Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Review: Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem

Info:

Title: Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem
Author: Melissa Lemon
Publisher: Cedar Fort Inc.
Publication Date: December 11, 2012

Blurb:

Stuck in her family's apple orchards, Kat's got plenty of work to do and only pesky Jeremy to help. But when Jeremy convinces her to run away, Kat will discover that nothing---and no one---in her life is quite what it seems. Wonderfully reimagined, this is the magical tale of Snow White as you've never read it before!

My Thoughts:

I thoroughly enjoyed this Snow White retelling. Melissa Lemon did an excellent job re-crafting a classic tale in a way that is both familiar and unique. Some of the elements of the original tale were present, such as an evil queen, a magic mirror and the seven dwarfs, while others, such as the poison apple, were absent. A few things were also tweaked, such as the nature of the magic mirror.

I enjoyed the characters immensely. Kat Whyte is extremely naive throughout the book, but she such a kind and good person. I really feel like she embodied the spirit of Snow White, while still being an interesting character. I also really liked the character of Jeremy Simkins. The dwarfs were also great. I loved how they were all a bit different than one another and I enjoyed their banter. My favourite of the dwarfs was poor, breakable Pokole. He was so sweet and I loved how much all the other dwarfs cared for him. The one character that gave me some trouble was Kat's uncle Barney. I had a lot a trouble reconciling the man he was with the man he became later in the book.

I really enjoyed the idea of using the magic mirror as the narrator. It's interesting to have a story told from the perspective of an all-seeing secondary character. And I loved that the magic mirror (or rather, the man inside it) was a character, which emotions, thoughts and opinions!

Overall, I found Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem to be a very enjoyable retelling. I'm a big fan of fairy tales and I would recommend this retelling to any Snow White fan!

On the Cover:

I'm not crazy about the cover. It looks kind of 'old' somehow. I like the font though!

Rating: 4 Hearts


Source: Copy received in exchange for an honest review - via Netgalley

Find the Book: Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

Find the Author: Goodreads | Website | Facebook

Don't Just Take My Word For It: Ren's Rambles | Nose in a Book | Magic of Reading

2 comments:

  1. I wasn't a big fan of the cover when I first saw it, but after reading your review and seeing that the story is told from the magic mirror's perspective I like it a lot more! So great that you liked the characters so much. Awesome review, Mega!

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  2. Oh good, glad this was a good retelling! I often get bored with retellings because they can be so predictable, so it's good to hear that this one was unique, at least!

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