Author: Cameron Jace
Rating: 3.75/5 stars- intriguing but...
Synopsis (as found on Goodreads):
What
if all you knew about fairy tales was wrong?
Sixteen year old Loki Blackstar is no Prince Charming. His mother is a ghost. His only friend is a red Cadillac that sings to him through the radio. He looks like an Angel but acts like jerk. No wonder he has been banned from Heaven, which is the least of his troubles. Loki needs a job to pay for school and support himself.
Still, Loki has a rare gift: He is a Dreamhunter. One of the few in the world who can hunt and kill immortal demons in their dreams so they never wake up again.
When Loki is sent to kill a sixteen-year-old vampire girl the locals call Snow White Sorrow, he is pulled into a magical but dangerous world. The locals believe the monster to be Snow White.
The real Snow White... living in the ruins of an ancient castle in a small town. She is described as horribly beautiful, terrifyingly enchanting, and wickedly lovely.
What he finds instead is a beautiful monster girl filled with rage and hurt, who has an epic untold story to tell of things such like why the Brothers Grimm altered the fairy tale, who the Evil Queen really is, where the mirror came from, and who possessed it.
Snow White has killed every person who has dared come near the castle where she once lived with the queen. Mysteriously, she lets Loki live, and whispers two words in his ears; two words that will change his life forever.
Sixteen year old Loki Blackstar is no Prince Charming. His mother is a ghost. His only friend is a red Cadillac that sings to him through the radio. He looks like an Angel but acts like jerk. No wonder he has been banned from Heaven, which is the least of his troubles. Loki needs a job to pay for school and support himself.
Still, Loki has a rare gift: He is a Dreamhunter. One of the few in the world who can hunt and kill immortal demons in their dreams so they never wake up again.
When Loki is sent to kill a sixteen-year-old vampire girl the locals call Snow White Sorrow, he is pulled into a magical but dangerous world. The locals believe the monster to be Snow White.
The real Snow White... living in the ruins of an ancient castle in a small town. She is described as horribly beautiful, terrifyingly enchanting, and wickedly lovely.
What he finds instead is a beautiful monster girl filled with rage and hurt, who has an epic untold story to tell of things such like why the Brothers Grimm altered the fairy tale, who the Evil Queen really is, where the mirror came from, and who possessed it.
Snow White has killed every person who has dared come near the castle where she once lived with the queen. Mysteriously, she lets Loki live, and whispers two words in his ears; two words that will change his life forever.
Review:
*I received a copy of this novel as a PDF from the author in exchange for an honest review.
First of all, much thanks to Cameron Jace to for sending me a copy of Snow White Sorrow.
Snow White Sorrow presents itself as a very controversial book in a sense- by the blurb alone it has been compared to Anna Dressed in Blood, a much well loved book, and City of Bones, a VERY well loved book. And I'm not going to lie, I thought the exact same thing with many of the other reviewers. However, I have had previous experiences with Cameron Jace's books- I had read I Am Alive beforehand, which had been compared to Hunger Games. Upon reading I Am Alive, I knew immediately it was nothing like the Hunger Games. So I had somewhat expect the same for Snow White Sorrow. And I was right.
Snow White Sorrow is... a weird novel. I can't say if it's meant to be dark and haunting, or is it meant to be a paranormal with a light hearted touch. There are darker moments, and some moments that are just completely downright ridiculous.
The plot started off quite slow, only really taking off around the last, what 50 pages? It wasn't a super exciting one I would say either... just a really big bang at the end. And I mean END. However, it's a first book, so you can pass it off as a stage setter, but... just too slow in the beginning.
Also, I was confused as HECK in the beginning. So does the real world know vampires exist? Wait, no only some? But vampire hunters are out in the open? What? WAIT WHAT SQUIRRELS. WHAT. WAIT SO HE CAN TALK TO ANIMALS WHY WHAT.
Yeah.
The characters were the main problem with me in this novel. I couldn't connect to any of them. Fable was ridiculous. Axel was just downright annoying. I personally didn't care A LOT for Loki or Snow White, but I didn't hate them. Lucy was probably my favourite. She had a more mysterious vibe in the story so at least she provide a small amount of hidden death.
I did like the parrot though.
And at some point the puns in this story was TOO MUCH. OK, I get how the connection between the real world and the fairy tale word is completely warped up, but I don't need about 50 puns throughout the story to get the point. Maybe it was supposed to be a more light hearted touch, a splash of humour, which I guessed work in the beginning (I did laugh at a couple of them) but at some point it became TOO MUCH.
I'll say this as a redemption to the novel though- it blended fairy tales in a unique way though- with a good dash of paranormal by bringing in the vampire lore. I like how Cameron Jace imagined Snow White story- in fact that was my favourite part of the story. It was intriguing and unique, and it made complete sense to me. Dreamhunting was also an intriguing premise.
Certain plot devices weren't the MOST original thing, but some of it made sense to the story. Without it, it wouldn't really work.
Overall, Snow White Sorrow has an interesting creative premise, but I think it wasn't executed to it's potential. Will I read Cinderella Dressed in Ashes? Perhaps.
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