Shattered Snow - Rachel Huffmire - ★★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Rachel Huffmire

NARRATOR: Rachel White

SERIES: Mirror Chronicles, #1

GENRE: Fairy Tale Retelling + Science Fiction.

PUBLICATION DATE: September 18, 2021

RATING: 4.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: An amazingly creative retelling of ‘Snow-White and the Seven Dwarves’. Combines fairy-tale, historical fiction, fantasy, and futuristic science fiction into a mind-blowing package. Complex plot, layered characters, twisty storytelling, no frivolous romance. The first of a series. No cliffhanger ending. Had a couple of minor issues, but overall, a commendable debut. Much recommended!

Plot Preview:

2069, Scotland ➙ Keltson: A hacker who considers himself a vigilante. Helps clients travel through time with the help of mirrors to “rescue unfortunate souls from the past.”

2069, Russia ➙ Lilia: A Russian engineer working at a junkyard but longing to escape her dreary life. What she wants most is an opportunity to work with the mysterious renegade known simply as ‘The Mirror’ as that’s her only chance to give herself a fresh start.

1530s, Germany ➙ Bianka: A young German countess who is unaware of her doomed destiny. When a mysterious young woman joins her family, her life changes forever.

How do the life paths of these three characters, coming from different places and times, intersect? Read and find out.

The story comes to us from the third-person perspectives of various characters across multiple timelines.

I had purchased the digital edition of this book way back in 2023 because of the promising blurb. Finding the audio review copy offered the perfect opportunity to finally open the genre-bending novel. And what a ride it has been! Possibly the most unusual Snow-White retelling I have ever read!

Bookish Yays:

⏳ The sheer concept of this book! Fairy tale retelling, historical fiction, time travel with science fiction – imagine combining this into a single storyline and even being mostly successful at the endeavour. Unbelievable that plot can be futuristic and historical at once!

⏳ Despite being a retelling, this is barely recognisable as one. The original tale provides just the underlying framework. The content is almost entirely new, with many surprising and shocking twists. I always love retellings that pay an ode to the original and still offer enough novelty.

⏳ That said, the plot contains many subtle parallels with and Easter Eggs from Snow White. You will appreciate the hidden surprises better if you know the original, but this book can be enjoyed even without any prior knowledge of Snow White’s story.

⏳ The restructuring of the identities of some key characters from the fairy tale. Brilliantly done! One of these also offers a convincing villain-origin story.

⏳ The three main characters: layered, flawed, realistic. They generate all kinds of emotions in you, from sympathy to annoyance to frustration.

⏳ Bianka’s story is partly inspired by the real-life story of Margaretha von Waldeck, a 16th century German Countess who is thought to be the inspiration for Snow White. Enjoyed learning this unexpected fact and reading more about her online.

⏳ The world building, though more elaborate in the historical timelines than in the 2069 one, is still praiseworthy. Not easy to write settings that are both realistic and fantastical at once.

⏳ Amazing atmosphere, especially in the darker scenes.

⏳ The original fairy tale has a love story track, so I was prepared for this retelling to have romance. The lack thereof was a wonderful surprise. Most of the plot doesn’t have even a mention of attraction.

⏳ The time travel and its nitty-gritties. While there are always some flaws when it comes to using time travel as a trope, this story keeps the logical loopholes at a tolerable level – a rare achievement for a debut novelist.

⏳ Totally clean in terms of romance as well as violence, even though there are many action scenes. Perfect for the target YA age group.

⏳ Every chapter begins with a little snippet from another source such as personal correspondence or a research report or a journal entry or an interview. This adds a great deal of context to the ongoing main story.

⏳ The epilogue sets the foundation for the next book in the series (Seems to be a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ retelling), but the current story ends with no cliffhangers. I liked the smooth segue from this world to the next.

Bookish Mixed Bags:

❄️ The story drags a little bit in the middle sections. A part of this is because the reader can see what should happen but the characters can’t and they keep taking naïve decisions and making the same mistakes. While there was still enough happening to keep my attention, my mind did wander off at times.

❄️ The final quarter gets much darker and way more complicated than I had anticipated from a retelling. Honestly, I don't think I even understood everything that occurred at the end, but I am not sure if this was because of the somewhat rushed writing in the final section or my affected concentration. (Had I known that the story was so tricky, I’d have reserved this audiobook for a time when my mind was more focussed.) Regardless, I must appreciate the intricate plotting. Everything seemed to fit naturally into place, even if I didn’t comprehend a couple of the developments clearly.

❄️ The story offers an excellent study of human psychology. It highlights, in various ways, how our motivations, our intentions, and our actions shape who we are and what we do. Most of this is well written. However, a few times, a character’s motives aren’t clear or convincing.

🎧 The Audiobook Experience:

The audiobook, clocking at 7 hrs 40 min, is narrated by Rachel White. She does her job excellently. There are many characters from varied ethnic backgrounds, and the narrator does a mostly convincing job of keeping their accents and speaking styles distinct. I am sure this wouldn’t have been an easy task.

I didn’t understand why the prologue was missing from the audiobook. I discovered this only by accident when I opened my digital copy to look up the spellings of the character names. The prologue is an essential part of this story, so it isn't fair to audiobook listeners that their copy begins directly with the first chapter. Other than this, I have no complaints about the audio version. It would be a fabulous way of exploring this story.

Do note that the plot has many days/dates, characters, locations, and timelines. So the audio version is recommendable only to experienced listeners.

All in all, fantasy, retelling, and science fiction are such creative genres that seeing all of them coming together cohesively in a single book was a thrilling experience. Though a few of the writing choices could have worked better for me, I enjoyed this entertaining expedition across places and times. This is not just an indie work but also a debut work. The author deserves special kudos for beginning her writing journey with such an ambitious concept and implementing it quite successfully.

‘Shattered Snow’ is the first book of the Mirror Chronicles (Writing the series name reminds me of Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles – another scifi + fairy tale series that is on my TBR!), and the remaining books promise to be equally delightful. I can’t wait to give them a go!

Definitely recommended to retelling fans who also enjoy twisty time-travel narratives. As with all fantastical stories, don’t overanalyse; just enjoy the ride.

I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook from the author via StoryOrigin. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audio version.

The digital version of this book is currently available on Kindle Unlimited.