Title: Shadows on Snow
Author: Starla Huchton
Rating: 10/10
Retelling of: Snow White
The Twist: Gender-Swap. “Snow White” is a prince named Leopold, and the story is told from the point of view of Raelynn, who is the youngest of seven sisters. They’re not dwarves, but they all possess magical abilities that aid the prince in his time of need.
I bought Shadows on Snow ages ago, back when I was still reading for fun regularly instead of being swamped by college readings. But I hadn’t remembered how much I absolutely adored this book until I suddenly found myself staying up until those early hours of the morning that no one should be awake for unless they’re getting paid for it.
I chose it as my first review because, well, I sort of assumed it was a short read. And I think I associated it with a book of much lesser quality.
I was wrong. It’s a moderate-length book. And it’s amazing.
Shadows on Snow is the first in Huchton’s Flipped Fairy Tales series, where the genders of the main characters in the tales are swapped. Obviously this leads to other twists as it shapes the story in a new way. It’s a retelling where the world of fairy tales crosses with that of fantasy. Instead of just navigating balls and courtly intrigues (which I love as much as the next girl), we’re subject to close escapes, survival, war preparations, and so on. It’s a big world these characters are living in, and the stakes feel real and risky.
So in terms of fluffiness, I’d rate it about 4 out of 10. Which is to say, I wasn’t worried about gruesome scenes or Game of Thrones style death, but there wasn’t much in the way of cozy tea parties either. I feel like that’s not a bad place to be in.
The General Overview
In this book, Snow White is a man named Prince Leopold…and he’s not actually the main character. Instead the main character is Raelynn, a former princess of Bern and the youngest of seven sisters now living in hiding from the man who took over their kingdom. You find out quickly that they’re working to protect another kingdom, Sericea, from falling the same way, and to the same evil man. He’s recently married Prince Leopold’s mother, and that spells danger for Leopold and his kingdom. But he doesn’t know that when he befriends Raelynn as she works disguised as a stableboy.
Raelynn is a strong and easily likable character. She’s spunky, sharp, and mostly no-nonsense, but with enough sister-drama thrown in to make her believable as a young woman. You won’t see her cowering away from danger, but she hurts and bleeds like anyone else. A character like Raelynn runs the risk of just sounding like a bratty teenager, but Huchton makes it clear that Raelynn is shaped by her world, and it’s not a pretty life she’s lived. Very rarely did I think Raelynn’s actions or words were unjustified or the result of poor writing.
In contrast to her spunk is Prince Leopold, or Leo as he prefers to be called. Much like the usual Snow White we all know, he’s of a gentler mold. But you won’t see him singing to birds or cleaning for Raelynn and her sisters (though he does helpfully chop wood for them). Sericea has a tradition of sending their princes away to gain military experience before taking the throne, so Leo knows how to fight. He could easily just be another musclehead trying to flaunt his way to a victory, but he isn’t. He still possesses a gentle and kind soul, without turning timid or seemingly weak. He chooses mercy over justice, and prefers patience to rash action. In fact, for a guy that only barely turned eighteen somewhere in the events of the book, he is surprisingly mature. I found myself imagining him more as a mid-twenties kind of guy.
Leo and Rae’s romance isn’t an easy one. Raelynn bears many deep scars from abuse in her past, and it causes their romance to move forward in fits and starts. But rather than grow irritated by the lack of “progress,” I could only sympathize with Raelynn and applaud Leo’s constant (and in Raelynn’s opinion, sometimes infuriating) patience throughout it all. This isn’t a steamy book, and given Raelynn’s experiences I would have been extremely disappointed if it was, but the flip side of that is getting to see a relationship grow organically and slowly, built on trust rather than physical affection. It makes the ending that much better.
