God, this book was a disappointment. Not just because of the more or less lukewarm ending, or the fact that half the adventure is just not in the book, but mainly because, holy shit, this thing was so fucking racist.

Let’s talk about the good things here first. I still really like the characters. Snow is now basically a superpowered magic weapon, and it’s a look that fits her. Gabe is the leader of an ornery band of angels, and even though he has developed into kind of an ass, he is a really interesting character. I loved Dorian in this, especially because his character just really seemed to come together. Cindy is now a powerful witch, and there is a lot of focus on her and Snow’s friendship – hallelujah!

I loved Abernathy, even though that is just seriously not a name for a dragon; I even thought it was cool when we found out what’s actually up with him. I also liked the whole ‘Let’s rescue mom’ thing, even though the new Big Bad was behaving super strange. I did, however, really like the twist in the whole love-triangle paradigm – this book shows that love evolves and changes, and that that is not necessarily a bad thing.

But the racism. Oh my lord, the racism.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not believe that the author deliberately treated her only non-white female characters like shit. We all have a lot of internalized prejudices, and most of us will at some point realize that the way we think is not as innocent as we believe, and then at least the majority will try and change the way they perceive the world. At least I hope so. I tend to be an eternal optimist about human nature.

However, that doesn’t mean I have to like a book that literally treats their only non-white characters the way Blood and Snow does.

We already talked about Kenmei. He is still a huge cliché, even though he did get some extra layers in the last book. But now I want to talk about the other two characters, the only two girls in the whole book who aren’t literally lily-white.

Mulan and Pocahontas.

First of all, I already said in my first review that Miss Workman does not seem to know the difference between a fairy tale and a Disney movie. Neither Mulan nor Pocahontas are fairy tale characters. Their inclusion in this story was unnecessary from the beginning, and seeing how they were treated, it is just plain insulting to everybody who loved these characters growing up.

Let’s start with Pocahontas, because her plight in this book was a little less horrible than Mulan’s. We are introduced to her as one of the ‘marked’ girls who the Vampire Queen rounded up to lure Snow. She is behaving extremely hostile towards Snow and extremely toady towards the Vampire Queen – she actually begs the Queen to ‘take her body’ as her next vessel.

Can we just sit for a moment and consider how wrong that is in the light of everything white people did to Native Americans, and Native American women in particular? A Native American woman – the only Native American woman most white people are familiar with, mind you – BEGS a white woman in power to TAKE HER BODY. Fuck, it doesn’t even matter that she apparently got tricked by her Hunter into believing she would be the next Vampire Queen once that happened. That actually makes it even more awful. You know, ALL the other Disney Princesses in this book are depicted as sweet and good and all that other sugary bullshit, but Pocahontas is a power-hungry bitch? This is just so disgusting.

But believe you me, it wasn’t the worst instance of this book treating characters of color like something your dog puked out.

So let’s talk about Mulan. My heart bleeds for the Mulan in this book. It’s just so incredibly unfair…
Now get this. We all know who Mulan is, right? A brave, strong warrior woman who went out dressed as a man and SAVED ALL OF CHINA and brought honor to her family. She is amazing, brave, and one of the most relatable Disney characters for girls our age.

And you know what the only thing she gets to do in this book is?

She gets to serve tea to her husband Kenmei and a bunch of white kids.

I don’t even know where to start with that. First of all, of course there can’t be two Asian characters who aren’t connected, also let’s just make them marry each other, right? Then, SERVING TEA??? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??? Serving tea and politely bowing to some white kids who are supposed to save the world. Shit.

And to add insult to injury, this wasn’t the worst part. You don’t believe me? Well, the author managed to disrespect her even further. Not just is she relegated to little more than half a sentence in a serving position within the book, but her own husband – the Japanese stereotype guy – does not consider her to be his one true love. You heard that right. He takes Snow back into his memories to show her his true one true love – Au-fucking-rora. Sleeping Beauty. ANOTHER beautiful innocent white girl.

Seriously, you need to read the part to get the idea of just how horrible this is:

“That’s right,” he nodded, and a whimsical smile smoked across his lips. “She loved me, but it wasn’t the kind one feels for their eternal mate. Still, I wouldn’t trade a second of the time I spent with her.”

I nodded, but felt bad. “Mulan loves you, though.

“Oh, yes. And I love her.” He sighed. “Perhaps it’s the heartbreak of a first love, or maybe [spoiler] love different than humans.” He chuckled. “Either way, my heart has always and will always belong to Aurora.” He paused and wiped at his eyes. Was he crying? “It was the love I felt for Aurora that allowed me to break free of the Vampire Queen’s grasp.”

At least Snow has the decency to ‘feel bad’ about this situation. I don’t know if the author does. It sure as hell doesn’t feel like it.

If you can’t treat beloved non-white characters with respect in your ‘fairy tale’ fusion book, please just do everybody a favor. Do not write about them.

1 Star for the disappointing and insulting end of a promising series.
( )

I really enjoyed this whole series. It's a very entertaining version of Snow White. I like how other familiar characters are also included. There was a lot of action and everything was addressed nicely at the end. The author does have a series for Cinderella but I don't think I will be reading them anytime soon just because I have a huge to read list as it is! ( )