Spinning Briar - Rachel Huffmire - ★★★★

AUTHOR: Rachel Huffmire

NARRATOR: Rachel White.

SERIES: Mirror Chronicles, #2

GENRE: Fairy Tale Retelling + Science Fiction.

PUBLICATION DATE: September 30, 2021

RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: Yet another brilliant fairytale-scifi-historical-timetravel mashup by this talented indie author. Sleeping Beauty in a whole new avatar. Slightly confusing to keep track of the timelines and time travel, and a bit more action-dominated than the first book. But on the whole, an amazing experience with clever twists. Much recommended! This is the second book of the Mirror Chronicles series, and NOT to be read as a standalone.

Plot Preview:

France, 11th century. Charul Shazad: The IITA agent whose antics in Book One have left him stranded in historical time.

USA, 22nd century. Dorothea Wild: The Mirror’s new programmer who has her own secret agenda for working with the renegade.

France, 11th century. Fleur: A young girl who was never meant to exist, at least as per the IITA rules. But now that she does, should she allow the Mirror and his assistants to dictate her life?

The story explores the interconnection across these three characters. Keltson and his brother, Bianka, Ammond and Banu reprise their roles from the earlier book.

The book comes to us in the third-person POV of various characters from across places and timelines.

After enjoying ‘Shattered Snow’, the first book of the Mirror Chronicles series, I was keen to get to this one, especially as the first book hinted at the direction this would take. I was also a bit wary of Sequel Syndrome, which seems to hit indie authors more often than not. But I needn’t have worried. This was every bit as clever and complicated as its predecessor.

Bookish Yays:

🌹 The idea! Fairytale, historical fiction, time travel, futuristic science fiction, all blended into a convincing plot. Woohoo!

🌹 The continuity as a sequel. The book begins with a repetition of a few events from the ending of ‘Shattered Snow’, but this time, from Charul’s perspective. It is the perfect way to know what happened from the other side of the story. Once the link is established, it smoothly segues into the new plot with the fresh set of main characters.

🌹 The ‘Sleeping Beauty’ factor. This isn't among my favourite fairytales, so I loved this creative retelling much better than the original. It is not a blind copy, offering a refreshing take on the fairytale while still retaining some essential elements. There aren’t as many surprises in the character development as in the earlier book with its Snow-White spin-off, but it is an enjoyable retelling nonetheless.

🌹 The cast of characters, with a good mix of new characters as well as returning ones. The characters are diverse not just in ethnicity but also in age, ranging from teen to geriatric. The new characters deservedly get a greater focus of the page space, but those continuing from Book One also get meaty roles, ensuring a proper connection to the events in the two books.

🌹 The time travel. This trope always has some loopholes, but the book keeps the logical gaps to the minimum.

🌹 Just as in the first book, every chapter begins with a special add-on such as an interview, an official report, a conversation, a letter and so on. The variety is less than before, but it is still an interesting way to get additional information about the proceedings.

🌹 The revelation of the truth about the IITA, which is not a typical government agency as I had assumed earlier. This aspect brings in a new angle to the events, something more relevant to us modern consumers of screens.

🌹 Though there are so many young characters in the story, romance never gets the prime focus. Whatever little is there is totally clean, making this apt for YA readers.

🌹 The twists! I was proud of myself for guessing one important twist well in advance, but the author kept surprising me with more. It was nigh on impossible to predict where the plot would go.

🌹 The epilogue. I was so stunned at it that I replayed that chapter thrice on my audio. All I can say to the author is, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Bookish Mixed Bags:

✂ Fleur is a good character, but she was not as impressive as Bianka from Book One. While I liked her spunk and her presence of mind (she certainly wasn’t a ‘sleeping beauty’), I could not find her knowledge or conversations believable as she often spoke like a modern girl. (The explanation provided wasn’t too convincing to my ears.)

✂ The storyline is quite complicated, even more than the first book, which itself was so neatly tangled in its arcs! There is a greater need for suspension of disbelief this time as the plot is just too wild. Then again, given the mind-boggling plotting and the crazy mashup, this is not a big compromise. Go with the flow to be entertained.

✂ The plot contains a lot more action, which isn't really my cup of tea. I am sure many readers will have fun with these scenes, but I prefer the more intellectual battles as seen in the earlier novel. (That is not to say that the fights in this book weren’t clever. They were. But they were also too physical for my liking.)

✂ As the characters list is much longer this time, the character depth reduces a little. The plot does justice to most of the cast members, but at times, the whys of their behaviour don’t come across fluidly. Regardless, the plot offers a splendid exploration of the human psyche, with every character having some grey in their thinking.

🎧 The Audiobook Experience:

The audiobook, clocking at 6 hrs 35 min, is voiced by Rachel White, who also narrated Book One. She is once again fabulous, with her variety of accents and emotions lending the perfect vibe to the audio version. Few narrators would have been able to do a better job of making the characters sound distinct without going over the top. At the same time, I do regret not having the digital/physical version. The complex time travel and the multiple timelines made keeping track of everything a bit confusing. This is the kind of book where you might need to flip back at regular intervals to see what clues you missed, and that’s such a bother to do on audio! I’d love to read the book again, but I will probably go for the digital version the next time.

Goes without saying that the audio version is only for attuned audiobook listeners. Newbies, stick to actual reading.

All in all, I am pleasantly surprised that the author pulled off this ambitious storyline so well. Despite a few things that could have gone better for me, I had a lot of fun with this stimulating read. That confounded epilogue better lead to a continuation!

Much recommended. This indie work would work excellently for retelling and sci-fi fans who would love to challenge their brain cells. As this is a sequel in every sense of the word, it is better to read this in series order.

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.