Sculpting Fables

An Ancient Cinderella Retelling (The Mirror Chronicles, Book 3)

De: Rachel Huffmire

Narrado por: Rachel V White

Rhodopis is a kitchen slave who dreams of a life of freedom. Persecuted by her Greek master's conceited and beautiful daughters, Rho vows to ease other's burdens, never add to them. But when the gods hear her prayer and offer Rho everything she ever wanted, she'll have to fight to keep fate from slipping through her fingers.

Sculpting Fables is book 3 in the Award Winning Mirror Chronicles series.

©2021 Rachel Huffmire (P)2025 Rachel Huffmire

Reseñas de la Crítica

"For anyone who loves a good Cinderella story, this is a fascinating read, a classic fairy tale in its own right." -Readers' Favorite 5-star recommended read.

As clever as the other books in the series!

A YA SFF novella in the Mirror Chronicles series, narrating the story of Rhodopis with a time-travel twist.
The story of Rhodopis is most known for being the original Cinderella tale. In that sense, this book also works as a Cinderella retelling. And an unusual one at that! I loved how this not just incorporated the Cinderella story but also dealt with its logical flaws. The twisty take on the glass slipper was my favourite.
Rhodopis is, as expected, the star of this show. I love how well her true personality shines through even under the façade of submissiveness she has to maintain as a slave. She wasn’t portrayed as too weak or too strong, but with just enough gumption to be convincing. Her thinking and her behaviour feels appropriate to her age.
At just about 150 pages long, this book isn't as overloaded with characters as its companion novels. Other than Keltson, no main character from the earlier books makes an appearance in this work. The focus of the plot is mainly on Rhodopis, though we have three more interesting characters other than Keltson, each from a different timepoint and each sketched well despite the limited page space. Oh, and there is a very special guest appearance from a person I absolutely didn’t expect to see in this plot. I loved the way his life story and his work was threaded into this narrative.

The audiobook, clocking at 2 hrs 44 min, is narrated by the same talented narrator who read the earlier books of this series. Rachel White is one of the most talented narrators I have had the pleasure of listening to, and her performance enhances this already-great novella.

All in all, this was a clever little novella with a unique take on the Cinderella story. While I was a little disappointed to see that the book doesn’t *continue* the series and hence I still need to wait to discover what’s next after the cliffhanger of the second book, it was fun to read this sweet little retelling full of sci-fi magic and mayhem.

Much recommended to retelling fans. The book is written for the YA age group, but this story works well enough for older readers as well. As I said earlier, try to read the first book of the series before giving this novella a try.

4.25 stars.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book at my request. The above feedback is honest and voluntary.

My Favorite So Far!!

Ahh Rachel this was the best! Cinderella is my all time favorite story so I was looking forward to getting to this one and it did not disappoint. This was a joy to read! Stayed true to Cinderella and melded so well with the time travel stories already happening. Once again Rachel did amazing research and based this on historical figures who are believed to be the inspiration behind the Cinderella story (Rhodopis, the slave girl that married the prince of Egypt). Then she mixed it with the Greek inspiration involving Aesop! Beautiful and fun blending. I love a good fairytale :)

As usual, this audiobook was so good and her accents added to my enjoyment!

Unique, fresh take on Aesop’s Fables and Cinderella! Appropriate for teens!

"If you wanted freedom too, I would gladly choose a destiny with you."

Sculpting Fables

I think this one might be my new favorite in the series! I loved the unique twist on Cinderella set in Ancient Egypt.
There is Rhodopis who is a kitchen sl*ve, Aesop who is another sl*ve, and a prince who wants to break free from his destiny. Blue (not sure on the spelling since I listened to it) wants to save Rhodopis from a lifetime of sl@very and @buse at the hands of her masters.

I loved how everything ended up. The author kept me guessing at how everything would resolve. Such clever plot twists and I loved how she weaved in Aesop and his fables into the story.

This one, along with the whole series is perfect and appropriate for teens and adults, especially those who are fans of the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer.

I love Rachel White's narration for this series. She does a perfect job!

Content Guide:
Brief kissing, feelings of attraction,
references to mythology, Sl@very, emotional @buse

Book Info:
Series: Mirror Chronicles bk 3
Genre: YA/Teen Sci-fi Historical Fairy-tale retelling
Romance Level: Kissing only
Release Date: Available now
Publisher: Inscription Publishing
POV: Multiple
Narrator: Rachel V. White

Thank you to the Author for the audio review copy. All thoughts are my own.