A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow- 3 stars

[Jen K]

Modern retelling of Sleeping Beauty with a feminist bent. Who needs a prince to save the day really? Zinnia has a fatal illness and is not expected to make it to age 22. Her favorite fairy tale is Sleeping Beauty who shares a similar fate of being cursed to fall into a deep sleep on her 21st birthday. When Zinnia's friend, Charm, sets up a Sleeping Beauty birthday party for her 21st birthday, Zinnia somehow finds herself interrupting Sleeping Beauty from pricking her finger on the spindle. Together they decide to meet the curse head on and trek to find the evil witch and eventually find that there are many sleeping beauties in the multiverse and there is power in numbers.

It is a bit jarring but also fun to have such modern character/ girl dropped into a traditional fairy tale. I enjoyed the retelling.