Fairest Of all written by Serena Valentino and published by Disney themselves can be found at Barnes & Noble for $10.99 when not on sale.
What makes this novel so enjoyable is the fact that it gives background to the original childhood movies. After ever movie there are people to always come up with conspiracy theories to try and justify what has happened. So for Disney themselves to publish something that reveals the true answers in magical. For years people have wondered why the Evil Queen resented Snow White so much for her beauty to the extent that she wanted her dead. Well this novel tells readers just what brought the Evil Queen to such end of sanity. There may be spoilers so prepare.
The Evil Queen didn’t grow up evil, she had a very good heart though she had a difficult upbringing. The famous maker of mirrors known throughout the kingdom was the Queen’s father. He loved the Queen’s mother very much so when her mother died during delivering her he resented the Queen. He would call her many things such as ugly, senseless, or useless, and he would even hurt her physically. The Queen believed those things though she stayed strong. The King then comes one day to meet her father when he becomes enchanted by her beauty. They then wed and she is now part of an amazing and loving family. She really loved Snow and is she was her own. A few months after the wedding the King would occasionally leave months on end to go fight and protect his kingdom as a noble King would.
Down the road there are a few unexpected turns of events that occur the Queen to lose sight of who she is. She becomes obsessed with her vanity and slowly is slipping away from Snow and everyone else so she can focus on herself. She becomes rude to servants and focuses and spells and of course the mirror. Which leads to where the movie began of her wanting to be the fairest in the land and finding out Snow White is so she goes after her.
Though there are still something things that go unanswered in the novel. The Queen is referred to as the Queen even before marriage to the King. What happened to her real name? It makes no sense that she has no official name except the Queen. Then there’s a repetition of the word bliss, but it has no correlation to anything so why have it? Later the Queen tells Snow a story that is basically about Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. Fans of Disney would know that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released before Sleeping Beauty so the only explanation for the Queen telling Snow that story is if the era they are living in takes place after Sleeping Beauty or it is just another Disney Easter egg. Readers don’t mind that these go unanswered because of all that is revealed. Definitely an enchanting five out of five mirrors.
