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smart_girls_love_trashy_books's review
3.0
-POTENTIAL SPOILERS-
I really wanted to like this book. While I wasn't the biggest fan of Wicked, I still had hopes for this because I did see lots of potential with Wicked. So what could possibly go wrong with an Italian Snow White with the Borgias?
Much like Wicked, the biggest issue was just me thinking there was too much stuff going on. Snow White mixed with the Borgias sounds like it should be fascinating, but the author was left juggling too much. Lucrezia would've made for a great evil queen character, but she's not sufficiently developed enough to earn that role. She has no real issue with Bianca until her brother suddenly shows interest in her, then she begins to plot her downfall. Her brother also just dies unceremoniously in the middle as well. Why should we care if the characters don't?
The quest her father is sent on, made out to be a huge deal in the summary, ultimately amounts to just a few chapters and it's done. Really the whole book had the same very wordy, tell-don't-show style that Wicked had. Much like Wicked, sometimes it worked, other times it didn't. Bianca is fairly flat for a main character and I felt like we barely got the chance to know her.
The last few chapters were very rushed too, as if he suddenly remembered he was writing a Snow White retelling and had to quickly wrap it up and get those plot points in.
I did like some things though. I liked the creative disguises Lucrezia came up with and how she attempts to kill Bianca and finally succeeds. I also enjoyed how here, the bodices aren't purposeful but a panicked attempt, brought on by her unable to find a proper weapon and just making do. That was an interesting twist.
Probably my favourite thing in the book was how the dwarves were handled. This is where he shines best with his writing, describing the magical things we otherwise would have no words for. They're very different from the dwarves usually seen in retellings and adaptations and that's why I liked them. Not knowing how to be human, wholly alien, more tolerating Bianca and doing what she does just because she does it, not understanding why. I thoroughly enjoyed how uncomfortably inhuman they were. Even thinking every human has a literal name like Bianca's so they give themselves literal names as well.
The illustrations, much like Wicked's, were gorgeous and very well done, I loved them a lot too.
Again, I wanted to like this book, it has so much potential. I could tell the author loved the research he did into the period and the Borgias, and it should've been good. But the style's too dry and wordy and doesn't properly develop much of anything because there's too much to juggle. In this case, I think he would've been better off writing about one or the other instead of trying to combine them.
I really wanted to like this book. While I wasn't the biggest fan of Wicked, I still had hopes for this because I did see lots of potential with Wicked. So what could possibly go wrong with an Italian Snow White with the Borgias?
Much like Wicked, the biggest issue was just me thinking there was too much stuff going on. Snow White mixed with the Borgias sounds like it should be fascinating, but the author was left juggling too much. Lucrezia would've made for a great evil queen character, but she's not sufficiently developed enough to earn that role. She has no real issue with Bianca until her brother suddenly shows interest in her, then she begins to plot her downfall. Her brother also just dies unceremoniously in the middle as well. Why should we care if the characters don't?
The quest her father is sent on, made out to be a huge deal in the summary, ultimately amounts to just a few chapters and it's done. Really the whole book had the same very wordy, tell-don't-show style that Wicked had. Much like Wicked, sometimes it worked, other times it didn't. Bianca is fairly flat for a main character and I felt like we barely got the chance to know her.
The last few chapters were very rushed too, as if he suddenly remembered he was writing a Snow White retelling and had to quickly wrap it up and get those plot points in.
I did like some things though. I liked the creative disguises Lucrezia came up with and how she attempts to kill Bianca and finally succeeds. I also enjoyed how here, the bodices aren't purposeful but a panicked attempt, brought on by her unable to find a proper weapon and just making do. That was an interesting twist.
Probably my favourite thing in the book was how the dwarves were handled. This is where he shines best with his writing, describing the magical things we otherwise would have no words for. They're very different from the dwarves usually seen in retellings and adaptations and that's why I liked them. Not knowing how to be human, wholly alien, more tolerating Bianca and doing what she does just because she does it, not understanding why. I thoroughly enjoyed how uncomfortably inhuman they were. Even thinking every human has a literal name like Bianca's so they give themselves literal names as well.
The illustrations, much like Wicked's, were gorgeous and very well done, I loved them a lot too.
Again, I wanted to like this book, it has so much potential. I could tell the author loved the research he did into the period and the Borgias, and it should've been good. But the style's too dry and wordy and doesn't properly develop much of anything because there's too much to juggle. In this case, I think he would've been better off writing about one or the other instead of trying to combine them.
stachay's review
4.0
While there certainly isn't the level of world-building in Mirror Mirror as there is in Wicked, I still enjoyed the story, particularly the changes surrounding the dwarves. More than the other Maguire novels I have read, Mirror Mirror felt more to me like a fairy tale and for that reason i found myself reading through it quickly and relishing it.
meghanheffernan's review
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lenorayoder's review
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
Some cool ideas and pretty pieces of writing, but so much of this book is slow, confusing, gross, and/or boring that it doesn’t really feel worth it. A much longer book than the material justifies. Unsatisfying.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual harassment, Incest, Pedophilia, and Murder
aubrey_the_explorer's review
3.0
This book took me a while to get into. I tend to enjoy different takes on classic fairytales, and that kept me reading. This isn't a book that I would feel the need to reread or recommend to annoying, but it wasn't bad.
casspro's review
3.0
I really love the way the Gregory Maguire looks at fairy tales. The way that he twists them and gives them their own original backstory is a gift. Mirror, Mirror was the first of the Maguire novels and while it seemed a bit of a stretch with the Italian nobility thread at first, it ends up working for the plot of the novel.
colleengeedrumm's review
2.0
Decidedly not Wicked.
The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say.
The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say.
katyanaish's review
4.0
This book is by far my favorite Maguire book, probably because snow white is my favorite fairy tale. Its well-worth a read, imo.
bearprof's review
3.0
Much slower and less engaging than his others. Inventive, certainly, and not without interesting parts. But the end happens so abruptly. Not one I'll read again.