Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashashardoust is a 2017 retelling of the classic Grimm’s fairytale, Snow White. It follows the stories of Mina, the stepmother to Lynet, the only daughter of the king and how they shape their lives. It takes the original tale and reconstructs it for modern audiences while still keeping what made the tale so endearing for generations.
This novel was a decent read. It wasn’t terrible enough to give up on, but it wasn’t good enough to have me wholly engrossed. It wasn’t until the last 70 pages or so that I was fully invested and unable to put it down. I stayed up late just to finish it, but it took a very long time to get to that point.
Would I read this again? Probably not. Would I recommend it to someone looking for a retelling of a classic fairytale, full of magic and LGBT representation? Absolutely. It can be a fun read for many people, and it is highly rated on Goodreads. I can be harsh when it comes to lackluster character development and plot points, but if this book sounds anything like something that interests you, please go read it.
There are elements that I absolutely love in this story and I think it’s such a compelling idea, but it’s dragged down by a lack of tension and action. It feels like it takes forever for the story to truly start and I’ll explain more as we cross into the spoiler part of the review. So if you haven’t read Girls Made of Snow and Glass yet and it’s on your TBR, pick it up before reading on.
My biggest complaint is the lack of tension. The synopsis itself spoils the biggest intrigue of the novel; Mina has a heart made of glass and Lynet is made of snow. Even if you skip over the synopsis, this information is given very early on in the novel. I wish this had been kept a secret from the reader. I want to wonder about the novel’s title. Is Lynet the girl of snow because she is the reinterpretation of Snow White? Or is she the girl of glass because she’s continuously called ‘delicate’ and is Mina snow because she is cold and unfeeling? Let me theorize and figure it out for myself. Don’t just exposition dump by page 54 of a 372-page book.
“Cold as snow, sharp as glass.”
Girls Made of Snow and Glass, p. 205
I think what also contributes to this lack of tension is that Mina’s past is told alongside Lynet’s present. It’s an interesting choice that doesn’t quite work for me. I would rather we got Mina’s past later on in the story. Show the reader the cold stepmother who cannot love but then show us why she can’t love after we have an established idea of who she is. The way the story is told, the reader gets Mina’s past in the beginning of the novel and she’s incredibly sympathetic. There’s no chance to mistrust her. We are constantly told that she cannot love but she seems to be very affectionate towards Lynet and I just could not feel any suspense about what was going to happen.
One of my favorite lines references the original fairy tale in a sort of fourth wall breaking quote.
“All she would remember was the story that would be passed down by those watching: the cruel stepmother, and the wronged princess who had returned from the dead to strike her down and take back what was hers.”
Girls Made of Snow and Glass, p. 357
I love when retellings do this. It acknowledges that it’s a retelling in an almost meta way while telling the reader that the fairy tale isn’t the whole truth and that this story is. It’s one of my favorite types of storytelling devices.
The plotline from Snow White in which the evil stepmother tries to kill Snow White simply because she was more beautiful seems like it’s tacked onto this story, like it’s a plot point that needs to be hit. The rest of the story creates such interesting reinterpretations of other elements so I was disappointed with how this was thrown in there. I love how the mirror was also the Huntsman, Mina’s father being the one to want Lynet’s heart, and the poisoned item being the bracelet instead of an apple. It reminded me of the poisoned comb from the original story and it was nice to see a change that utilized a lesser-known storyline. When it came to Mina’s jealousy of Lynet’s beauty, this is where it fell flat. I absolutely love the quote,
“If they love you for anything, it will be for your beauty.”
Girls Made of Snow and Glass, p. 11
This quote is instilled in Mina at a young age by her own father. She is nothing without her beauty and that becomes apparent when she has to rely on it to get the king’s attention. Her beauty serves her many times and I wish that the jealousy she felt was more emphasized. I know this is a feminist retelling of Snow White and that Mina is meant to be more than the vain stepmother, but the vanity part is repeated over and over again. Mina is obsessed with her beauty, as she pulls out her gray hairs and often ruminates on Lynet’s beauty. It absolutely seems like it’s supposed to be an important plot line but it all felt surface level and like Bashardoust didn’t really delve into the theme.
I wish she had given it the same layers as she did with the theme of mirrors.
“She’d only ever seen the world through her mirrors, surrounding herself with distorted images and believing that they were real.”
