The Seven Drawers - Kendra E. Ardnek (Review)

Stuck in a dead-end job. Trapped in a mirror. Fleeing the huntsman. Confronting a dragon far underground. Infiltrating a tower in the shape of a cyborg. When Gwen receives a cabinet full of mysterious objects shortly after her father’s death, she finds herself travelling to seven alternate worlds and facing a dangerous challenge in each one. With the help of seven versions of her boyfriend, can she foil her evil stepmother, save her heart, and reclaim her kingdoms?

This retelling really is Snow White as you’ve never read it before—like the Chronicles of Narnia crossed with Inception. Every realm has a different twist on the Snow White tale, often catching hold of a specific detail from the original story and turning it into its own conflict. It’s a quest story. It’s a romance. And it does very well at being both those things.

High Points

In all this madness, Gwen manages to seem like a real person. I like her a lot—she’s determined and self-sacrificing, and her relationships with Jeremy, Rosa, and Williams ring true. Kendra takes the time to establish her before she starts hopping realms, which really helps to ground the story.

I really enjoyed the realms, especially the seventh through fourth. The unique riffs on Snow White were a lot of fun—you sort of knew what was coming and sort of didn’t.

Caveats

There are spoilers in here, so skip this section if you want to be surprised!

Gwen’s POV is strong and fun to read… but working only with what she knows did leave me with some unanswered questions. Where did Editha get her power and how was she able to do what she did? How did she know that the tree in the second realm could fix Gwen in all the realms? (Or did I not understand that correctly?) Was Rosa a covert agent in all of the realms, or was she really a traitor in some of them? I mostly want to know about the Rosa in the eighth realm—what was really going on with her? We never find out.

Technically, the real heroine of this story is Eirwen, the first realm Gwen, but we spend almost no time with her in the first realm. Unlike all the other Gwen-alternates, we don’t get a sense of her as a separate person.

Bottom Line

I’ve had a rough week, but Seven Drawers really cheered me up. 33,000 words of fun! I will definitely be re-reading this in the future.

Links

Buy it on Amazon here.

Add it on Goodreads here.

First chapter free here!

Kendra’s Bio

Kendra E. Ardnek loves fairytales and twisting them in new and exciting ways. She's been or acting them on her dozen plus cousins and siblings for years. "Finish your story, Kendra," is frequently heard at family gatherings. Her sole life goal has always been to grow up and be an author of fantasy and children's tales that glorify God and His Word. Find her online at: Website || Blog || Goodreads || Facebook || Twitter || YouTube || Newsletter || Instagram || Amazon

Magic Mirrors

Kendra’s story is part of the Magic Mirrors co-release—a group of seven Snow White stories by six different authors, all becoming available the last week of October. Go here to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.