Review: An inventive and courageous retelling of Snow White and her Happily ever after
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 15, 2014
I'm not sure what I expected when I received The Reflections of Queen Snow White by David C Meredith but I must say that this was a creative and courageous surprise. An intense and detailed take on the Snow White legend and the aftermath. What happens when happily ever after comes to an end?"...The Queen looked away from Erfreut to hide her tears. Maybe it was because back then it had always been talk of 'what if' and 'someday'. The reality of his passing had proven far more difficult than anything she had ever even imagined before. She felt so alone, so positively abandoned.Her steward did not fail to notice his queen's distress. He ordered the guards to leave and in less than a second was at her side. Erfreut took her tiny white hand gently in his own rough, brown paw. The mantle of councilor fell from his voice and posture like a discarded cloak might have fallen from his shoulders."What is it, Snowy?" The elderly little dwarf asked gently..."It is years since Snow White and Prince Charming married and as their young child Raven prepares for her own wedding, Snow White is wrapped up in her own grief. The mourning for the loss of her prince and husband Charming, having passed away a year before. Snow White is utterly desolate, all her friends have also passed and only the youngest of the dwarves remains. In her sadness it is difficult to even muster the strength to share in her daughter's happiness.To get away from everyone she climbs a long forgotten tower in her castle. The tower that once belonged to evil stepmother Arglist, the tormentor of her childhood. Inside her stepmother's bedroom, Snow White finds a sheet hanging against the wall. Behind the sheet she discovers a mirror."...I am a mirror," the mirror repeated. "All I can do is reflect that which is already within you. Everything you see is already a part of you. Were that not so, I could not show it..."It is here, before the mirror her stepmother used to find and hunt her, Snow White confronts the truth of her marriage and her grief. It is here, in reflection, that Snow White tells the tale of her life, from abused child, to found princess, to regal queen and finally to lost widow of a loved Prince Charming.The Reflections of Snow White is very well written and tells the tale of Snow White much darker and realistic than what we grew up with. The pain and suffering the child that was Snow White and her recovery from the near death poisoning is far more plausible than a Disney watered down story. Snow White's struggle to trust the love of her Prince Charming after her years of abuse and then to lose that love while she is still a young woman nearly destroys her. It is only through introspection that she is able to come to terms with the grief.Happily ever after is not as it seems but still attainable for Snow White.An excellent read.