The Snow Queen's Shadow by Jim C. Hines

This is the fourth and last of Hines's "Fairy Tale Princess" series. That's not the official title for the series, I don't think, but I don't remember and am feeling lazy. Everything that needs to be wrapped up is and there's definitely closure, but there's still room to revisit it.


The first three books in the series are set after the fairy tales they utilize, showing the characters after "happily ever after" and using and expanding the original casts. The world is a standard medieval-lite world where all fairy tales coexist either in the present or in the past, and the central characters are Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White, and they're the queen's secret agents. It sounds light and parts are, but it's actually a dark, critical representation of fairy tales that often crosses into deconstruction, with a focus on how women are treated within the traditional narratives, especially the parts most modern representations try to avoid. And they're fast paced adventures with three swashbuckling heroines.


Most of the same is true of The Snow Queen's Shadow, save that instead of following up a fairy tale, it reworks "The Snow Queen" to feature the regular cast as the protagonists and antagonists, and loosely follows the plot. Some parts work better than others (for example, with the seasons, Spring and Winter work excellently, but Summer and Autumn less so) but that's also true of the previous books. And, uhm, most things. I'm just very attached to "The Snow Queen."


( spoilers )

In short, while not perfect (what is?) these are very fun and worth checking out if you like girls on adventures (together) and critical examinations of fairy tales and unique takes on fairy tales.