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A review by studiouspoppy
Fairest of All by Serena Valentino
adventurous
dark
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
2.75
I started reading this book because I'm interested in stories that show a different perspective of a classical story such as Snow White. Although I didn't dislike this book, it never really caught me in the plot, and I felt like the character development of the Wicked Queen was very stereotypical.
For once, the idea of the Queen being good at the beginning is represented by a very "motherly/nurturing" woman, who was once abused as a child and tries to be a good mother to her stepdaughter. Then, grief turns her into an evil woman, who is addicted to her father's approval (which she wished for all her life), and part of her "evilness" is represented by her lack of maternal feeling towards Snow, and her ambition. Obviously, there are other aspects of her new personality, like jealousy and cruelty, but I think is kind of sexist to turn her into an ambitious woman to make her look bad, making ambition to be an un-womanly trait.
There's also the idea of the mirror telling the Queen she has "matured" and that she has grown to not care about the matters of the heart, which was necessary to rule and care about more important matters. I think this is too similar to the idea of men being rationals and women being emotional, which has been used as an argument to exclude women from public life and politics.
For once, the idea of the Queen being good at the beginning is represented by a very "motherly/nurturing" woman, who was once abused as a child and tries to be a good mother to her stepdaughter. Then, grief turns her into an evil woman, who is addicted to her father's approval (which she wished for all her life), and part of her "evilness" is represented by her lack of maternal feeling towards Snow, and her ambition. Obviously, there are other aspects of her new personality, like jealousy and cruelty, but I think is kind of sexist to turn her into an ambitious woman to make her look bad, making ambition to be an un-womanly trait.
There's also the idea of the mirror telling the Queen she has "matured" and that she has grown to not care about the matters of the heart, which was necessary to rule and care about more important matters. I think this is too similar to the idea of men being rationals and women being emotional, which has been used as an argument to exclude women from public life and politics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment