White As Snow

Reader reviewed by Mairi

The warlord Draco is terrorizing the land, intent on making himself king, but as he draws nearer to Arpazia's home she realizes that he is not the only threat. Her father, a proud, unbending man, will see his daughter dead before he will see her in the hands of his enemy, and the entire household agrees with him- it seems only Lilca, Arpazia's half sister, is willing to help her escape. But Lilca delivers Arpazia into the hands of the warlord Draco, who makes her his bride and to whom she bears a daughter- Coira, named for the maiden goddess.

It was the beautiful cover illustration of the queen in front of her mirror that made me pick this book up in the first place, for I am not really a Tanith Lee fan (all right, so the one other book of hers I've read is book three in a series- what of it?) nor do I really enjoy fractured fairy tales. However, I can't resist a pretty book. I opened to the table of contents, saw the first three chapter titles (The Mirror: The Maiden, The Maiden: The Witch, and The Witch-Queen: The Black Wood) and started to smile.

This is no run of the mill fairy story- it is, as the cover boasts, dark and more true to the original than any black haired Disney creature could ever be.