Oh, Jim Hines, how could you do this to me?
The Snow Queen's Shadow is the fourth book in Jim C. Hines' Princess series. I picked up the first one in May 2010, and have looked forward to each of them in turn ever since. I left this one on my TBR pile for longer than I wanted because I knew it was the last in the series, and part of me didn't want the series to end.
The Princess novels center around a wonderful re-telling of three very famous Princesses: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. Snow Queen's Shadow starts in Cinderella's Kingdom, where her Mother-In-Law, Queen Beatrice, is dying. Snow White tries some mirror magic to help the Queen, but something goes horribly wrong.
I wanted to love this book. I wanted to feel an emotional connection. But after the first quarter of the book (which kept me up past my bedtime!), the rest of the book just fell flat for me. And that upsets me. I've followed these characters through three well written novels. This ending just seems, forgive me for saying this, like a fairy tale ending. It's dark, and horrible, but then - the ending, everything works out fine. Not wishing to give spoilers, I'll just leave it at that.
I wish I could recommend this book, but part of me wants to tell everyone to go forth and read books 1-3. Love them, tell your friends about them, and just forget that this book even exists or is part of the series. Make up your own stories about the gang from there. It's OK. I'm not upset that the series itself is over (for now), but more how it ended just didn't feel right to me. I wish I could recommend this book, I really do. I follow Jim Hines on twitter, and his blog through Google +, and I certainly do not want to ever turn anyone away from reading any of his books. I just wish I had been able to enjoy this one more.
The Snow Queen's Shadow is the fourth book in Jim C. Hines' Princess series. I picked up the first one in May 2010, and have looked forward to each of them in turn ever since. I left this one on my TBR pile for longer than I wanted because I knew it was the last in the series, and part of me didn't want the series to end.
The Princess novels center around a wonderful re-telling of three very famous Princesses: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. Snow Queen's Shadow starts in Cinderella's Kingdom, where her Mother-In-Law, Queen Beatrice, is dying. Snow White tries some mirror magic to help the Queen, but something goes horribly wrong.
I wanted to love this book. I wanted to feel an emotional connection. But after the first quarter of the book (which kept me up past my bedtime!), the rest of the book just fell flat for me. And that upsets me. I've followed these characters through three well written novels. This ending just seems, forgive me for saying this, like a fairy tale ending. It's dark, and horrible, but then - the ending, everything works out fine. Not wishing to give spoilers, I'll just leave it at that.
I wish I could recommend this book, but part of me wants to tell everyone to go forth and read books 1-3. Love them, tell your friends about them, and just forget that this book even exists or is part of the series. Make up your own stories about the gang from there. It's OK. I'm not upset that the series itself is over (for now), but more how it ended just didn't feel right to me. I wish I could recommend this book, I really do. I follow Jim Hines on twitter, and his blog through Google +, and I certainly do not want to ever turn anyone away from reading any of his books. I just wish I had been able to enjoy this one more.
2 comments:
My cousin felt that way about the end of the hunger games. She was rooting for the other guy.
I on the other hand liked the ending of the Hunger Games trilogy. To me it wasn't the expected ending if they were books about a super hero, but since she was just a normal girl put in extraordinary circumstances, I felt that was the ending for her.
It just goes to show that one man's awful ending can be another's cup of tea. :)
Next Week's post is actually going to be about the Hunger Games, but, as for the ending of Hunger Games, it's the only ending I hope they Hollywoodify in the movies. Not just the end, end, but the whole last part of Mockingjay. Some of it is good, but some of it... made me wish I hadn't bothered to read the books.
The ending to Snow Queen's Shadow that really got to me was just this really horrible, dark ride through 7/8ths of the book, and then yay, everybody is happy. Bleh. :)
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