Reviews tagging 'Death'

Fairest of All by Serena Valentino

10 reviews

ria_carina's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Als Liebhaberin der klassischen Disney-Filme habe ich mir mehr von dem Buch erwartet. Sprachlich hat es mich gar nicht abgeholt (es ist wohl eher für Kinder geschrieben, der Sprachgebrauch ist sehr 'leicht' und wiederholend); der Fortschritt der Geschichte war stolprig — manchmal zu langsam, manchmal viel zu schnell. Die Charaktere fand ich teilweise flach und lieblos hingeklatscht, manchmal aber wieder spannend. Die Grundidee selbst finde ich grandios, aber der Plot wäre eindeutig ausbaufähig gewesen. Schade, vielleicht sind die anderen Bände mehr nach meinem Geschmack.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, Gaslighting, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Emotional abuse

Minor: War

junglejelly's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed exploring the back story to Snow White's Evil Queen.

The writing is good with a nice character arc (even though you know where it's going). People aren't so simple and the author really created a complex character who was previously shown just to be evil.

As a book aimed at kids/pre-teens, you do have to keep this in mind with the language used and the length of the book. While I do wish some scenes would have been longer, I think the pace and length overall was good.

It is dark even as a children's book but it suited the origins of the Evil Queen.

Overall a fun quick read especially for Disney's Snow White fans.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Blood

fiercereadsfiction's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Murder

Minor: War

reading_books_as_escapism_lol's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, War, Toxic relationship, Torture, Grief, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Blood, Gore, Emotional abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Gaslighting

housedesignerking's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is the Evil Queen's backstory. One of the things Disney seems to be doing lately is creating slight or complete retellings of their classics or masterpieces. Valentino did a good job making the reader want to root for the Queen throughout this. But anyone who's seen the movie knows what an exercise in futility that would be. I'm not sure if these ideas were strictly Valentino's or if she was guided by Disney in some way to put this series together (my money's on the latter, but I could be wrong), but either way, it's an interesting take on it. The writing focuses quite a bit on description instead of commentary, which I found to be a tad disappointing. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was never my favorite animated Disney movie, but with the well-crafted backstory, this is actually better than the movie, which got 3 stars from me. This book gets 4.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death and Death of parent

destinystowe14's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was good. It is geared toward a younger audience which is made clear in the writing. There isn’t a lot of detail, and it seemed rushed a good bit of the time. 

With that being said I still liked this book. It was a good palate cleanser, and a very quick read. I’m a slow reader and I read this in 3 days. 

It works really well as an origin story for the Wicked Queen. Snow White was one of my favorite movies growing up, so it was interesting seeing things through the queen’s POV. If you’re a fan of Disney or Snow White you should definitely read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Abandonment

shannasbooksnhooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"The Queen opened her arms to the child, and with Verona's gentle encouragement, Snow moved forward to accept the Queen's embrace. Snow was a little bird of a girl, such a lovely creature."
This. Book.
Part of me wants to leave my review at that, but at the same time, I want to leave a more in-depth review. So here we are.
I read one chapter the night of June 27 before going to bed, and the next day, I just devoured it. I loved this book so much. Although I do understand where some of the lesser-star-rating reviews came from. It was a bit hard to decipher her whole villain arc since the book did give the Queen a more sympathetic personality. However, this was something I was okay with and something that worked well within the story - the Queen was pushed to madness and obsession by grief and possible PTSD, but definitely trauma, to the point of being an evil queen and fulfilling the whole "evil stepmother" trope. (Also, there were some reviews that mentioned the Queen not having a name. This didn't bother me because the King didn't have a name either, so...I don't quite understand why people were bent out of shape because of this.)
Part of me also feels hypocritical for enjoying this because when the 2021 Cruella came out, I was not for it, and I couldn't make it past 50% of the way through the movie. And my reasoning for this is that Disney's trying to give a sympathetic backstory to a character (Cruella) who really didn't need it. I could argue the same with this book - an attempt to give a sympathetic backstory to a Disney villain who really didn't need it. However. I feel like it's important to note how the actual stories are handled. On one side, the 2021 Cruella movie: a mess of a story, the cast was meh at best, and Emma Thompson and the costuming were the only saving graces. On the other hand, the 2009 Fairest of All book: story is well put together while harking back to the source material, a more understandable, relatable reason for the villain arc, and overall decent character arcs and stories. I do recommend this book because it's a great take on the Evil Queen's backstory and it's so cohesive, both as its own story and standing with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. If you're a child and/or not comfortable with swearing, read the spoiler at your own risk.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: War, Abandonment, and Violence

The King's three distant cousins are major bitches. I hate them so much - first taunting Snow with those stories, then blaming their muddy clothes on her - like, what the fuck?! Also, we learn that the Magic Mirror is the Queen's dead (?) dad and was an asshole in life makes so much sense and just makes me hate the Mirror more. Also, the way I ended up taking the Queen's story reading this was, because of her grief after her husband's death and trauma from verbal abuse from her father in childhood, she descended into this obsession-like madness with the Mirror and being beautiful in her father's eyes. This doesn't make her actions right or forgivable, but it does make her a more sympathetic villain with actions that were understandable. (Take Cruella as a contrast - by her adulthood, she had no real reason to want revenge because her life was good, and her "revenge" could have simply just been to be better at fashion than the Baroness and rise above the Baroness on the fashion social ladder. But no, which made no sense.)

z_thatsit's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, Abandonment, and Child abuse

Moderate: Blood, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Addiction, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Gaslighting, Infertility, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Pregnancy, and War

lunarxcross's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Bullying, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

brandie_abbie19's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Slavery, and Blood