FEBRUARY 2018 - AudioFile
Narrator Jennifer Ikeda’s pacing adds drama and intrigue to this twist on the classic Snow White story. When the king’s wife passes away, he enlists the help of a magician to create a child made out of snow that perfectly replicates his late wife. As the child, Lynet, starts to realize the truth of her creation, she sets out to find her own path. Meanwhile her stepmother, Mina, also created by the magician and made of glass, takes her place as queen when the king dies. Now both women need to decide who is the rightful ruler. Listeners will enjoy this fresh take on a traditional tale that is filled with magic and strong female characters who must become allies rather than rivals. M.D. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
07/03/2017
In Bashardoust’s debut, a richly written rethinking of Snow White, Princess Lynet and her stepmother, Queen Mina, fight the fates imposed by their fathers. When Mina was small, her sorcerer father, Gregory, replaced her failing heart with a glass one. Gregory claims that without a heartbeat, Mina is unlovable; to disprove him, she marries the widowed King Nicholas and earns the adoration of a kingdom. Her reign as queen is only temporary, though: when Nicholas’s daughter, Lynet, turns 16, Nicholas grants her rule over Mina’s territory. Lynet ponders declining the power transfer, but then overhears Mina plotting against her. Further complicating matters is Lynet’s discovery that she wasn’t born but was conjured from snow in the late Queen Emilia’s image at her father’s request, leading a horrified Lynet to flee the castle. A romantic subplot involving Lynet and a young surgeon named Nadia adds further drama and tension as Bashardoust thoughtfully reflects on the complicated nature of the stepdaughter/stepmother relationship while exploring agency, individuality, love, and free will. Ages 12–up. Agent: Meredith Kaffel Simonoff, DeFiore and Company. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Booklist Top 10 First Novel for Youth
Junior Library Guild Selection
ALA’s Amelia Bloomer List for Feminist Literature
Nominated to ALA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults List
“This beautifully wrought novel offers plenty of fairy-tale wonder, but Bashardoust resists the most common tropes; instead, she tells a story where women save each other with their own ingenuity, bravery, and love, and power and compassion can exist hand in hand. Compellingly flawed characters, vivid world-building, and pitch-perfect pacing make this utterly superb.” —ALA Booklist, starred review
“An empowering novel with strong, three-dimensional female protagonists who refuse to let jealousy and power break their bond. Filled with magic, adventure, and interesting characters, this debut will keep readers thoroughly engaged. A refreshing and progressive original retelling. Highly recommended.” —School Library Journal, starred review
“Magic, mother-daughter conflict, and the quest for self-identity are given a dark and fantastical treatment in this chilling feminist adaptation of the Snow White fairy-tale. A hauntingly evocative adaptation that stands on its own merits.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“If you thought you were done with the re-imagined fairy tale trope, suspend your moratorium for Girls Made of Snow and Glass: Melissa Bashardoust has created a story more The Bloody Chamber than damsel-in-distress fable.” —Bustle
“This is Snow White as it’s never been told before. Fans of Game of Thrones will relish the loyalties and betrayals; with elements of the medieval legend of the golem, echoes of the movie Frozen, and plenty of magic, Girls Made of Snow and Glass is a feminist fantasy not to be missed.” —BookPage
“A gripping, dark, and ultimately heart-affirming retelling of the rivalry between Snow White and her wicked queen, but this time that wickedness is a wild longing—in both women—to be loved and seen for who they really are. These are fairy tales the way they’re supposed to be—full of horror and doubt, with the actualization of the heroines always shining at the center, sharp as glass.” —Blackbird
“A must-have for those who love luscious YA retellings. Absolutely stunning.” —Book Riot
“A richly written rethinking of Snow White...Bashardoust thoughtfully reflects on the complicated nature of the stepdaughter/stepmother relationship while exploring agency, individuality, love, and free will.” —Publishers Weekly
“In Girls Made of Snow and Glass, Melissa Bashardoust has given us exquisite displays of magic, complex mother-daughter relationships, and gloriously powerful women triumphing in a world that does not want them to be powerful. A gorgeous, feminist fairy tale.” —Traci Chee, author of The Reader and The Speaker
“Girls Made of Snow and Glass is like reading a particularly wonderful and vivid dream, complete with imaginative magic, delightful characters, and beautiful language. Melissa Bashardoust's debut novel is everything a fairy tale should be.” —Jodi Meadows, coauthor of My Lady Jane and author of Before She Ignites
School Library Journal
★ 09/01/2017
Gr 8 Up—When Mina fell ill, her father the magician cut out her dying heart and replaced it with glass. Unable to love or be loved, Mina learns that beauty can be used to manipulate others. At 16, she leaves the South with her father to move North where snow perpetually falls. Her father is being rewarded for curing the king's daughter, the cover story the king is using for having the magician create a baby replica of the recently deceased queen out of snow and blood. Soon after, Mina marries the king in hopes that being queen will bring her the love she desires. However, she forms a real bond with her stepdaughter Lynet. At 15, when Lynet learns what she really is, the clash for the role of queen begins. While kill or be killed is the only option Mina sees, Lynet believes she can save Mina's heart and find a happily ever after for everyone. Told in alternating viewpoints, this work uses elements from recognizable fairy tales to create an empowering novel with strong, three-dimensional female protagonists who refuse to let jealousy and power break their bond. Filled with magic, adventure, and interesting characters such as the huntsman created by Mina from glass to cure her loneliness, and Nadia the fearless court surgeon whose friendship with Lynet turns to something more, this debut will keep readers thoroughly engaged. VERDICT A refreshing and progressive original retelling. Highly recommended.—Marissa Lieberman, East Orange Public Library, NJ
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2017-06-14
Magic, mother-daughter conflict, and the quest for self-identity are given a dark and fantastical treatment in this chilling feminist adaptation of the "Snow White" fairy tale.Bashardoust sets her debut novel in a kingdom cursed with eternal winter, which serves as a pointed metaphor for the physical beauty that is currency and curse for both Lynet, the beloved daughter of King Nicholas, and Mina, the neglected daughter of an infamous magician who eventually becomes Lynet's "wicked" stepmother. The narrative, which alternates between the characters' points of view, unites them with a mutual feeling of objectification. Both women are shaped and magically controlled by their fathers, who are also their creators, the insidiousness of which the story fully explores. Well-developed, strong female characters abound, from the tree-climbing Lynet (whose skin is olive-brown) and golden-brown Mina, a sympathetic survivalist queen, to a court surgeon and a royal ancestor whose maternal grief is powerful enough to eternally banish springtime from the northern kingdom. The author's rich fantasy landscape incorporates the fairy tale's traditional iconography while providing her with room to create a new story emphasizing the shallowness of a male-dominated society that places a ruinously high premium on beauty at the expense of female individuality. The decisive clash is between mother and daughter, but misogyny is the narrative's true destructive force. A hauntingly evocative adaptation that stands on its own merits. (Fantasy. 14-adult)
