Afflicted with a disease that causes protein deposits to build up in her organs, she knows her life is short. Zinnia Gray is turning 21 and knows she’s living on borrowed time. I’m shocked at how much I enjoyed this book, because I’m definitely not much into this genre, but Harrow gives the perfect feminist, lesbian-affirming twist to the tale. This is a wonderful novella–a “fractured” re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty story with a modern-day twist. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate. Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia’s last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel.

Not much is known about her illness, just that no-one has lived past twenty-one. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. It’s Zinnia Gray’s twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it’s the last birthday she’ll ever have. “A vivid, subversive and feminist reimagining of Sleeping Beauty, where implacable destiny is no match for courage, sisterhood, stubbornness and a good working knowledge of fairy tales.” -Katherine Arden Featuring Arthur Rackham’s original illustrations for The Sleeping Beauty, fractured and reimagined.

Harrow’s A Spindle Splintered brings her patented charm to a new version of a classic story.

Genre: Fantasy, Retellings, Fiction, Adult, Novella, LGBT, Fairy Tales, Feminism, Short Stories.

Goodreads Link: A Spindle Splintered by Alix E.

Followed By: A Mirror Mended by Alix E.

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