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Snow: A Retelling of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (Once Upon a Time) Review
IS TIMELESS The Duchess Jessica's childhood began with a tragedy: her mother's death. Her father, heartbroken at the loss of his beloved wife, could not bear to raise the child. Largely ignored, Jessica spent the first eleven years of her life running free on the family estate, cared for only by the servants. Then her father decides to remarry, bringing an end to Jessica's independence. At first her new stepmother just seems overly strict. But as Jessica grows into a beautiful young woman, it becomes clear that her stepmother is also wildly -- and murderously -- jealous of her. Jessica escapes to London. Going by the name Snow to hide from her family, she falls in love with an odd band of outcasts who accept her into their makeshift family. But when her stepmother appears in the city, repentant and seeking her forgiveness, Jessica will have to decide whom to trust...with her life. User Submitted Snow: A Retelling of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (Once Upon a Time) ReviewsNovember 4, 2008 Strong writing and plot--enjoyed it! An very intriguing retelling of the Snow White tale. I enjoyed seeing the parallels between the original tale and this retelling unfold and many of them took me by surprise. The author didn't try to stick too closely to the original tale at the expense of her own story, but rather took the bare bones and wove her own tightly-packed narrative around them. I agree with another reviewer that the beginning was a bit slow, but once I'd read about ten pages, I was hooked and didn't want to stop reading. I'm an adult and this was aimed at teens, but I wish it had included a well-defined romance, and I have a feeling some teens might have enjoyed that also. Other than that I think this book was wonderful and I recommend it! May 15, 2008 Good Writing, Weak Romance in Victorian Snow White Jessica, the daughter of a Welsh duke, grows up with a distant father and a beautiful but shallow stepmother. Jessica's stepmother is obsessed with two things: giving her husband a male heir and staying young and attractive. In vain, she uses pseudo-science to try and fulfil her goals, including when she makes a young fiddler named Alan wear a necklace that binds him to her and forces him to always tell her the truth, including when he holds the mirror she uses to admire herself. One day, when Jessica has become a young woman, her stepmother becomes even more obsessed with her goals and decides that she needs a human heart in order to create her long-wished for heir. Alan warns Jessica of her impending death before the hired murderer can come and steal her heart. Jessica runs away to London, where she changes her identity to "Snow" and encounters the Lonely Ones--humans with animal features who are forced to live in the shadows because of their appearances. Jessica/Snow is happy living with the Lonely Ones until one day her stepmother comes to London looking for her, swearing that she has reformed and deeply regrets her past actions. Jessica/Snow reluctantly trusts her, a decision which could prove to be deadly. A retelling of Snow White set in Victorian Britain, SNOW is an interesting spin on an old fairy tale. The magic mirror is really just Alan trapped with a truth spell, the seven dwarfs are the five Lonely Ones (who "mine" for treasure by pickpocketing the rich of London), the poisoned apple is a pseudo-science created golden ball which somehow triggers a coma, etc. I enjoyed the first half of the book and was glad that the Lonely Ones weren't as weird as I pictured from reading the other reviews. I thought they would be very mangled half-beast half-man, maybe not very intelligent. Luckily, the Lonely Ones are all pretty much human with only a few animal traits. They also have pretty distinct personalities, from dapper Mouser to wary Cat (although I did usually forget Sparrow's existence). My biggest problem with this book was the love story. I seriously did not figure out who Jessica's "prince" was until the last 50 or so pages, despite the fact he had been in the story for longer than that. I had thought it would be someone else completely and was kind of shocked when I discovered the "true" romantic interest because I had felt absolutely nothing romantic between the two characters up until that point. It's not a good sign in a love story when the reader feels stunned upon discovering who the main character is in love with. The lack of proper romantic development really took away from the second half of the book for me. This was one of the better Once Upon a Time books in terms of writing, but certainly not a good one in terms of romance. I'd give it 3 ½ stars overall and recommend it for fans of the series. It was a pretty good read, but I wouldn't feel like it was necessary to go out of my way to get my hands on a copy. October 1, 2007 Plot was jumpy and strange, writing okay, wasn't impressed Overall I disliked this book quite a lot. It is a retelling of Snow White set in the 19th century, with admittedly many interesting twists and plot points not found in the traditional fairy tale, with no silly dwarves to speak of. It kept me