A Mirror Mended (Fractured Fables, 2)

Originally reviewed on Cyn's Workshop


A Mirror Mended takes Zinnia back into the multiverse on her quest to continue to foil the villains until the villain asks for her help.

Amazing Storytelling
If I have said it once, I will repeat it, Harrow is a fantastic author, and I love her. A Mirror Mended is the sequel to A Spindle Splintered. Zinnia is still traversing the multiverse, but the lines between the universes are becoming more blurred.

I love that this story focuses more on Zinnia and her reluctance to return to her life. It makes sense. Returning home means resetting the clock on her life. However, because she meddles, fairytale elements appear in unexpected places and become untethered from their fairytales.

And vice versa.

The Wicked Stepmother from Snow White, a woman without a name, without an identity, has gotten a hold of Zinnia’s collection of fairytales. Now aware of her fate, she seeks Zinnia’s help to escape her fairytale and fate.

Once again, Harrow is dismantling more fairytale tropes, this time of a different one. And through it, now teamed up with the villain, Zinnia explores her mortality and what defines a villain. It is, after all, all about perception. And her reluctance to return to her universe and live in fairytale after fairytale while keeping her fate at bay does not ensure her own happily ever after.

I loved that Harrow is delving into what makes a fairytale and what defines that happy ending. It is about what you make of it. Even Zinnia, her happiness is what she can make of it.

Final Thoughts
A Mirror Mended is a superb novel and fabulous follow-up to A Spindle Splintered. If I have one complaint, it’s that I want more. But more would have ruined what is otherwise a short and sweet story about villains and making your happiness.

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I know I know - I wasn’t expecting it to be any better, and it really really wasn’t

“I spent the first twenty-one years of my life being Zinnia Gray the Dying Girl, killing time until my story ended…But I'm also Zinnia Gray the Dimension-Hopping, Damsel-Saving Badass, and I can't quit now. I may not have much of a happily ever after, but I'm going to give away as many as I can before I go…I know I'm not at my sharpest-having been zapped into a dozen different universes, lightly tortured, imprisoned, kissed, nearly executed, rescued, and chastised by pretty much everyone I've ever met.” "Moving between worlds…keeps me skipping from world to world like a stone across the cold surface of the universe…the universe is like a book…And each world is like a page. And if you tell the same story enough times, you can bleed through to another page…I must write down my own story.” “Branches and ballgowns, towers and thorns, dozens of dark tales told so many times they came true…The existence of any story implies the existence of a storyteller…the only thing stopping me from writing a new story is the fact that I'm bad at it…But maybe every story is a lie until it isn't…I set the quill to the page and write: Once upon a time…I don't know what happens next…It's your story. You tell me." “When you save someone, sometimes they save you right back…We don't all get to choose the parts we're given to play, but we all get to choose what we do next…This time, when I touch the mirror and fall into the space between worlds, I'm not running away or rushing to anyone's rescue. I'm not looking for a new once upon a time or hoping, secretly and shamefully, for my happily ever after. This time I'm just trying to live. Happily.” Alix E. Harrow’s fractured fairytale A Mirror Mended pairs well with Disney’s new Snow White, a 2025 American musical fantasy.

My review is similar to the first book in this series. It does have cheesy lines and references that I’m not sure will age well with the book. However, I liked this book! I was invested in the story and characters. I like that it subversives expectations of the genre. Overall, I enjoyed the journey. I look forward to reading the next book in the series!