The Snow Queen's Shadow

Hines brings his skillfully crafted Princess Series to a close with his fourth tale (after 2010's Red Hood's Revenge) of tough princesses, deceitful fairies, and dark magic. Snow White's story merges with the tale of the Snow Queen when her mother's magic mirror shatters, leaving demon-tainted Snow able to control people with slivers of worldview-twisting glass. She abandons her companions, Danielle (Cinderella) and Talia (Sleeping Beauty) and kidnaps Danielle's son after realizing his fairy blood protects him from her magic. Talia, Danielle, and Gerta, Snow's little sister, must stop Snow before she destroys the kingdom from which she was banished. Hines fills this volume with heart-wrenching emotional scenes as well as exciting fight sequences, and brings each heroine's story arc to a reasonable conclusion. There's plenty of room for readers to imagine further adventures, but the series feels satisfyingly complete. (July)