entertained enough to keep reading, but barely, and mostly because I am not a person who will put down a book before finishing it. For the record - I'm the 14-year-old daughter of this account holder, and have been an avid reader for a long time. But back to the book. The author is clearly skilled in language, but her writing still needs a lot of refining. I didn't think it was much better than a talented teenager could do. The sentences didn't flow very well, there was a lot of rather confusing transition from narration to characters' thoughts, and oftentimes, in the middle of narration appropriate to what it would be like in the 1800s, I would come upon a modern phrase that definitely didn't belong. Several times the phrase "hang out" would appear joltingly, and I'm certain no one used that phrase back then! This affected the realism of the setting, and made the time period less believable when I'd catch snippets of modern language all over. The story was lacking in good description of its characters and left me wanting more effective description everywhere. The storyline would sometimes start quickly and go very fast, but then stop and be slow, and then start again suddenly. I felt like I was being pulled along in a car that kept hitting its brakes and then accelerating at odd intervals. The main character of Jessica/Snow really had no personality, which is the key to getting readers to like a character. I found that I didn't really like her or care about her that much, cruel as it seems. Creating likeable characters is essential for an author to accomplish to keep a reader hooked. When Jessica was young she just seemed silly, and when she was old, she was boring and, in some instances, still silly. The love story that unravelled leads me back to the car analogy, with the stopping and going suddenly and erratically. The author would lead me to believe that certain characters would be love interests for Snow, but then suddenly those ideas would be dashed and I'd be left saying, "Wha-??". The love story started out slow so you'd hardly know it was there, then all of a sudden it accelerated quickly and I was thinking, "When did that happen?". Characters were introduced suddenly when the book was almost over, and I thought they would be significant, but they really were annoyingly pointless. The author tried to have a modern take on the story, with the Duchess being a scientist instead of a witch, but the story seemed out of place and all wrong like this, and the "scientific" elements of the story just seemed dumb and far-fetched. But enough of that. The book isn't all bad. The story was interesting enough, with the neglected Jessica being mostly raised in the kitchens of her estate, hardly knowing or caring that she is the heir to it all. She frolics with the boys and lives a carefree life, until the Duchess arrives. The Duchess seems nice enough at first, but turns out to be cruel and scheming. As she tries harder to give the duke an heir, using her own scientific methods, she becomes more desperate, and more cruel towards Jessica. Eventually she imprisons Jessica (for reasons that seemed dumb and made no sense to me) and forces her to do servant work. Jessica finally flees, taking refuge with The Lonely Ones, a group of thieves in London who have their own secrets. There she lives until she hears of the Duchess again, and realizes her own longing for the mother she never had. As I was reading the book I figured it deserved 3 stars in a review. That is, until I got close to the end. All - and I mean ALL! - problems in the story seemed to be resolved with an infuriatingly low amount of conflict. Suddenly all seemed to be well, and I felt like throwing the book accross the room! The ending itself was completely lame, and left me wondering why on earth I didn't stop reading the book after the first few chapters. Perhaps I am hard to please, but I definitely do not recommend this book. July 20, 2007 "These Two Came with a Riddle, and Have Already Paid the Price for their Answer Already..." The "Once Upon a Time" series is concerned with taking the traditional plot-points of traditional fairytales, updating them to a contemporary setting (or rather, a more contemporary setting than the typical medieval time-period; this one for example is set in the Victorian Era) and replacing the fantasy elements with more rational explanations for the weird-and-wonderful events that take place. "Snow" is obviously inspired by the tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Tracy Lynn does an above-average job of updating the story, whilst still maintaining a fairytale atmosphere to the proceedings. Jessica is born to a Duke and Duchess in the Wales countryside, though with her birth comes her mother's death. Shunned by her father, Jessica is raised by the servants of Kenigh Hall until the arrival of Lady Anne Mandagor, her new stepmother. Though they tentatively get along at first, Anne's obsession with youth and beauty - as well as begetting a male heir - eventually puts Jessica in danger. Disregarded by her father, and forced to grow into womanhood on her own, Jessica is eventually forced to flee to England under the alias of "Snow." Also in the mix is Alan McDonald, a musician given to Anne on her wedding day, who