Author: Serena Valentino
# of Pages: 250 (hardback)
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Rating:★★★☆☆
Synopsis: The tale of the young princess and her evil stepmother, the Wicked Queen, is widely known. Despite a few variations from telling to telling, the story remains the same--the Queen was jealous of the girl's beauty, and this jealousy culminated in the Queen's attempt on the sweet, naive girl's life.
Another tale far less often spoken of is the one that explains what caused the Queen to become so contemptuously vile. Still, some have attempted to guess at the reason. Perhaps the Queen's true nature was that of a wicked hag and her beautiful, regal appearance a disguise used to fool the King. Others claim that the Queen might have hated the girl for her resemblance to the King's first wife. Mostly, the Queen is painted as a morally abhorrent woman who never loved another being during the course of her miserable life.
In fact, the theories about exactly what cause the Queen's obsessive vanity and jealous rage are too numerous to catalog. This book recounts a version of the story that has remained untold until now. It is a tragic tale of love and loss, and it contains a bit of magic. It is a tale of the Wicked Queen...
Review: The cover = fantastic!
The content...not so much.
When I picked up this book, I immediately thought of Wicked, and throughout my reading of this book, I would compare and contrast the two stories. In this review, I will be sharing these comparisons with you.
In Fairest of All, I was looking for a Wicked-type story. Most people view the Wicked Witch of the West as pure evil. But after Wicked became popular, many began to sympathize with her. She even has a name: Elphaba!
This is where Valentino fell short. Our protagonist, the evil Queen most commonly know from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, is simply called "the Queen". This creates a barrier between the story and the reader, making the character seem distant. There seems to be so much more to the Queen, obviously so because I don't even know her name!
In Wicked, Elphaba becomes "evil" after a series of unfortunate events occur, forcing her to near insanity from trying to deal with people who reject her. She made the effort to fit in and try to be good and even when she captured Dorothy, she was only temporarily blinded by the grief from the loss of her sister.
The Queen, however, can't seem to get over the loss of her husband. It doesn't even seem like she was trying to move on; she just cared about how pretty she was. This story of the Queen seems too close to Snow White"s Queen; I still view her as an evil person.
If you're a fan of Snow White, go ahead and read it! Otherwise, you can probably find something better to read.
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