Shadows on Snow deals with some difficult themes, particularly with Raelynn. But those moments where Raelynn is forced to relive her abuse, or she pushes Leo away because of her experiences, never felt cheap or shallow. It never once felt like a tragic backstory trope pulled out of a bag to make a character more interesting, which can often happen. Instead, the pain and heartbreak Raelynn experiences feels genuine and raw. Even I felt like crying for our heroine during one particularly difficult scene, and I’ve already read the story once before so I knew what happened. Huchton manages to generate real horror and real heartache for Raelynn, while not making her a victim or using it as a crutch.
Huchton manages not only to excel in character development, but world development as well. Some retellings zoom in on a single space, like a castle or a town, and it sometimes feel like the characters live in a box. I’m guilty of doing this when I think of my own retellings to write, so I notice when it’s done right. The world that involves Bern and Sericea is well-developed and alive, with all sorts of interesting things happening off-screen. It’s a big world, but not big enough that I felt lost without a map. A map would have been fun, though. Just as a bonus.
Altogether, Huchton’s writing is superb. She holds her cards close to her chest, giving you details like breadcrumbs along a trail, and you snatch them up as you go, hungry for more. Plot twists and grand reveals are suitably shocking or exciting, battle scenes and rescues keep you on the edge of your seat, and the moments of rest feel perfectly paced. When I say I stayed up until the early hours of the morning, I mean it. I think I saw 4am the other night. I haven’t seen that time since finals week.
The Original Story Factor
One unique thing about fairy tale retellings is that they have to retell an original story. This can be pretty broad. Like I said on Thursday’s post, any Beauty and the Beast retelling can have a rose, a pretty girl, a beast, and a love-conquers-all plot to be a successful retelling, but it really stands out when you incorporate details from specific versions.
As I read, I’m often thinking about what version of the story the author used as a springboard, how much research they did, and so on. I’ll admit — I will roll my eyes if I think someone has just used Disney as their only reference to the fairy tale.
Shadows on Snow has nothing to worry about on that end. Not only were the sisters not charmingly based on the names of the seven dwarves from the Disney film, but I saw recognizable elements of the Brothers Grimm version of Snow White. Specifically, there were three attempts on Prince Leopold’s life, not just the one with the apple.
I can forgive the lack of having the villain at the end dance to his death in red-hot iron shoes, but only because his ultimate demise and defeat was breathtakingly written. And also the image of someone dancing to death is kind of gruesome.
The Criticism
Honestly, I didn’t have much, and what I found I could only half-dislike.
Raelynn’s sisters were all lovely and fun with their different magical abilities, but they weren’t all unique. The ones that stood out were spunky and erratic Erata and and slightly bewildered Belinda, but the others sort of morphed together at times. I found myself having to go back and check who was actually in the room, especially between Clarice and Delphine, who worked closely together and who both came off as the “quiet and studious” types.
Towards the end, they were all given special gifts, and I was disappointed not to see them all used in the story. However, a quick glance at the novels following Shadows on Snow suggest that we’ll see these gifts used later. So that’s pretty exciting.
Truthfully, my biggest problem was I didn’t like the epilogue. I felt as though there needed to be something, some sort of buffer, between the end of the tale and the short, cryptic epilogue set farther in the future. The end wrapped up and I think I was expecting some sort of glimpse at the new everyday for all the characters. Instead, the prince was saved (spoiler alert, sorry), and we cut immediately to an epilogue in which Raelynn is decades older. I felt it could have been cut, but for the suggestion of it nodding to future tales.
Which you will see in the upcoming weeks because I have to get my hands on them now.
Final Thoughts
Shadows on Snow surprised me by taking a generally uninspired and far-too-often retold fairy tale and giving a massive overhaul. The gender-swapping was just the beginning of all the amazing things Huchton did with this fairy tale. I found myself turning into Raelynn’s biggest fan, and while I didn’t fall head over heels for Leo (what can I say, I like the funny ones), I appreciated him for the unique and not hyper-masculine male figure he was. It stayed truer to the personality of Snow White and it really worked for this novel.
Huchton drew me in and captured my attention from start to finish, and though Raelynn and Leo’s story is wrapped up, I’m excited to see what Huchton has in store in her next novel. Check back next week — it might even be the next review!