Review: A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow

Professional rescuer and part-time substitute Zinnia Gray has spent the last five years traversing the multiverse, saving every damsel in distress that she possibly can. After a dozen or so rescues, weddings, and burned spindles, Zinnia has begun to grow tired of her role in rewriting the narrative, yet duty awaits her hand on the spindle. At an afterparty one rescue later, when Zinnia glances into a mirror, she sees another woman staring back at her, and falls into the last fairytale she ever expected, Snow White. Coming face to face with the fabled Evil Queen, desperate to escape her own fate, Zinnia is tasked once again with saving someone trapped by their story. Eva is convinced that Zinnia is the way out of her predestined ending, and is willing to do anything to change her future, that is if Zinnia can be convinced to save the last person in this world she would want to.

The Fractured Fables novellas draw to a close with A Mirror Mended, a sequel that ups the ante that A Spindle Splintered had previously left to be amended. Alix E. Harrow is back at it, drawing together an adventurous narrative crammed full of meaningful prose, and tied in with an expanded critique on storytelling and their villains. Where A Spindle Splintered previously intersected a conversation surrounding damsels in distress in folklore and their saviors, Harrow turns her attention to the villainization of women in her continuation of the series. More closely, The Evil Queen, a figure that has consistently captivated audiences with her jealousy and enacted rage against her stepdaughter for her supposed beauty. As a huge fan of evil women in the fantasy genre, the examined motivations, and background of a classic fairytale villain intrigued me, to say the least. Eva is a layered character, well-written and trapped by her own situation and predetermined role. Narrative agency is an issue that Zinnia has constantly battled, even from book one, and it was nice to see that transferred over to an iconic villain like the Evil Queen. Eva’s situation is very closely mirrored in Zinnia’s, as they both are trapped by their role in the narrative of their story. The bond that grew between the two characters, as a result, made a lot of sense and was really satisfying to witness (falling for the hot villain was absolutely on-brand for Zinnia). I delighted in Eva and Zinnia’s back and forth snark alongside the deeper moments of multiverse chaos. The added tension from the multiverse fracturing and blending into one another propelled this installment to an entirely new level from the previous one in my mind. Once again I am left awed by Harrow’s storytelling ability and the complex twist in traditional fairytales. A Mirror Mended is a razor-sharp exploration of feminist agency and the weight of the roles we carry.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc to review.

Trigger warnings: terminal illness, violence

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