Book review – Mirror, Mirror (Spoiler Free)

“The princess had accepted her fate in an effort to make the best of things, but she refused to do so any longer.

It wasn’t till she was outside those walls that she’d realized the truth: the only one who could truly break her free was herself. That’s why she was back. To claim what was truly hers. Not just the castle, but the province and its throne. Not just for her own happiness, but also for that of her people.”

• Title: Mirror, Mirror
• Author: Jen Calonita
• Genre: YA Fiction
• Pages: 344 pages
• Publication date: April 2, 2013
• Publisher: Doubleday

Mirror, Mirror is a twisted tale of a classic story. I decided to continue the series, after reading Reflection, to see if others were written similar. (Since different authors wrote some books in the series.) To which I say, Mirror, Mirror was not written like Reflection at all.

Snow White has a mother who died when she young and a father who ran away, abandoning the castle not too long after that. Which, if you remember the classic Disney movie, sounds a bit off. Or maybe I don’t remember the movie like I thought I did.

Snow White lives like Cinderella, always doing chores, except in a castle. She’s not allowed to talk to any of the castle’s staff by order of the new queen: her aunt. She also hasn’t gotten any new clothes, gifts, or anything since her mom passed. It’s not the life anyone wants to live.

She does love hanging out in the aviary with all the beautiful birds since it was her mother’s. That is when a prince stumbles upon her, while on his way to speak with the queen. But the queen notices Snow talking to someone through the window and calls her huntsman.

It is only then that Snow finds out how the new queen has been controlling the kingdom. And what she needs to do to survive.

This time around, the author packs so much new information into the story. This is a major difference from how Reflection followed Mulan’s original story so closely. As a result, Snow is a much more developed character than any Snow White tale I’ve ever seen.

It also isn’t only through Snow’s POV.

If you like seeing the villains almost more well rounded than the main character, you’d like this book. The story switches back in forth between Snow now and the Queen when she is a child. It brings an interesting take to see how the Queen got to where she is.

The big question this book proposed on the front cover is: What if the prince was poisoned instead of Snow White?

But I feel like it wasn’t the correct question to ask after I finished reading the book. Because yes, the prince does get poisoned. Any reader can see that coming in a heartbeat when it happens. But the story diverges from the classic Disney tale way before that. The question should’ve been about something that happened way before the poisoning.

Another critique for this story is that I didn’t connect with Snow enough. I could understand why she did what she did, and she is smart, but I connected more to the Queen through her POV than Snow. I ended up looking forward to reading from the villain’s POV more. But that could just be me.

Overall, this book is a good quick read. If you’re even interested in any normal fairytales, I’d recommend it. I enjoyed reading it. It added a new light to Snow’s story.

Score: 8.5/10
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.88/5