Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis – Hyperion, 2014
Format: YA Hardcover
Rating: 4
Genre: Fantasy
What did you like about the book? More like 3.5 stars than 4 but it had enough “oomph” to push me through to the end with a strong (mostly) female lead who tinkers with machinery AND it had the bonus of not feeling like an incomplete first book of a trilogy which was a breath of fresh air in the YA genre. Also? No odd love-triangle! Princess Snow (Essie) ran away from home 8 years ago and has been hiding in a mining community on another planet, “stitching” together 7 bumbling robot droids and fighting the odd brawl for extra funds. There’s some magic, some malicious royal intrigue, some political maneuvering, some angsty teen romance, some Save The Kingdom-ing, and a SLIGHT tie-in to the “Snow White” concept in a few plot points tossed in there.
Anything you didn’t like about it? Though there was appeal in the fact this was a stand-alone book in a sea of trilogies, at times the plot felt rushed, crammed in between overly long passages of Essie wondering about her feelings for Dane. Also, towards the very end there is quite a lot of death all of a sudden that felt jarring after the rather languid feel of the rest of the story. Also the names of Essie’s robots were incredibly annoying to me and not “cute” as I think they were intended to be.
To whom would you recommend this book? This would be a fun, quick, not as deep but likely time-passing read for anyone who loves the Cinder series and is bored waiting for the next book in the series.
Who should buy this book? Public/School Libraries
Where would you shelve it ? YA Fantasy
Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our “to read” piles? No
Reviewer’s Name, Library (or school), City: April Duclos, Hudson Public Library, Hudson, MA
Date of review: 12/4/14
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