Amazon.in:Customer reviews: Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen (Villains Book 1)

There are 0 reviews and 0 ratings from Indiawith 3 star

Julie P

Good idea but not a fan.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 January 2018

So I was really excited to read the Disney Villain stories but I actually found this one a little disappointing. I’m not sure what age range they are aimed at but I would suggest they would be ideal for your pre teens but not so great for an older audience. The writing was ok but a little juvenile and the font is quite large so the actual story is in fact quite short and only took me a couple of hours to get through. The cover is nicely illustrated and I’m sure they would be a great addition to any Disney fans collection but I personally found it a little underwhelming although I still like the idea of telling these well known fairy tales from a different perspective. Putting a new spin on it. At £6.99 I also think it is a little pricey. I am undecided whether to read the others in the series but if I do it’s safe to say I will be waiting until there is an offer on the RRP.

4 people found this helpful

Brida

An average read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 March 2017

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The Wicked Queen had been staring at me for what seemed like years, almost demanding that I finally pick up her tale, to hear her side of the story. So, with a tiny smidgen of guilt, and a certain amount of anticipation (I love re-tellings), I finally picked up my copy and read her tale. Now that I have finished, I have to admit to not being really blown away by it.

"Fairest of All" does exactly what it says on the tin, and puts forward the tale of the Wicked Queen from Snow White, trying to explain just how she became so bad. The reason for my low score, is that whilst this was an okay read, it wasn't exceptional. To be honest, I very nearly abandoned it before I reached about page 100, as I found the characters quite insipid, and the world a little too sugary sweet for my liking. However, I persevered, and in some ways I was rewarded. Certainly, the tale gets better once the queen begins to unravel. She certainly becomes a more interesting character, but things are still quite predictable. Like many fairy tales, the characters here are very one dimensional; every one excepting the queen is either good or bad, there is no in-between.

The redeeming feature of this tale is the examination of the queen's descent into madness and obsession. Through Valentino's explanation of why the queen went to the mirror, famously asking who the fairest of all was, we witness a character at the depths of despair. Valentino has tried to explain the vanity of her anti-heroine, illustrating just how deceiving a 'quest' for beauty can be.

It is disappointing that the other characters around her were not so well developed. Snow was actually quite irritating, because she was so positive, loving and inherently 'good'. It would have made for a more interesting read if Snow was also a flawed character.

So, overall, this was an okay read. It's not the best re-telling that I have discovered, but there are some redeeming qualities to it. For anyone who loves the fairy tale of Snow White, this would more than likely be of interest to them.

Dubai Dude

Disney Villains Fairest of All

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 January 2018

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The quality of the book is amazing very well put together unfortunately my children did not enjoy the story line.

lea

Wouldn't say was new as stated cover all damaged at ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 March 2017

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Wouldn't say was new as stated cover all damaged at the top and shame as was a birthday present

kaz

Three Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 February 2017

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Bought for a friend

Jennifer

A Fleshed Out Version of Disney's Classic

Reviewed in the United States on 21 December 2012

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The cover of Fairest of All borrows the wicked Queen's likeness from the beloved Disney version, though the story that unfolds inside doesn't intersect very well with my perception of Walt Disney's first animated feature length film. Fairest of All starts out promisingly enough, explaining how the daughter of a revered mirror maker becomes Snow White's future stepmother. I quickly became annoyed with one small, irritating detail: right from the beginning, she is referred to as the Queen, even before she meets the King. Since Valentino has created an entire new backstory for the Queen, is it to much to ask that she give her a name?

I was only a couple of the short chapters in when I considered giving up entirely on Fairest of All. Though the story is imaginative and begins as a plausible beginning to the Snow White story that Disney fans know and love, the writing is juvenile and simplistic. This book was shelved in the YA section of the bookstore, but is a much better fit for a middle grade audience. Valentino's writing is very sparse in details, sentences are short, and many of the ideas I wished had been further elaborated upon were merely summarized for the reader.

