ARTBA 2021 discussion

PLEASE READ ALL BOOKS AS YOUR TEEN SELF - NOT YOUR ADULT SELF.
What did you think about this book? Did you enjoy it? Why or why not? Do you think it would appeal to teens?
Please provide a score for this book based on a rating scale of 1-5 (1--you hated it; 5--you loved it). THIS IS NOT YOUR OFFICIAL VOTE!

I didn't expect much from another Snow White retelling, but I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected I would. The steampunk element kept the story fresh. I had a lot of questions that didn't get answered (How did they keep her alive while they built the clock heart?! What was up with the enormous bug servants?!), but it was a quick, fun read. 4/5

I appreciated the author's writing style. I think I'll try another book by her, but this book just dragged. I liked some of the aspects; Sophie getting a clockwork heart and the creatures including giant spiders and ladybugs are some of them. However, a lot of the book was Sophie and other characters wandering around in the woods.

Donnelly does try to portray the stepmother as another victim in a grand scheme instead of just hating "Snow White" because she's prettier, which was also good. I just didn't connect with the characters 2.5 / 5

I really enjoyed this book. It was definitely my favorite book I read in the fantasy genre on this list. I don’t really have any complaints about it, and I like that the ending is open enough where the author can choose to write more books if they want. 5/5