The Reflections of Queen Snow White Review
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The Reflections of Queen Snow White is written by David Meredith. The genre is fairy-tale/retellings and is a stand alone.
"What happens when "happily ever after" has come and gone?
On the eve of her only daughter, Princess Raven's wedding, an aging Snow White finds it impossible to share in the joyous spirit of the occasion. The ceremony itself promises to be the most glamorous social event of the decade. Snow White’s castle has been meticulously scrubbed, polished and opulently decorated for the celebration. It is already nearly bursting with jubilant guests and merry well-wishers. Prince Edel, Raven's fiancé, is a fine man from a neighboring kingdom and Snow White's own domain is prosperous and at peace. Things could not be better, in fact, except for one thing:
The king is dead.
The queen has been in a moribund state of hopeless depression for over a year with no end in sight. It is only when, in a fit of bitter despair, she seeks solitude in the vastness of her own sprawling castle and climbs a long disused and forgotten tower stair that she comes face to face with herself in the very same magic mirror used by her stepmother of old.
It promises her respite in its shimmering depths, but can Snow White trust a device that was so precious to a woman who sought to cause her such irreparable harm? Can she confront the demons of her own difficult past to discover a better future for herself and her family? And finally, can she release her soul-crushing grief and suffocating loneliness to once again discover what "happily ever after" really means? Only time will tell as she wrestles with her past and is forced to confront The Reflections of Queen Snow White."~Goodreads
Oh, phones. It took me a while to read it because of my tiny screen but I think otherwise the process would have gone much quicker.
There's the retellings where they take elements and characters and stick them in a whole new story. Then there's this. Snow White is older when the book first starts and throughout we see into her past. I really liked that part because we typically know of the horrible life she endured before running away and then the prince saves her. Here you get to read about some of the events in between.
Meredith does a great job of getting into Snow's feelings, her past, and just depicting her overall. The book is beautifully written. There are some great lessons to be learned.
Snow White is drowning in mourning, which may put some people off, but I felt like it added to the story. She honestly doesn't remember happy times. The magic mirror got on my nerves a bit, but it was being honest. This was my overall thought on it: Just because a woman used it for evil doesn't mean it's bad itself. I was reminded of one of the episodes of Once Upon A Time, which added to the story for me. The ending was literally perfect; there's nothing I would change.
The Evil Queen is obviously very cruel, and while she is a factor in the stories she was more of a background character, which leads me unto my next thought. If Snow White is the fairest then Adalicia is the cruelest because the noblewoman was terrible! Yep, fighting noblemen are also pretty funny. There was some sexual content in the book (such as the wedding night). I lightly skimmed it because I didn't want to miss the important stuff in between.
"If you would have joy again,you must recall how you first found it and that answer lies within you. If you would find strength again you must likewise recall how you discovered it before. It lies beyond the pain."
"The past is the past and your past is ever a part of you! Only by facing it can you truly leave it behind."
"'That it is foolish to despair,' she whispered, 'that there is always hope.'"
Rating:
"What happens when "happily ever after" has come and gone?
On the eve of her only daughter, Princess Raven's wedding, an aging Snow White finds it impossible to share in the joyous spirit of the occasion. The ceremony itself promises to be the most glamorous social event of the decade. Snow White’s castle has been meticulously scrubbed, polished and opulently decorated for the celebration. It is already nearly bursting with jubilant guests and merry well-wishers. Prince Edel, Raven's fiancé, is a fine man from a neighboring kingdom and Snow White's own domain is prosperous and at peace. Things could not be better, in fact, except for one thing:
The king is dead.
The queen has been in a moribund state of hopeless depression for over a year with no end in sight. It is only when, in a fit of bitter despair, she seeks solitude in the vastness of her own sprawling castle and climbs a long disused and forgotten tower stair that she comes face to face with herself in the very same magic mirror used by her stepmother of old.
It promises her respite in its shimmering depths, but can Snow White trust a device that was so precious to a woman who sought to cause her such irreparable harm? Can she confront the demons of her own difficult past to discover a better future for herself and her family? And finally, can she release her soul-crushing grief and suffocating loneliness to once again discover what "happily ever after" really means? Only time will tell as she wrestles with her past and is forced to confront The Reflections of Queen Snow White."~Goodreads
Oh, phones. It took me a while to read it because of my tiny screen but I think otherwise the process would have gone much quicker.
There's the retellings where they take elements and characters and stick them in a whole new story. Then there's this. Snow White is older when the book first starts and throughout we see into her past. I really liked that part because we typically know of the horrible life she endured before running away and then the prince saves her. Here you get to read about some of the events in between.
Meredith does a great job of getting into Snow's feelings, her past, and just depicting her overall. The book is beautifully written. There are some great lessons to be learned.
Snow White is drowning in mourning, which may put some people off, but I felt like it added to the story. She honestly doesn't remember happy times. The magic mirror got on my nerves a bit, but it was being honest. This was my overall thought on it: Just because a woman used it for evil doesn't mean it's bad itself. I was reminded of one of the episodes of Once Upon A Time, which added to the story for me. The ending was literally perfect; there's nothing I would change.
The Evil Queen is obviously very cruel, and while she is a factor in the stories she was more of a background character, which leads me unto my next thought. If Snow White is the fairest then Adalicia is the cruelest because the noblewoman was terrible! Yep, fighting noblemen are also pretty funny. There was some sexual content in the book (such as the wedding night). I lightly skimmed it because I didn't want to miss the important stuff in between.
"If you would have joy again,you must recall how you first found it and that answer lies within you. If you would find strength again you must likewise recall how you discovered it before. It lies beyond the pain."
"The past is the past and your past is ever a part of you! Only by facing it can you truly leave it behind."
"'That it is foolish to despair,' she whispered, 'that there is always hope.'"
Rating:
Comments
Post a Comment