Fairest of All grew more interesting to me with the introduction of the King's three mysterious cousins: Lucinda, Ruby, and Martha. Up until their meddling, the Queen's relationship with Snow White is rather sweet; the Queen herself isn't a very interesting character until the three odd sisters begin to mess with her mind and heart. I found it disappointing that the three sisters were more of a threat to Snow White than the Queen when all was said and done. Because of their interference in the Queen's affairs, she becomes the evil creature we love to hate from the film. As terrifying as the sisters were, the story was not as strong as it could have been without their presence. I'd have liked different reasons for why the Queen became evil; the way this story goes the Queen is just another tragic victim, no one to really fear.

Fairest of All ends on a very interesting note, however; I would be curious to see where Valentino would take things next if she wrote a sequel. I'm not quite sure how to interpret where we leave off with Snow White, but if her path mirrors that of the Queen, then things would be very different than the "happily ever after" we know so well

12 people found this helpful

Ruth Anderson

Intriguing premise!

Reviewed in the United States on 6 March 2014

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When the Evil Queen first appeared on movie theater screens in 1937, Walt Disney set the gold standard for all screen versions of fairy tale villains to come. She was gorgeous, menacing, and altogether overwhelming -- a scene-stealing villain, the embodiment of unrepentant evil. Or was she? As it is no secret that I adore fairy tales and film and novel re-tellings -- or re-imaginings -- of these classic tales of good versus evil, it was a foregone conclusion that when I stumbled upon Fairest of All I'd one day read it.

Here, Serena Valentino crafts a backstory to the Evil Queen of legend, positing a history that, were different choices made, could have allowed for a very different -- and altogether more positive -- outcome of the Queen's relationship with her stepdaughter Snow White. Much like Elphaba's story in Wicked, the television show Once Upon a Time, or (presumably) the upcoming film Maleficent, this novel attempts to reassess the Queen in light of her upbringing, if not exactly excusing or attempting to justify her behavior outright, but rather to offer a plausible reason as to why the Queen would go to such drastic measures to remove Snow from her life.

The young Queen is one eager for a place to belong, desperately in love with her husband and eager to be a mother to her new daughter. But she's terribly insecure, crippled her father's emotional abuse and eager, desperate for the validation being in a family can provide. However, when that haven is threatened, the door is opened for this insecure Queen to seek affirmation elsewhere -- even if its at the hands of a mirror whose power stems from her greatest oppressor.

I love the ambition behind this novel, and the fairly plausible manner in which Valentino attempts to flesh out the canon of the film. It is a bit simplistic in its rendering, however, as she introduces great ideas only to leave them less than fully developed, perhaps giving the target audience less credit than they deserve. Valentino knows her source material, and peppers her story with film and other Disney canonical (including my favorite, a Sleeping Beauty shout-out!). Her prose, while occasionally reminscent of Grimm or Perrault, can be somewhat simplistic and stilted, filled with awkward descriptions and "flourishes," but on the whole this is a pleasing addition to Disney and fairy tale lore. I'd love to see Valentino explore the backstory of other famous villains, like Ursula, or perhaps Cinderella's enigmatic nemesis -- a veritable treasure trove of opportunities are waiting in the wings, and Valentino's passion and imaginative flair for this type of fiction holds promise.

23 people found this helpful

C. James

Light read

Reviewed in the United States on 30 April 2020

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I gave 3 stars because this book wasn't bad and it wasn't great. The main character was flat and her side of the story didn't make her out to be anything more than the vain stepmother we already knew. Her back story was far-fetched and the 3 cousins were never explained. But the story is decent and short enough that the pace and adventure doesn't lag.

David

Snow White's stepmother - a different story.

Reviewed in the United States on 20 November 2014

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Love the cover and the perspective.

The story is told from the perspective of Snow White's stepmother: Snow White is a lessor character in this book.

Great cover, great idea, but it just didn't work for me. I think I'm too old having grown up with the Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Nevertheless, the creative approach of the author and her spin of the tale makes this a worthwhile read.

Summary, a great cook has a certain spice or a certain mixture of ingredients that distinguish her dishes from those of others. Something was needed to make this a great dish. Still good.

One person found this helpful

Kristina

This is weird

Reviewed in the United States on 25 April 2020

Verified Purchase

This is like weird Disney villain fan fiction at best. I could easily envision reading this on reddit at 2 am because I'm bored in isolation. The only reason I gave it 3 stars is because it was mildly entertaining, but I did consider scrapping it a few times.

One person found this helpful

5 star		81%
4 star		11%
3 star		5%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen (Villains Book 1)

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