re imagined fairy tale book coming out, I was more than a little excited. In fact, STITCHING SNOW became one of my most anticipated YA titles of the year, which makes it all the more difficult to write this review.

I didn't like this book.

I thought is was slow and bland and I really didn't like the romance. I guess I can start with Essie, the super tough mechanic who makes money fighting cage matches with miners. Right there I had a problem. Essie is a small 17 year old girl who apparently wipes the floor regularly with full grown men who make a living working in mines (translation: strong). She gets bloody noses etc, but always walks away from these fights even after taking numerous hits. No, I'm sorry. That's ridiculous. One good hit (even a not so good hit) to the face by a man 3 times her size and she'd be out, probably forever.

And the guy that falls for Essie is nothing to write home about either. He straight up knocks her out, ties her up, and kidnaps Essie and yet by the end of the book love has conquered all and he's already joking about how they will explain that pesky detail to their future kids. Gag.

I couldn't get into this book on any level. I'll happily wait for Marissa Meyer's sci-fi Snow White tale when WINTER comes out in 2015

[Berls]

This review appeared first on Fantasy is More Fun.

I decided to request Stitching Snow from NetGalley when I heard it was even better than The Lunar Chronicles. This I HAD to see. My verdict? I wouldn’t say it’s better, but Stitching Snow is in a similar league.

When I started Stitching Snow, I was a bit worried. It may have been because I had it setup in my mind as a comparison to The Lunar Chronicles, but it seemed a bit TOO familiar. The main character, Essie, is basically a mechanic. She has built and constantly repairs all these drones that work in the mines. These drones have personalities and are all a little “off”. There’s Cusser, who (as his name implies) has a gift for foul language. There’s my favorite, Dimwit, who is like a faithful puppy. He follows Essie around and can’t be trusted to get much right – she never sends him into the mines. But he’s great and I dare you not to love him. Does all that sound a little like Cinder to you too?

Well, I’m really glad I didn’t put too much stock in those similarities because that’s pretty much where they ended. Stitching Snow was actually very different and had quite a few surprises in store. So don’t let the beginning shut you down!

I really liked the world for Stitching Snow. There’s a brief hint that we’re in the future – so far into the future that earth is part of a game (kinda like Risk) and Essie doesn’t even recognize the map as a real place. There are several planets belonging to this system, ruled by a King and Queen. There’s a war going on between the royal planet and the exiles – who happen to have some “magical” abilities.

The story line was lots of fun – Stitching Snow was action packed and there were quite a few unexpected twists and turns. I really liked Essie – I’m always a fan of a female character who’s in a traditionally male role, and that’s Essie. She’s a self-taught mechanic or engineer or whatchamacallit – she calls what she does stitching – and she earns extra cash by cage fighting with the miners. Yep, the girl is both smart and tough! She does have her secrets and insecurities though, and I enjoyed unweaving those twists.

There is a romance element to Stitching Snow – after all Snow White needs her Prince, right? I liked Dane, a boy who crash lands on Thanda and Essie helps to repair his shuttle. I thought R.C. Lewis did a pretty good job making him complex and making him more than just the dashing hero. Because Essie is the hero of her story, Dane’s just along for the ride – which I loved. Their romance itself was just ok. It definitely took a backseat to the rest of the story for me and while it worked, I didn’t particularly care too much about them ending up together. I just cared if they both survived.

And that tells you something about Stitching Snow–> I cared if they SURVIVED. This is more of a sci-fi action story than a romance – which may be a disappointment for those who like their fairytales sweet and romantic. I most definitely wouldn’t call Stitching Snow sweet – I was surprised by some of the brutality and even more so by a sub-theme of sexual abuse – but it was handled well and helped transform the sweet romantic fairytale into something a bit more serious and way more action-packed. I definitely recommend it for fans of Sci-fi & Fantasy, regardless of how you feel about Snow White.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.