Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen [Villians] Review

Kindle Screenshot

After having read The Beast Within I saw that Serena Valentino had written other books about the Disney Villains. However, having read the other book and enjoyed it I found this book, about the Wicked Queen, to fall flat. I was constantly annoyed at the fact that she was simply called Queen, even before marrying the king (only ever called King). I would have enjoyed seeing more names given to the characters, even if not necessarily Disney canon.

Summary [Spoilers]

Fairest of All tells the story of how the Wicked Queen became well wicked. She begins as a humble peasant with a father who hates her but makes beautiful mirrors which plays a key role in the whole book. The King falls in love with her and after her father’s death marries her. As long as he is alive, yes, he dies, the Queen and Snow live happily together but after his death she discovers magic. This is where the plot turns strange, three of the King’s cousins come to the funeral and turn out to be witches with similarities to the three fates. They also star in Valentino’s The Beast Within. These three witches return a mirror to the queen which she had broken and things get depressingly dark. Which had been made by the Queen’s father and was enchanted by the witches to hold his spirit, the Slave in the movie. The book now aligns with the movie and attempts explains why the Queen knows magic and now hates Snow for her beauty and love. The book quickly follows the story, skipping many parts from the movie, to see how she finds herself going insane and meets her demise. Valentino then provides a brief epilogue of Snow’s happiness with a twist.

Review

Valentino’s style is stale and leaves many questions for the reader. I found myself wondering why she chose to leave out names for the Queen and King but name other characters. Also, while she often borrows dialogue from the movie other elements of the story do not directly follow Disney’s original storyline. One major plot point which was changed is the appearance of the Prince (also unnamed) earlier than the song at the well. He even saves Snow then spends time with her, while these would make his searching for her seem less strange to a modern audience it follows neither the movie or original Fairytale plots. The story is played out and after Snow has grown up adds very little new information for the readers causing the book to become boring. I almost stopped reading the book more than once, knowing the end did not make this book easier to read. One interesting piece was a story the Queen tells Snow. This tale seems remarkably similar to that of Sleeping Beauty, which is alluded to often in the text as a woman who can turn into a dragon (Maleficent). I would not suggest this book unless you are looking for a quick read. The book flows well but I did not find it interesting or entertaining. I have more questions now than before reading it but thought it could be interesting after reading Valentino’s take on the Beast’s story. I’m not certain I will read the other books in this series either.

Reference

Valentino, S. (2009). Fairest of all: A tale of the Wicked Queen [Kindle edition]. New York: Disney Press.