Emily Woo Zeller (Narrator)
thoroughly enjoyed this retelling. very fun read ( )

What if the Evil Queen poisoned the prince?
Vernieuwd verhaal van het klassieke Sneeuwwitje sprookje dat iedereen kent. ( )

Mirror, Mirror is a retelling of the classic, Snow White. I have recently become obsessed with fairy-tale retellings and this was the first one I decided to really take a chance on. So the take on this story is what if the Evil Queen had poisoned the prince instead of Snow White?

I enjoyed the alternating perspectives of Snow and the Evil Queen, Ingrid. It gave a little history of Ingrid and how she got to this point in her life while also following the current story of Snow White. I just like it when we get to see the villain’s perspective as well, because we all know the saying that “a villain is not born, they are made.” So it was interesting to see how Ingrid made that change into the Evil Queen. I also liked the twist of Ingrid not only being Snow’s step-mother, but also her biological aunt. I felt that added a whole new twist to the classic tale we all know and love.

The only thing I would have liked is more drama after the Evil Queen poisons the prince. Going into the story it makes it seen as though we will get more of the story after that point – the poisoning. Other than that, this was a great story and it kept it close to the original, but just different enough to make you think, what if? ( )

Many thanks to NetGalley, Disney Book Group and Jen Calonita for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

If you know the story of Snow White, then you know what to expect in this retell of the fairy tale, There are a few tweaks to the original Disney tale that some are calling a modern twist, but it didn’t go far enough for me. I know I am in the minority as most people loved the book. I expected more. If you are calling this series “A Twisted Tale” then I want some real twists. If not twists, then explore the characters so that they have depth and range. There are so many ways this could have gone, but it really is almost exactly like the original.

I found the character of Snow White to be as bland as every other version where she is sunshine personified, never has a bad thought, birds flock to her and is so sickly sweet, I can’t stand it. Really!!! We are still dealing with this trope? You are left alone, not allowed to speak to anyone for years and nothing?? The Evil Queen is still evil, but why? This was a missed opportunity. There is some background that sort of explains her path to the castle but I felt it could have gone much further into the psyche of why she became The Evil Queen. Having the prince bite the apple wasn’t enough of a twist for because it came right at the end and it didn’t reshape the story in any way. The prince was still charming and rescued Snow and Snow was still Snow.

I did read that someone said this was for middle grade children. I went in thinking this was a YA novel. Maybe I expected too much. This is also a Disney novel and this story does mostly follow the movie version of the fairy tale. I’m not sure how much Disney is going to flip it on its head. Still, I had hoped for more. ( )