fairy tales

Hines’ brilliant reimagining of the classic fairy tale characters brings Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty into a whole new feminist light.

Instead of the prince having to save the princess, it’s the other way round! We join Princess Danielle not long after the famous Cinderella courtship, as Prince Armand is kidnapped by Danielle’s jealous stepsisters. Snow is a brilliant sorceress and Talia (Sleeping Beauty) is an assassin who aid her in the quest to rescue the prince. Each of the three women have a less than fairy tale upbringing, with Talia’s background especially gritty and steeped in betrayal and rape (a hefty, but well handled theme for a YA book).

Each woman has abilities that compliment the other, and a major theme of the book is about them learning to work as a team, teach each other new skills, and value friendship. The book is also not hung up on romance, leaving the women to explore many different facets of female relationships without the standard trope of them fighting over a man!

Followed by three equally brilliant sequels, a YA series must.

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