Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen by Serena Valentino

"Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" Fairest of All is the title of the first book of six tales written by Serena Valentino. These books are adapted from Disney movies and express the lives and point of view of some of those malevolent Disney movie characters that we love to hate.

This villainous version of the classic fairytale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was published by Disney Press in 2009 and shows the Wicked Queen's soul shattering journey from a beautiful yet insecure daughter of a mirror maker, to a loved queen and Snow White's step mother, to a heartbroken widow, to an envious and sinister witch, and then to a remorseful ugly hag.

Of the six novels currently in Serena Valentino's villain series, this is the third one I have read so far which bothers me a little because I like to read and watch things in logical order. However, with these books, it does not cause mass confusion if the books are read out of order because you do not have to read one before the other in order to understand each villain's story. Each one has pieces that connect the tales. I will say the first book of the series I read was the third one Poor Unfortunate Soul, the tale of the sea witch Ursula, but I did not know it was series book when I bought it from a book fair and the second one I read was the fourth one, Mistress of All Evil, the story of Maleficent the dark fairy.

But, let's focus back on Fairest of  All, I thought it started out rather slow. It had some interesting details that were building up the rest of the story but the way it was written was not very interesting to me. So, I decided that was because this was the author's first book in this series especially since I thought the other two I read were AMAZING! One other thing that drew my attention was that the Queen, Snow White's step mother who later became the Wicked Queen, didn't really have a name. She was always referred to as 'the Queen or the Wicked Queen" nevertheless I continued to read the book and I did enjoy the story. It reminded me of how incredibly insecure some women can be and how what parents say and do can greatly affect their children even in adulthood.

There was also another factor in the downfall of the Queen. Well three factors, the Odd Sisters, some characters we Disney fans are not used to. They are a meddlesome trio of conniving witches that show up in Valentino's other villain series novels. They took joy in watching the Queen transform into the Wicked Queen who tried to kill the step daughter that she loved as her own. The Queen's reasoning for attempting to murder Snow White was not just because she wanted to remain the fairest in the land but because she also wanted to protect Snow White from being hurt or suffering a broken heart like she herself greatly suffered when the King died. This book made me feel sorry for the Wicked Queen as well as learn more about these Odd Sisters.

In closing, I will be reading every book in this villain series, currently I'm reading book 2, The Beast Within.

See you in a few little bird,

The Black Bibliophage