Published: October 5, 2021
Publisher: Tordotcom
Series: Fractured Fables #1
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 128 (Hardcover)
My Rating: 5.0/5.0
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
USA Today bestselling author Alix E. Harrow’s A Spindle Splintered brings her patented charm to a new version of a classic story.
It’s Zinnia Gray’s twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it’s the last birthday she’ll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that no one has lived past twenty-one.
Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia’s last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate.
YOU GUYS! I have never loved a novella as much as I loved this one! It’s a little dark, a little hopeful, and has ten tons of snark. I picked it up and stayed glued to my couch for about an hour and a half while my eyeballs devoured it (such imagery!).
Zinnia Gray has just turned twenty-one and expects any day to be her last because she’s nearing the term limit on her life. No one else who has this disease has lived past the ripe old age of twenty-one, so she’s basically set a record. In honor of her birthday, her best friend Charm throws her a Sleeping Beauty themed party replete with booze, cheap princess crowns, and an honest to god spinning wheel. Zinnia of course touches the needle and wakes up in another world with another version of Sleeping Beauty who was about to touch her own cursed spinning wheel needle.
Zinnia and Prim, the other cursed princess, set off on a hastily put together journey to threaten/kill/maim the evil fairy who cursed Prim so she removes Prim’s curse (and hopefully Zinnia’s as well). It’s a short journey, but it works since this is a bit of a rush job anyway. Prim starts to wander off each time she sleeps in search of her fate, Zinnia can’t really ride a horse, and she’s also dying a bit more rapidly since she’s out of meds. They’re a hot mess.
Despite its short length I loved this book immensely. The characters are the most badass group of heroines fighting their fates down to their last breath and/or waking moments. There’s a sequel scheduled for release next year and I am sooooo excited to see where this story goes!
Powder & Page 
I just finished this one, and it was very enjoyable!
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