Not-Sew-Wicked Stepmom Volumes 2 and 3 Review
After waking up in the body of Queen Abigail in a retelling of the story of Snow White, Baekhap is on a mission to make Princess Blanche like her. She doesn’t want to be the evil stepmother—she’s a fan of the little princess and nothing will stop her from making amends for the times the original Queen Abigail mistreated her, before Baekhap possessed the queen’s body. After all, her ultimate goal is to achieve a closer relationship with Blanche and have the little princess wear the clothes Baekhap made!
It’s not an easy feat: Queen Abigail’s personality has changed, and people start to notice it, but they don’t believe the queen has really changed… she must be scheming something! Thankfully, Abigail’s efforts are not in vain as Blanche starts to get close to her stepmother. It’s a dream come true for Abigail. It’s an on-going mission to make sure the princess is happy, and when she finds out that Blanche would like to spend more time with her father, King Sabrian, Abigail comes up with a new scheme.
The king himself doesn’t know what to do with his daughter nor his wife, but Abigail’s new behaviour is intriguing him, and he can’t stop thinking about her. When even Blanche starts changing—for the better, just to be clear—he knows something is going on, and that Abigail must not be so terrible as he originally thought.
It’s going to be tough for Queen Abigail to find friends among the nobles, but her passion to see Blanche smile, also starts to warm the hearts of those around her.
In Volume 1, Abigail was a complete fangirl. She even turned into a stalker to check on Blanche. But the more time she spends with the little girl, the more she starts to consider her as family. She’s now her mother in all ways that count but blood, and if it means that to make her daughter happy she needs to spend more time with the king, she’ll do it. Even if he despises her. Or does he? Could love bloom between Abigail and the king after she learns the truth about Blanche’s birth and what happened to the king?
Not-Sew-Wicked Stepmom is overall a light and fun read, but it touches on a few heavy topics that might be triggering for some of its readers. These topics include bullying, fat-shaming and in these new volumes even sexual assault. Albeit the situations are not blatantly illustrated, they are mentioned multiple times due to the way society is constructed in the series. Being thin and not overeating is the norm, even for a 10-year-old girl. It’s Abigail’s views from her original world, which seems to be a representation of our world, that start to change the opinions as to what a little girl should or shouldn’t eat and wear. If the changes that Queen Abigail are bringing will affect the whole of society is still a mystery, but from how the story is developing, it wouldn’t be too much of a realistic guess.
In these volumes, a few characters become more prominent as well. First of all is the king, who seems to be intrigued by the new Abigail and by his daughter. Due to his strict upbringing, Sabrian kept away from Blanche as he thought that this way, his daughter would toughen up and not be so timid. He’s imitating the parental style of the previous queen and king. However, Abigail doesn’t agree with him and forces him to spend more time with his daughter. Hopefully, the cold-hearted king will finally realise what family love means. Lady Karen, a noble, also makes a few appearances. She seems to have conflicted feelings toward Abigail—she knows the queen is vicious and doesn’t believe she has changed. Her goal is to make the king fall for her and discard Abigail. However, she doesn’t know the new Abigail. Every time Lady Karen tries to upstage the queen, her plans backfire, as they end up highlighting more of the queen’s newfound virtues. But Lady Karen, might not be as mean as she appears, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she falls for Queen Abigail’s charm as well.
The only person we don’t know anything new about yet is the magic mirror. After Abigail found the magic mirror, she befriended the man inside it, and now she uses it as her personal security camera. As he can observe what’s going on from any mirror in the palace (and maybe outside as well? Not sure yet) and record all that’s happening, under Abigail’s order he keeps a record of anything related to Blanche. Nobody can harm the little princess under Abigail’s watchful mirrors. It’s not clear what role, good or evil, he will play in the story, but so far it seems to be an ally for Abigail.
Not-Sew-Wicked Stepmom is written by Iru and illustrated by Mo9Rang. It started as a digital comic on Tapas, and it’s being released as volumes in both print and digital editions by Ize Press in the English language. Volume 4 is slated for release in June 2024.
Our review copy from Ize Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.
