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.

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R.C. Lewis

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