The Reflections of Queen Snow White

The Reflections of Queen Snow White
author: David Meredith
released: October 2nd 2013
pages: 155
my rating: 3 out of 5 stars














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.

This book was given to me for free in exchange for an honest review by the author (thanks again!).
I probably wouldn't have picked this up normally just because it's not what I usually read. Still I thought it was an interesting concept the moment I read the description and I did really enjoy reading this book.





Snow White can't find happiness anymore after her husband died. She is depressed and neglects everything even her own daughter. Then one day she stumbles upon the mirror her stepmother used. With this mirror she revisits parts of her life in hope to find happiness again.
I was a bit disappointed that the question if the mirror is evil or not wasn't discussed further but since the story's focus isn't really about that I think it's not really an issue.

The character of Snow White herself was really interesting. She is old now and even though she lived her perfect life she now thinks it's over.
Although the whole point of the book is that she tries to overcome her grief and her feeling that she is worthless without her husband it did irk me a bit that she had so incredibly little self-esteem and believed that she couldn't accomplish anything on her own. But again the book's main focus is her trying to overcome that so I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing.

The flashbacks she visits through the mirror were also very intriguing. There where some about her childhood that are also in the original fairytale but also some after it all. I liked finding out about the good and bad parts of her life and how Snow White perceives these moments looking back.
One thing that bothered me though was the age gap between Snow White and Charming, her husband. Although both are obviously happy there are some people who consider especially the wedding night scene as rape, since she is obviously not experienced and Charming is. Even though I wouldn't call it rape I did think it was a bit questionable.

Since most of the book consists of flashbacks and her time with the mirror there aren't that many scenes of her present life but the few that were there were great. I especially liked reading about her daughter who seemed like a great character even though she didn't really came up a lot.

The writing style was amazing. It was easy to read but also very descriptive and somehow very fitting for a fairytale.

I would highly recommend this book for everyone who likes fairytales and retellings. If you liked the description I think you'll probably really enjoy the book.