Girls Made of Snow and Glass, p. 333
I wanted more jealousy and resentment to build up between her and Lynet. We have the perfect set up for it, as Lynet is an exact copy of the Queen Emilia that the king lost to illness. When Mina realizes that her marriage with Nicholas is merely for show, it would’ve been great for her to feel anger towards Emilia, and subsequently Lynet for looking identical to her. Mina realizes that her beauty is all she has and not even that would fully win the king’s affection. So when her beauty starts to falter, it would be interesting to see her crack more. Mina uses manipulation to win people over and I would’ve liked to see more of this after she married the king.
“A queen had the power to make people love her.”
Girls Made of Snow and Glass, p. 65
Or if when Nicholas forced Mina not to act like Lynet’s mother, her glass heart started to harden and Lynet would have to help it soften again. I just wish Mina had been at least somewhat cruel and was given a proper redemption. We can sympathize a character who does the wrong thing but then atones for it later ona. I think this would’ve made not only the stepmother a stronger character, but it would’ve made the story as a whole much stronger as well.
“She said that if my heart was racing too quickly, I could borrow hers for a while, until my own was calm again.”
Girls Made of Snow and Glass, p. 297
I enjoyed the strong female characters in this retelling. In the classic, Snow White is pretty helpless and has to be saved by true love’s kiss.
“There are worse things in the world to be than delicate. If you’re delicate, it means no one has tried to break you.”
Girls Made of Snow and Glass
In this story, she fights back to get her crown. It was cool to see the two women’s command over the elements that brought them life. I really wish we had seen more of Lynet’s power though. She uses it so sparsely, with the most attention given to the coins she makes and remakes from snow. I love how she used it to create a corpse in her image when she faked her death and we were teased with an army of snow solders vs glass soldiers, but this barely amounted to anything. I would’ve liked to see this war.
I like the tragedy of misunderstanding, which is often utilized by Shakespeare in his tragedies. It would’ve been interesting to see the misunderstanding between stepmother and stepdaughter escalate to something bigger so that their reunion would feel all the more powerful. Let the readers fear that there won’t be a happy ending for both women.
Alongside the lack of tension, there’s a huge lack of action. It feels like the story is bogged down by inner thoughts that are repeated endlessly. The first half of the book is nonstop Mina thinking she can’t love and vying for the crown, and Lynet fearing becoming her mother, then having a crisis over the truth of her creation. No one does anything throughout the first half and it’s not until page 216 that Nicholas dies and we finally kickstart the plot. This should’ve happened way sooner and then we’d have more time for Lynet and Mina to do something.
I wish we had seen Lynet outside of the walls for longer and with more to do than just find Gregory and Nadia. She contemplates helping the people and I would’ve loved to see more of that. It would give greater meaning to her returning to the castle to retake her throne from Mina. Unfortunately, all we see is Lynet handing off her cloak to one girl who had none. It was like she magically wanted to be queen after trying to run from it for so long. If we had been allowed to stay in the moment with her longer during her refuge, this would make more sense and bring greater depth to her character.
One of my favorite elements is that the Looking Glass is also the Hunstman. I thought he brought an interesting plot point to the story and Mina’s character. He is brought to life from the mirror Mina had from her mother. He has been looking at her all these years, adoring her. When he is first created, he is nothing more than a mirror. He mimics others but then he learns and eventually thinks for himself. I liked his progression of humanity alongside the loss of Mina’s. This was definitely an area where Bashardoust clearly put a lot of care into and it was so captivating.
“He copied her movements, bringing his head forward to return her kiss. His adoration, his yearning, nourished her, and she understood now why the gods were always said to be jealous.”
Girls Made of Snow and Glass, p. 90
I also appreciate the LGBT representation in the novel. It could’ve been more prominent, but I do enjoy novels set in a world where two women can be in a relationship, and it isn’t considered a crime or strange. They can just be themselves. I love Lynet’s immediate fascination with Nadia, how she stalks her through the castle and gets a crush on her. Their moments together were great and were some of the strongest parts of the novel. It never felt forced or like it was trying to make a point. They just were in love and I wanted them to be together.
Again, this is not a terrible book by any means, but it’s not perfect either. It felt like a chore at times to keep pushing through and finish it, which is never how a book should feel. And of course, everything I wish would’ve happened is purely my opinion. I love the idea of this book, just the execution fell flat for the most part.
If you find yourself interested in this book, I recommend giving it a try. You may find it more captivating than I and enjoy the story.
Be Bold 