Girls Made of Snow and Glass: Melissa Bashardoust || Review

"There are worse things in the world than to be delicate. If you're delicate, it means no one has tried to break you."

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

Release Date: September 5th, 2017
Pages: 384
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Purchase: Amazon// Barnes and Noble// Book Depository
Frozen meets The Bloody Chamber in this feminist fantasy reimagining of the Snow White fairytale. At sixteen, Mina's mother is dead, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone—has never beat at all, in fact, but she’d always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king’s heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she’ll have to become a stepmother. Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen’s image, at her father’s order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do—and who to be—to win back the only mother she’s ever known…or else defeat her once and for all. Entwining the stories of both Lynet and Mina in the past and present, Girls Made of Snow and Glass traces the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start. Only one can win all, while the other must lose everything—unless both can find a way to reshape themselves and their story.

It's been almost a week since I finished Girls Made of Snow and Glass and I still don't know how to feel about it, or what to really think of it.

I'd grown wary of retellings after the surplus that came out in the past few years, but the feminist Snow White pitch with a f/f romance intrigued me immensely, and I couldn't help but pick this one up. The story follows the dual POVs of Mina (evil stepmother/queen) and Lynet (Snow White), and I was pleased to read a YA novel that not only followed the path of a teen character, but showed the perspective of an older character such as Mina, too. It was refreshing to read an older voice within a YA novel, and I definitely think I enjoyed Mina's chapters a bit more than Lynet. Mina was a wonderfully complex grey character, and I loved getting inside of her head. 

Lynet seemed more bland to me, but her character felt faithful to the original Snow White, which I loved. The inclusion of a f/f relationship was a major plus, and I thought Lynet and Nadia were cute together. It seemed like they took far too long to get together though, and the lack of communication, used as a plot-device to keep them from expressing their feelings until the end of the book, was mildly infuriating. I feel like their relationship could've been developed so much more (and allowed for more adorable moments) if they had just sat down and communicated 100 pages earlier. 

The beginning of the novel is really where I struggled with Girls Made of Snow and Glass, and what makes me hard-pressed to give this book a high rating. It dragged so much, and I contemplated DNF-ing it once or twice due to lack of plot/anything interesting occurring. I'm glad I stuck with it though because !! that middle !! and the ending !! The rest of the book was ten times better than its beginning. Watching Mina and Lynet come together to overcome the abuse and torment they suffered at the hand of their father figures was deeply empowering. 

Truthfully, all the female relationships throughout the novel were empowering. It was so nice to read a novel in which every female character treated each other with respect and reverence. There were no catty remarks, or lame elements of competition between others. The development and handling of the characters within the book was definitely the focus, when compared to development of plot. I appreciated all that was done to flesh out the characters, because they were truly fantastic + complex, but I still wish there had been just that little bit more emphasis on developing the plot. 

Overall, Girls Made of Snow and Glass was an interesting and wonderfully feminist retelling of Snow White. Its carefully crafted characters and emotional ending made it a book that will stick in my mind for a while, but unfortunately the lack of plot development keeps me from rating it as high as I wish I felt I could. 

*3.5 out of 5 stars*

★★★☆☆

LET'S CHAT! Have you read Girls Made of Snow and Glass? If so, what did you think? How do you feel about fairytale retellings? And what story-elements make you think,"Oh my god, I need that"?? TELL ME ALL THE THINGS BELOW.