becomes both friend to Jessica and confidant to Anne, his silence assured by a necklace that his mistress secures around his neck. As Snow, Jessica falls into the company of five odd beings who calls themselves "the Lonely Ones," creatures who seem to be half-human, half-animal. Agreeing to look after their underground home whilst they go about their dodgy business in the streets above, Snow finds a home for herself in their strange company. But when her stepmother reappears in the city, apparently seeking repentance, Snow remembers what it was like to be Jessica, and finds herself longing for the life she lost. But is Anne really to be trusted? "Snow" is quite a choppy book, flitting from one scene to another, and introducing characters quite late in the story, but on the whole I quite enjoyed it (and the random nature of the story helped keep it independent from the predicable source material). Lynn is especially creative in updating the magical components of the story, with Anne's pseudo-scientific material, and new ideas for the magic mirror, seven dwarfs, Snow's death-like slumber and the awakening kiss. There's even a character called the Clockwork Man who is a strange amalgamation of human and machine. It's all a little far-fetched - (although it's not "fantasy", the components that Lynn uses could easily be called "fantasy-science"), but it works reasonably well within the context and mood of the story. Lynn also does some interesting things with the pacing of her story: some chapters are placed out of sequence, others are devoted entirely to a letter or a ballad, others are called "interludes" - placed between chapters and usually containing the points-of-view of other characters. Another chapter is divided into times, chronicling the events of the day, and yet another is a poetic description of the dreams that Snow experiencing whilst in her slumber. Although nothing groundbreaking or unforgettable, this is a pleasant and well-written version of the Snow White fairytale, and kept me entertained throughout. One last thing: the covers of these series are designed by the truly gifted K. Y. Craft (check out her talents in such picture books as Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella) who makes the unusual, but innovative decision to illustrate these covers with images of the heroine's bodices. It makes for a mysterious, sexy and evocative set of cover art. July 15, 2007 "Snow White" Revisited When I first opened "Snow", I didn't expect to like it much. The plot in the first couple of chapters moved much too fast, and the writing seemed overwrought. However, the more I read of the book, the more I enjoyed it. "Snow"'s strongest point is its characters. Jessica/Snow may be the most realistic heroine I've ever read. She loves to run around and play with her servant friends, but she also enjoys the luxuries of being a duchess. She is spoiled and often arrogant in the first part of the novel, and she can be a little annoying, but I felt that this was how a real girl might act in her situation. She grows well after she leaves home too. The Duchess is also an interesting character. Tracey Lynn must have been with the feminist literary analysis of "Snow White", because "Snow" shows the Duchess' fears about becoming old and therefore useless to society, and this is what her jealously springs from. She is a likable character even though she is a villain, almost humorous in parts. I liked the plot too. The book takes a turn for the weird when Jessica/Snow runs away and takes up with five unusual thieves. These are the strangest dwarves you've ever seen. I didn't like them so much at first, but I got used to them. The book has a happy ending, though the romance was a little under-developed, and you may be left wishing that Snow had ended up with someone else. But overall, this was a very satisfying read. May 7, 2007 A wonderful twist to a beloved story Jessica was never loved by her father, being to blame for the death of her mother. Being ignore by her father, Jessica grew up with the servants. Once her father married Anne, her world changes. Jessica grows up, somewhat of a lady with her friend Alan, a scottish fiddler who was a present to Anne. After Anne tries to kill Jessica, Jessica runs off to London and runs in with five people who have characteristcs of animals. Instead of Jessica, she goes by Snow, a nickname that Davey, a servant boy, gave her. Here, she makes and lives with the five until her stepmother comes to try to "mend" things with Snow. I wasn't sure how this book was going to be. I first read Beauty Sleep and then picked up this one because I knew the story of Snow White. When reading it, I found it gripping and I couldn't put it down. Once she ran off and found Sparrow, Cat, Mouser, Chauncey and Raven I could not put this book down. There aren't 7 people who look after her, but 5/6 so I'm not that picky. The twists that Tracy threw into this book really makes the story original in a retelling sort of way. It was an amazing book and once I finished it, I HAD to go back and read my favorite parts. Amazing book. For more Snow: A Retelling of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (Once Upon a Time) reviews click here.
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