Thursday, April 10

Mirror, Mirror - Gregory Maguire

Beautiful, motherless Biance de Nevada lives high in the hills above Tuscany at Montefiore, her father's farm. Between the cook, Primavera Veccia, and the local priest, Fra Ludovico, Bianca's life is perfect. Until the Borgias come and despoil Bianca's idyllic, innocent retreat. Lucrezia Borgia has plans for Bianca's beloved papa, and they don't include a young girl - especially one more beautiful than she.
I usually love alternative takes on classic fairy tales, and enjoyed Maguire's other adaptations (he's most well known for Wicked, the Oz re-working that's now a musical, but I also enjoyed Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and Lost), though I'm not sure why he's so much better known than the fantasy writers of this tradition who went before him, like Jane Yolen.
Anyway, I started. I put it down. I picked it up and tried again. And Mirror, Mirror just didn't work for me at all. But it's a library book, so at least I didn't buy it. - Alex

No comments: