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First of all – this book is definitely not meant for children. It’s a retelling of the Snow White fairy tale by Neil Gaiman, but it meant for adult readers (16+). ‘Snow, Glass, Apples’ brings a creepy, gothic, erotic twist to Snow White tale, told from the perspective of her step-mother, a beautiful witch married to the king of the land. Their bedroom romps are graphically depicted at the very beginning of the book, which is followed by more disturbing imagery of blood, violence, and sex through the rest of the pages.

Neil Gaiman reimagines the young princess as an evil entity, something akin to a vampire, who sucks the blood out of humans. The stepmother doesn’t truly understand what or who she is dealing with until it’s too late and then launches a hasty plan to get rid of the stepdaughter. “I do not know what manner of thing she is. None of us do.” – are the opening quotes of Snow, Glass, Apples, which is narrated by the witch Queen. Interestingly, the witch also admits she ensnared the King for herself after he was widowed, but laments that had she known the true nature of her stepchild, she would have preferred dying over vying for the crown.

The illustrations by Colleen Doran are stunning, while the witch queen is blonde-beautiful and richly draped in finery befitting a queen, the young princess – Snow White – is pale, black-haired, and equally enchanting to look at, like a bejeweled royal from Arabian Nights. The artwork is rich, colorful, and will remind readers of illustrated fantasy books from the 1990s.

‘Snow, Glass, Apples’ uses all the familiar motifs, and plot twists from the more famous version of the tale, spinning them all differently. You have the magic mirror, dwarfs, the poisoned apples, and even the Prince falling in love with the malevolent princess over her beauty. And just like the original tale from the Brothers Grimm, in this version too, the Prince falls in love with the dead Snow White, exhibiting his madness and affinity for necrophilia.

The climax is disturbing, morbid, and tragic, highlighting how it’s the victor who gets to tell the story – Snow White wins and casts the queen as the villain. If you enjoy dark, twisted versions of familiar tales, definitely check this book out.

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