A review by thebiasedbibliophile
The Poisoned Prince: A Snow White Retelling by Kristin J. Dawson

4.0

The Poisoned Prince by Kristin J. Dawson follows Snow White after she discovers that she is the king’s daughter. Before he dies, the king gives Snow a ring that will appear to everyone on her 19th birthday and tells her she will rule the kingdom. However, Max, the royal huntsman, knows that the queen will not hand over the kingdom so willingly. The two must navigate politics all while trying to keep Snow safe. But everything turns out to be much more complicated than they ever could have anticipated.

As a whole, I really enjoyed this novel, especially toward the end when everything really starts to come together. Dawson did a great job of playing into the original fairy tale while also keeping readers on their toes by adding her own twists to the story. The ending was a whirlwind in the best way possible.

There were a couple things that I didn’t love, but they didn’t take away much from the story. For instance, the romance didn’t play a huge part in the story until halfway through, and even then it kind of took a backseat to the political turmoil the kingdom was in. Similarly, the title of the novel didn’t necessarily fit the story in my opinion. The novel read more like Snow’s story than Max’s. However, I can see how the title fits with the series as a whole.

That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed everything else! Perhaps my favorite element was the way Dawson tied emotion into the story. Instead of having 7 emotionally named dwarves, Snow has the ability to read emotions. I thought this was a particularly genius way of approaching the dwarves because it allowed them to have more complex personalities than if they had been tied to one emotion. And, Snow’s abilities made it clear why she would be a good leader for her kingdom. 

Finally, the characters in the story really made it come to life. As I said before, the dwarves were detailed characters, and they were also a lot of fun. Max’s character was a nice foil to Snow’s. I appreciated the way their emotions played off of one another and how Snow’s powers affected that. There were also many endearing supporting characters, including the king, Princess Elisabeth, Judge Helene, and even the queen.

Overall, this is yet another solid installation in the Once Upon a Prince series! 

I received an ARC of this book, and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.