The Reflections of Queen Snow White Review

The Reflections of Queen Snow White by David Meredith
Published: October 2, 2013

Synopsis from Goodreads: 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.

My rating: 3.8 of 5 stars

First off, I'd like to say thank you author David Meredith for sending me a review copy of his book. I received an e-book gifted to me through my Kindle app. I'd also like to apologize to Mr. Meredith for taking so long to write my review as requested. Personal stuff and work got in the way.

This was my first venture into reading an e-book in a long time and it took me much longer to read than it should have considering The Reflections to Queen Snow White was only about 150ish physical pages long. However, in those few short pages, Meredith managed to create a beautifully written short story about what happens once "happily ever after" ends.

 

The Reflections of Queen Snow White picks up long after the fairy tale ends, after Snow White and Prince Charming have had a daughter and they've lived a long happy life together. However, a year after Charming has passed away, Snow White believes all of her happiness has come to an end. Meredith could not have picked a more perfect title as the story is comprised of a conversation between Snow and her stepmother's infamous magic mirror. In a series of flashbacks, the mirror takes Snow What back to different points in her life in order to help her remember her strength and bravery and to help her find her happiness again.

"I am a mirror," it replied flatly. "I do not offer advice. I simply show that which is right in front of me. You must decide how to act on what you see. You can run from it or you can embrace it. I think you can guess what your stepmother decided..."

 

The best part of this book is by far the writing. Meredith's writing style is poetic and beautiful. He uses his language and writing to create an in depth look at grief and the pain of losing someone you love dearly. At the same time, his way of describing scenes - both familiar from the original story and entirely new - wraps you up and tucks you in tightly until the storytelling is over. This short book is filled with wonderful descriptions and elaborate scenes that further develop the Snow White story and characters and fill in the little gaps and what ifs that the original story overlooks. If I could rate solely on writing, I would have given this book a five of five stars.

 

As wonderful as the writing is, I would have liked to have seen more development of the characters and more details about Snow White's past. There were several relationships that there just wasn't enough page space to flesh out fully. I was left wanting to know more about Snow's father and how his marriage to Arglist came to be, more about Snow's childhood with Arglist, more about Snow's relationship with Charming, and more about Princess Raven. Snow White came off to me as a very passive character even before Charming died. Although it was said that she was considerably younger than her husband, even as she moves into adulthood, it seems she doesn't leave her childlike naivety behind. She often relies on others to get her out of situations even as the mirror tries to remind her of her own strength. As a lover of strong female characters, Snow White herself just didn't sit well with me - especially after her suicide attempt because she couldn't produce an heir.

 

The Reflections of Queen Snow White is an enjoyable read from a talented author. I'd recommend it to fans of the original story and lovers of fairytale retellings/re-imaginings. I do have to mention that this is not the Disney version and it certainly isn't for kids as there are scenes of abuse, suicide, sex, grief, and depression. All in all, this was a good imaginative read.