The Seven Drawers: Magic Mirrors Blog Tour
Today is the final day of the Seven Magic Mirrors blog tour! The final release of the tour is The Seven Drawers: A Tale of Snow White by Kendra E. Ardnek.
Gwen's life has been absolute misery for the last two months. Her father died, she was written out of the will, her stepmother kicked her out of the house, and, in that time, she's not heard a word from her boyfriend of five years.
And she might be suffering from insanity. A chest of drawers just appeared at the foot of her bed, and as she opens each drawer, she's spirited away to another realm where she finds herself in increasingly bizarre prisons, each the fault of her stepmother.
Can she win back her life - and kingdoms? - from her stepmother? Or will Editha win?
Continuing the trend I started, here are Seven Reasons I Love This Story:
1. This is a highly unique retelling of Snow White. Having seven drawers that each lead to a different parallel reality, all of the realms being linked through similar circumstances, but each slightly different than all the others... all woven into a Snow White retelling? If you're thinking, "Wow, that's ambitious!" you're exactly right! What an ambitious concept... and so cleverly written!
2. The masterful handling of a complex idea. I was a little concerned when I began reading that I was going to get confused with all the characters having multiple different names... Gwen travels through the drawers and "meets" herself in 7 different realms than the one in which she exists, as well as all of her acquaintances and her stepmother, and everyone has different names in every realm! However, I felt that the author handled this device very well and I was actually never confused about who was who, even when more and more characters started to know about the multiple realms and the multiple parallel versions of themselves. That is quite a feat, in and of itself.
3. Gwen/Eirwen/Bianca/etc. Once again, my pre-conceived notions of what a "Snow White" character is have been challenged, in the best way possible. The main character in this story is truly lovable. She isn't perfect, and she makes mistakes, but she continues to struggle on to reclaim what has been stolen from her and to protect the ones she cares about. I loved cheering for her throughout the story.
4. Jeremy. Be still my heart! One of the great downfalls of most Snow White stories is the passivity of the prince. Not so with this story. He doesn't necessarily sweep in to save the day (and in some realms, he even plays the Huntsman) but he is loyal, steadfast, hard-working, true, brave, and willing to do whatever it takes to save his princess... even if it means letting her figure out how to solve the problem for herself.
5. The writing style. I just love Ms. Ardnek's writing style, okay? I haven't been disappointed with a single one of her stories yet. The Bookania Quests, Rizkaland, and now The Seven Drawers... she just has a way of pulling me in and not letting me go until I've finished the book. Her characters are really fun, and she weaves their journeys around interesting obstacles. At times, these obstacles may even seem a bit simplistic or too easily overcome, but she does a good job creating enough suspense around the obstacles that I enjoy the journey anyway.
6. Charcoal. He's a dragon. I liked him a lot. Read the book so you can meet him.
7. The Snow White elements... yeah... didn't see that coming, did you? But I loved that the Snow White elements fit so naturally into this retelling. At times, they were so subtle I almost missed them, and other times they popped off the page... not in a distracting way, but more in an, "Aha! That's clever!" sort of way. But I'm not going to go into all of them here, because: SPOILERS!
Do go fetch a copy of this delightful story for yourself! Or read the first chapter for free on Kendra's website!
About the AuthorKendra E. Ardnek loves fairytales and twisting them in new and exciting ways. She's been or acting them on her dozen plus cousins and siblings for years. "Finish your story, Kendra," is frequently heard at family gatherings. Her sole life goal has always been to grow up and be an author of fantasy and children's tales that glorify God and His Word. Find her online at: Website || Facebook || Youtube