Review: Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis

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Title: Stitching Snow
Author: R.C. Lewis
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pub. Date: October 14, 2014
Genre: Young Adult
Rec. Age Level: 14+
Pages: 336
More by this author: N/A

Description:
Princess Snow is missing.

Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back-but that's assuming she wants to return at all.

Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fills her days with coding and repairs for the seven loyal drones that run the local mines.

When a mysterious young man named Dane crash-lands near her home, Essie agrees to help the pilot repair his ship. But soon she realizes that Dane's arrival was far from accidental, and she's pulled into the heart of a war she's risked everything to avoid.

In her enthralling debut, R.C. Lewis weaves the tale of a princess on the run from painful secrets . . . and a poisonous queen. With the galaxy's future-and her own-in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival.

I love a good fairy tale retelling, so Stitching Snow, with it's gorgeous cover, quickly landed on my to-read list. This sci-fi retelling of Snow White spans planets, features drones instead of dwarves, and stars a heroine who is more than capable of saving herself.

While there were definitely elements of the classic Snow White story woven into Stitching Snow, Lewis reimagined much of the story. I was most drawn to Essie, who, in Lewis' novel, is determined, distrustful, and decidedly intelligent - things I would never say about Disney's Snow White. Lewis' Essie is a rather complex character; I was surprised - and impressed - by the things that ultimately motivated her character. Peeling back the layers of this particular character was an especially satisfying aspect of this novel.
 
As far as I can tell, Stitching Snow is a standalone, which doesn't leave much room for in-depth world building, but there was enough background and detail present that I was never distracted. I especially liked that each of the planets had unique climates, populations, and issues. I never struggled to keep locations or characters straight because they were all characterized by distinctly different motivations.

It's a given that this book is going to be compared to Meyer's The Lunar Chronicles - they're both scifi fairy tale retellings with a strong heroine and a romance. And yes, they do share common elements, as most YA scifi and YA romance novels do. But they are not the same and they deserve to be considered on their own merit. I for one thoroughly enjoyed this novel, just as I enjoy The Lunar Chronicles. At the end of the day, I'm just happy to have more books in the same vein!

Recommended.