The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine

TL;DR Snow White but with cool magic and dragons

TBR #1376, added Jul 18th 2015

finished 6/14/16

I didn't think I was much of a dragon person. I am definitely a dragon person after The Shadow Queen. 

This one took me a little bit to get into (as did Rebel of the Sands and Dreamstrider) but once I got around the 100 page mark, I devoured the rest of it in a couple of hours. Once I got invested, I had no intention of stopping. (And really, the only thing that had been stopping me from the beginning was my lack of an attention span.) 

This is such a beautiful Snow White retelling. I loved how Stitching Snow blended it with technology, and I loved how The Shadow Queen blends it with more magic than the original. (Or the Disney version, at least.) The elements of the original fairy tale were so clear in the story, and Redwine made some beautiful additions. 

Especially the dragons.

All of the characters were so compelling. The narration even gave us insights into Irina's motivations, which is something I'm definitely in love with after Fairest. There was a really good balance between the character focus in the narration and I was a little too attached by the end of the story. 

(Which is a good thing, except for the fact Goodreads has no details on the rest of the series. Redwine answered a question saying there will be at least one more book, but the website doesn't have any details yet. I mean, The Shadow Queen just came out in February, so I guess I'll have to be a little more patient.) 

The Shadow Queen also works well as a standalone. I'd assumed it was a standalone until I'd checked Goodreads again. I'm really enjoying this trend of accidentally finding sci-fi / fantasy standalones. They're refreshing, y'know? You don't have to worry about cliffhangers this way. You can finish the book and be content without having to wait upwards of a year to continue the story. 

(Thus is the struggle of reading new releases.)

I'd definitely say this is a book you should sit down with when you've got a free afternoon. The action through most of the book makes it a little hard to focus on anything else. 

I'm also pleasantly surprised by my feelings towards the romance. I was dreading it at first, but I ended up on board with it pretty quickly. Like, dang, I want someone as loyal and brave as Kol. And I can only hope to be as strong as Lorelai. 

TL;DR it was a really exciting Snow White retelling with lots of magic and dragons that can work as a standalone. (And is functionally a standalone until Goodreads updates, but I digress.)