Fantasy Novella Review: A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

 



A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

A Spindle Splintered is the first in a new fairy tale based novella series by acclaimed author Alix E. Harrow (The Thousand Doors of January, etc.).  I have a weird relationship with Harrow's works - I've rarely disliked them (although her The Once and Future Witches was a bit of a miss for me), and sometimes have liked them a bunch....and yet I've often for some inexplicable reason struggled to read her prose, making getting through her works especially hard for me.  So I skipped this novella when it first came around, to be honest, and only circled back to read it when it was nominated for the Hugo and was part of the Hugo packet.  

And A Spindle Splintered is pretty fun novella, featuring a terminally ill 21-year old heroine from our world, who grew up obsessed with Sleeping Beauty, finding herself transported into a Sleeping Beauty-esque fantasy world where she becomes determined to subvert the story's narrative.  It's an enjoyable queer story with a fun heroine and some solid side characters, so definitely worth your time, even if it probably still wouldn't have cracked my nomination list had I read it last year.  

More after the jump:

Quick Plot Summary:  Zinnia Gray has for years been diagnosed with a terminal condition - caused by an industrial accident - which has slowly been killing her....and of which no one has survived to live past twenty-one.  She's made the most of her life by tearing through schooling, becoming an expert on folklore like her favorite tale - Sleeping Beauty (and all its variations).  So she's highly amused when her best (and only) friend Charm brings her a spinning wheel on her 21st Birthday...only to be even more surprised when being pricked by it sends her to a fantasy alternate world with an actual sleeping beauty narrative.  

Armed with her foreknowledge, and her desperation to change things in what she sees as normally a sexist narrative - not unlike her own life - Zinnia and the Princess of that world go on an adventure to try to change their fates....

Thoughts:  A Spindle Splintered is a portal fantasy to a familiar-esque fantasy world, which subverts some classic fairy tales by having reveals come that recontextualize it (so for example, the evil fairy that curses the Princess is not quite that, the Prince is a boring bum who the Princess doesn't want to marry - and the Princess isn't even straight, etc.).  None of that is particularly new or original, nor is making the heroine terminally ill in our real world.  

What makes this novella feel fresh though is the voice of Zinnia and how Harrow plays on that expected narrative - so Zinnia still can text her best friend back and forth from the fantasy world; Zinnia knows how the narratives are bullshit, and well she's smart, sarcastic and just incredibly likable, as his her best friend Charm.  Zinnia's desire to help the Princess, even if she can't save herself, and the Princess' non-helplessness are choices that just make this story feel surprisingly enjoyable, and it moves at a very good pace and doesn't outstay its welcome, even as it ends on a cliffhanger.  

So yeah, I can see easily why this was nominated, even outside Harrow's obviously large fandom in the Hugo crowd, and it's well worth your time for an enjoying novella read.