Brandon J. (bran-flakes14) reviewed on 6/7/2010 + 72 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

This is the least of Gregory Maguire's compelling retellings and refashionings of classic fairy tales, but it is nevertheless intriguing and actually original. Set in 1500s Italy, the story tells the familiar tale of Snow White, but with so many historical and fantasy elements as to make it a near-new tale. Bianca de Nevada is our Snow White in this story, and the wicked stepmother is none other than the infamous Lucrezia Borgia of the equally infamous Borgia family. It is clever the way Maguire, a fantastic writer, weaves the familiar elements of the tale into his own weird historical/fantasy hybrid creation, but too often the narrative feels too loose and too little. I never fully understood the characters, and the plot feels a little thin, but it's still worth reading if only for the most unique representation of the seven - or is it eight? - dwarves I have ever encountered in my entire life. I won't spoil anything here, but suffice it to say it's bracingly and wonderfully inventive.

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