The last (for now, you never know) in a series of fantasy books I found to be some of the most fun, creative, well-written and intensely emotional I've ever read. It's epic, it's exciting, it's going to leave fans divided. Especially concerning how all the plot threads are resolved.
One way I can describe each book in the 'Princess' series is they are like a roller coaster ride - you are always on the edge of your seat as you are brought into a world of super highs and super lows, the likes of which ordinary people rarely feel. Conflict is everywhere. Prepare for the log ride to give you a large splash, never unscarred!
'The Snow Queen's Shadow' certainly starts off as such. Tensions and stakes are raised throughout the kickass princesses' ice adventure/rescue mission. This time, after being at sea with Hephyra the dryad, we explore Snow White's homeland of Allesandria, the magical capital of the world.
I won't get into a lot of the book’s details in this review due to spoilers, but I will say that the plot begins differently than in the previous ones. It is the last we'll see of these amazing characters and their fairy tale world, so it must be bigger, more shocking, and start and end with a bang. Or a snowy whirlwind full of ice wasps with glass stingers possessed by demonic energy.
The short of it: Snow White becomes possessed by a demon trapped within her magic mirror, which was once used by her deceased mother to make herself more powerful. Snow ends up repeating her murderous mother’s mistakes. When she tried to play God the mirror shattered, and the demon is set free upon the world. Using Snow's many glass pieces to make vile slaves of anyone they cut, the demon - along with Snow and her hidden, painful emotions regarding her past - kidnaps little Prince Jakob and flees to Allesandria. For revenge. And supposedly to make everyone see how everything is a lie; how ugly the world and its politics are. Both human and fairy kind are doomed, standing no chance against Snow White as the Snow Queen.
Except maybe her old friends, the princesses Danielle Whiteshore and Talia. On their quest to rescue both Jakob and Snow, they receive help from the strangest of places.
One of the princess trio, the flirty and playful Snow, has turned into an abomination of dark magic with no clear hope of going back. The hardest thing the women have faced could be either one of their downfall, if not with the rest of the world. Danger and deceit lurk everywhere they go, and the kindhearted future queen of Lorindar, Danielle, may be forced to make the most dire, impossible decisions to save her son's life...
Danielle has developed exceptionally throughout the series. From peasant to queen, she has definitely earned her royal title already, having been up against the most nightmarish horrors thrown at her. She has managed to conquer her insecurities, be brave in the face of the worst, be crafty when need be, and keep some emotions hidden without losing her gentlest of hearts. With the help of her mother's spirit, her glass sword, and animal friends as well as human ones, she overcomes her greatest fears. Beautiful on the inside and inside out, Danielle 'Cinderella' Whiteshore of Lorindar is a blonde not to be underestimated.
Talia has always been in love with Snow, so this is her toughest quest, as it is Danielle's because of losing both a friend and her child, Jakob. I love reading her perspective; she's pure badass, less graceful in personality than in her ninja moves. Sarcastic and deadpan, and she fights like a genius. Between the end of 'Red Hood's Revenge' and the start of 'The Snow Queen's Shadow', her lover Faziya left for their country of Arathea because Faziya saw it as more of her home than the exile Talia sees Lorindar as her own. The 'Princess' books can be read as individual adventures without having to worry too much about what happened previously, like ‘James Bond’, so this is only referenced a couple of times. I am a bit wary about how Talia's love for Snow is resolved in the end. It seems a cop-out, and kind of disrespectful to Snow. But nevertheless I enjoyed Talia's character and story arc. She will be missed.
Snow White, the lovable and morally gray sorceress, is the villain of ‘The Snow Queen’s Shadow’, the women’s final big adventure. She's possessed, yes, but the demon sensed the pain of her past and secret hatred of her people and family of Allesandria, who abandoned her when she needed them the most. She killed her tyrant mother in self-defence after the queen murdered Snow's lover. The things she does when she falls under the demon's power - thus “freeing” herself - are horrendously evil: murder, enslavement, cutting and threatening to murder a two-year-old traumatised child whom she turns into a bird on occasion. Dark Snow White appears out of reach of anything good anymore, and part of the tension is the reader wanting to believe one of our favourite characters in the past three books can be saved and redeemed from this menace.
Or maybe not...
Also, poor Armand, he gets possessed again. And there is no way the toddler Jakob is ever going to get over the events of this story, even if he does successfully get rescued. What he goes through is terrifying - nearly starved and bled to death, left freezing in the worst conditions, shapeshifted against his will; I do hope Danielle can afford a palace psychologist for him in the future. This is no place for children. (Wait, if Jakob has fairy blood and he's so powerful that Dark Snow's glass magic has no effect on him, how can she turn him into a bird?)
The ending of 'The Snow Queen's Shadow' is a little rushed, anticlimactic even. Not everything is resolved smoothly or with the attention they perhaps need. For example, the beginnings of a revolution of humans and fairies living together in true peace without a treaty (in Fairytown) or driving all magical creatures underground. There is a lot of potential not fully explored here. But I felt for the characters all the way through, and marvelled at every tough choice they make for themselves, as they’ve done before. Clever ideas, creative solutions and set pieces for epic action sequences are still present.
Brilliantly written as always, and as ice cold in grip as the settings, I enjoyed 'The Snow Queen's Shadow' immensely, flaws aside. I will miss these ladies, I admit. They are wonderful, dynamic, differing, likable protagonists. But all good things must come to an end. The story is action-packed, solid in quick worldbuilding detail, and uncomfortable yet fun to read as the conclusion to a series with the premise, "There is no such thing as happily ever after, for nothing truly ends".
So more may yet come. Good old Jim C. Hines.
Final Score: 4/5
Final Score of the whole 'Princess' saga: 4/5
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