Review: The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines

At first blush, Jim C. Hines doesn't seem like the sort of guy who'd spend his time writing about princesses. After all, he's made his name writing about goblins. In particular, he's known for writing about a specific goblin, Jig Dragonslayer, who constantly finds himself pressed into service by circumstances beyond his control.

When I found out he was writing a book about princesses, I did a double take. Hines's goblin books are written with a degree of insight and humor that transcends genre, and I've recommended them to people I'd never recommend another science fiction or fantasy story, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what the goblin guy could possibly do with a bunch of princesses.

The answer, as it turns out, is that he has one heck of a party.

The Stepsister Scheme is all about what happens when 'happily ever after' isn't quite what it's cut out to be. Princess Danielle Whiteshore - that's Cinderella to the common folk - has her work cut out for her learning to be royalty. She's also got a couple of vengeful stepsisters bent on revenge, and when one of them comes calling, it's with murderous intent. Which is how Danielle stumbles upon the Queen's secret service, and how she discovers that Armand, her prince, has gone missing...

What follows is nothing short of a no-holds-barred romp through the sort of fairy tale landscape we've all grown up with and taken for granted. Danielle joins up with Snow (short for Snow White) and Talia (aka Sleeping Beauty), and the three find themselves in the midst of a web of intrigue that leads them deep into Fairy territory, where nothing is quite as it seems.

Hines answers questions most of us have never thought to ask about the mechanics of fantasy life (two words: pixie urine), tempers the romanticism of magical beasts with the practicalities of digestion, and takes time to confront some of the problems inherent in the princess trope with a degree of earnestness many writers would shy away from. Talia in particular has a painful story to tell about how being 'rescued' isn't always the best thing that can happen to a princess.

The Stepsister Scheme is a little more grown-up than Hines's goblin series, but it's no less enjoyable for that. Hines addresses with sensitivity some of the anxieties of being a woman in a world where womanhood isn't necessarily a position of strength. For all of the obvious girl power inherent in the premise, though, it doesn't quite pass the Bechdel/Wallace test, and it didn't leave me feeling comfortable for the protagonists. These are women who are extraordinary in a world that doesn't expect that of them, and for some readers that's going to hit awfully close to home.

While it may be a hard sell for some readers on account of the princesses, The Stepsister Scheme is well worth the time. If nothing else, this book should be read simply because it manages to be unlike any other treatment of the material I've ever seen. Hines has managed to write a book about three credible, heroic young women without resorting to a lot of the sorts of shortcuts and stereotypes prevalent in science fiction and fantasy. Yes, his princesses are pretty, but it's not quite the Disney sort, and happily ever after is never taken for granted.

Like he did with Goblin Quest, Hines has succeeded in creating characters whose actions I care about in a world I want to see more of. After all, no happy ending is untempered by sorrow, and 'the end' more often than not is only the beginning.