Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: October 14, 2014
Rating: 3 stars
Source: ARC sent by the publisher
Summary (from Goodreads):
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.
What I Liked:
I really wished I liked this one more! I mean, three stars is still positive, but I was hoping to really enjoy this book. Somewhere along the lines, the book fell a bit short for me. Still, it was a very well-written debut, and a cool story.
Princess Snow has been missing for eight years, and the King blames the Exiles. But Snow - Essie - didn't just disappear. She is alive and well on a remote planet far away from her home on Windsong, another planet. When a young man's ship crashes on Thanda, it isn't a coincidence. Suddenly, Essie finds herself on the run, and she doesn't know who to trust.
The writing in this book was really fluid and well-developed, which is something that I noticed and enjoyed. This novel is a fantasy/futuristic-ish type of novel, and Snow has her own accent and use of language. Several other characters also have accents and whatnot - basically, my point is, Lewis did an excellent job of writing the accents and feel of the story, through the writing.
The novel was interesting, at the very least. It was a bit predictable for sure, but I wanted to keep reading, to find out what would happen. Essie gets kidnapped, like, ten times in this book, so every time she had to fly to somewhere else, I wondered where the story was going. In general, I think the plot of this book is pretty basic, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's not the best thing either.
Essie is a strange character. In the very beginning of the book, we get to see a lot of her character, almost immediately. She's a strong fighter (meaning, physical fighting), but she is also extremely clever when it comes to gadgets and technology and coding. Which is awesome, I can relate to that. I think, overall, I liked Essie, but I'm not really sure. I was kind of meh towards the characters in this book.
For those wondering, yes, there is romance in this book, and no, there is no love triangle. I liked the romance, even if it was a bit weird at first, and everything ended all happy and perfect. There definitely could have been more physical scenes between Essie and Dane, given the nature of their personalities. But anyway.
Overall, I think I liked this book. It was okay, and I definitely don't feel NEGATIVELY towards the book. I just don't feel particular positive towards it, either.
What I Did Not Like:
I have to admit, the book was a little dry sometimes. Boring, I mean. There was a lot going on, and I always wanted to know what was happening and what would happen next. But it seemed like the story went in circles after a while, and I got a little bored. The last 40%, I kind of fast-read. Not skimmed, but not read with the same care that I read the first part of the book.
I didn't really connect with any of the characters, at least solidly, anyway. This book is written in first-person - Essie's point-of-view - but I don't think that really helped me connect with her. I didn't really root for her as the story progressed.
I didn't care much for Dane, honestly. I mean, he did too many things that made me not like him much, but then, I liked the romance. So I was conflicted. But Dane by himself, meh, I didn't really care for him.
I've seen this book compared to the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, and not in a good way. Meaning - this book is much too similar to the Lunar Chronicles. I've only read Cinder, but I can TOTALLY see that. With all the tech and drones and coding and princess fantasy business, it does seem eerily similar to Meyer's debut.
I guess there were a lot of parts of this book that I didn't really care for, or that bored me.
Would I Recommend It:
Ah. Well, it's an interesting fantasy novel with futuristic elements to it, so I would read it just to experience that interesting mix. But it was a tiny bit of a disappointment, so I wouldn't go rush to read this one. Definitely read it if it's a review book or you already pre-orders it or something.
Rating:
3 stars. Meh. This one was okay, but I didn't love it, like I wanted to. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for future Lewis novels! Though I believe this one is a standalone.
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