Audiobook Review – A Mirror Mended (Fractured Fables, Book 2) by Alix E. Harrow (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tales Retold
Length: 128 pages
Publisher: Tordotcom
Release Date: June 14, 2022
ASIN: B09C4F5X1Q
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Fractured Fables series
Source: Borrowed on audiobook from library
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Zinnia Gray, professional fairy-tale fixer and lapsed Sleeping Beauty is over rescuing snoring princesses. Once you’ve rescued a dozen damsels and burned fifty spindles, once you’ve gotten drunk with twenty good fairies and made out with one too many members of the royal family, you start to wish some of these girls would just get a grip and try solving their own narrative issues.
Just when Zinnia’s beginning to think she can’t handle one more princess, she glances into a mirror and sees another face looking back at her: the shockingly gorgeous face of evil, asking for her help. Because there’s more than one person trapped in a story they didn’t choose. Snow White’s Evil Queen has found out how her story ends and she’s desperate for a better ending. She wants Zinnia to help her before it’s too late for everyone.
Will Zinnia accept the Queen’s poisonous request, and save them both from the hot iron shoes that wait for them, or will she try another path?”
Series Info/Source: This is the second book in the Fractured Fables series. I borrowed this on audiobook from my library.
Thoughts: This was a well done continuation of this series and takes place many years after the first book ends. This seems like it is set up to be the last book in this series.
Many years have passed since Zinnia Gray started traveling into Sleeping Beauty stories in different parallel realities to help save the princesses there. She is getting tired of her transient lifestyle and when her best friend gets married she decides she needs to escape just one more time. Strangely this time Zinnia doesn’t find herself in a Sleeping Beauty world but in a Snow White story. And, also strangely, it isn’t a princess who needs her help but the Evil Queen.
I love the concept behind this novellas series and I thought this added a fun twist. Watching Zinnia sucked into a “new” story was fun and I enjoyed seeing her navigate this. The Evil Queen was a wonderful, complex character and toppled all your preconceived notions about the villains in these fairy tales. There is quite a bit of discussion about people getting to choose their own path through life in this book.
The writing style is well done and easy to follow. I liked the ending, which was realistic while being hopeful. I listened to this on audiobook and the narration was very well done; I would definitely recommend listening to it on audiobook if you enjoy audiobooks.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this and would recommend if you enjoy fairy tale retellings. I enjoyed both the novellas in this series and how they twist well-known fairy tales a bit and address the issues of people being forced into a life they don’t choose.
