Spinning Starlight {by R.C. Lewis}

Title: Spinning Starlight

Author: R.C. Lewis

Genre: YA Fairytale Retelling

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Source: NetGalley

Sixteen-year-old heiress and paparazzi darling Liddi Jantzen hates the spotlight. But as the only daughter in the most powerful tech family in the galaxy, it's hard to escape it. So when a group of men show up at her house uninvited, she assumes it's just the usual media-grubs. That is, until shots are fired.
Liddi escapes, only to be pulled into an interplanetary conspiracy more complex than she ever could have imagined. Her older brothers have been caught as well, trapped in the conduits between the planets. And when their captor implants a device in Liddi's vocal cords to monitor her speech, their lives are in her hands: One word and her brothers are dead.
Desperate to save her family from a desolate future, Liddi travels to another world, where she meets the one person who might have the skills to help her bring her eight brothers home-a handsome dignitary named Tiav. But without her voice, Liddi must use every bit of her strength and wit to convince Tiav that her mission is true. With the tenuous balance of the planets deeply intertwined with her brothers' survival, just how much is Liddi willing to sacrifice to bring them back?
Haunting and mesmerizing, this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Wild Swans strings the heart of the classic with a stunning, imaginative world as a star-crossed family fights for survival in this companion to Stitching Snow.

I really enjoyed Stitching Snow, so I was excited when I heard about Lewis's next story, also set in the same world. I also love how this one is based off a not quite as well-known fairytale, and I was intrigued.

Liddi is the youngest of way-too-many brothers. She's set to be the richest person in all the planets, once she inherits her parents' company. But Liddi feels inadequate, not as smart or techy as her siblings. But when they get trapped in between the planets, Liddi's the only one able to save them. She escapes to a planet she didn't even know existed, who turns out to maybe be the only one with the answers.

I think I probably liked this one more than Stitching Snow. Liddi is a paparazzi princess, but she isn't spoiled and entitled. Okay, maybe a little, but when it comes down to it, she is able to put that aside and sacrifice herself for her brothers. I loved seeing her get to grow and really come into herself, once she is thrust into this position where everything depends on, well, her. She was put into this crazy situation, when she doesn't even believe in herself, but she comes to realize that she can do it, and really learns a lot about herself on the way.

Like Stitching Snow, there is a lot of tech speak in this one. While I found it really interesting, sometimes it was too confusing and distracted from my enjoyment and the flow of the story. Another thing was the random flashbacks. While I liked how they added a different dimension to the story, helping us to get to know Liddi and her brothers even better, they were random, not fitting in with what was going on, and I feel that distracted from the story.

But all in all, I loved the story and the characters. Lewis has a way of making you care about even the smallest background characters. There was definitely more world-building in this one, and I did like that. It was a fun story, a pretty fast read, and I enjoyed it very much.

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R.C. Lewis

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Stitching Snow {by R.C. Lewis}

Title: Stitching Snow

Author: R.C. Lewis

Genre: YA, fantasy, sci-fi, retelling

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Received via NetGalley

Princess Snow is missing.
Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back-but that's assuming she wants to return at all.
Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fills her days with coding and repairs for the seven loyal drones that run the local mines.
When a mysterious young man named Dane crash-lands near her home, Essie agrees to help the pilot repair his ship. But soon she realizes that Dane's arrival was far from accidental, and she's pulled into the heart of a war she's risked everything to avoid.
In her enthralling debut, R.C. Lewis weaves the tale of a princess on the run from painful secrets . . . and a poisonous queen. With the galaxy's future-and her own-in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival.

Can we take a moment to appreciate that cover? It's so intricate and gorgeous and I need a physical copy, like, pronto. Moving on... I loved this book as well. It was unique and inventive and interesting. Although it does share some characteristics as the original Snow White story, such as a princess named Snow, an evil stepmother, and a poisoned apple, it was still wholly original.

Essie was an interesting character. She lives in the mining village, spending her time in her lab coding and working on the drones, and cage fighting. She doesn't like to get too close to people. Until Dane crash lands near her home. For some reason, she wants to help him. I liked how strong she was, but also had room to grow. I think she went through considerable growth throughout the story.

As for Dane, not sure how I felt. I liked him, but I wasn't particularly swooned by him. Although I could understand some of his decisions, at the same time I was wary of him. And while he did prove himself to be sweet and kind and really, just perfect for Essie, I don't know. He was just okay.

There were parts in the plot that bored. Lots of kidnapping and flying around. The interplanetary system confused me a little bit, as I was never really sure of how it all worked or the politics of it. There were definitely some predictable moments, but it all worked out in the end. I thought the technical side of it was interesting, and brought another dimension to the world building.

Not going to lie, Dimwit and the rest of the drones were probably my favorite part. (Seven drones... seven dwarfs... get it?) They were so cute! (Cusser would probably have my head for that.)

This wasn't a perfect book by any means, but it was interesting. It definitely hooked me. While there was some room for improvement, I think this was a great book and will definitely be waiting for more of this author's work.

This review can also be found on   

R.C. Lewis

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