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Overview
Once upon a time there was a mirror. . . .
So begins this dark, unusual retelling of the story of Snow White by the writer reviewers have called “the Angela Carter of the fantasy field”—a whole novel based on a beloved story, turning it into a dark and sensual drama full of myth and magic.
Arpazia is the aging queen who paces the halls of a warlord’s palace. Cold as winter, she has only one passion—for the mysterious hunter who courts the outlawed old gods of the woodland. Coira is the princess raised in the shadow of her mother’s hatred. Avoided by both her parents and half forgotten by her father’s court, she grows into womanhood alone . . . until the mirror speaks, and blood is spilled, and the forest claims her.
The tragic myth of the goddess Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, stolen by the king of the underworld, is woven together with the tale of Snow White to create a powerful story of mothers and daughters and the blood that binds them together, for good or ill. Black queen. White maid. Royal huntsman. Seven little folk who live in the forest. Come inside, sit by the fire, and listen to this fairy tale as you’ve never heard it told before.
Once upon a time there was a mirror, and a girl as white as snow. . . .
Synopsis
Fairy tales never used to be stories meant for children only—not until the nineteenth century, when Victorian editors turned them into nursery fare. Their older versions were sunsual, violent, and startling. Their heroines weren't passive girls, their princes weren't always noble and charming, and happy endings were never guaranteed in the dark of the forest.
With this series, we bring you fairy tales in all their delicious complexity, retold at novel length by modern masters of fantasy literature. "Briar Rose," "Jack the Giant-Killer," "Snow White and Rose Red," "The Nightingale," "The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars," and "Tam Lin" are all classic tales taht have been rewoven into magical new novels by Jane Yolen, Charles de Lint, Patricia C. Wrede, Kara Dalkey, Steven Brust, and Pamela Dean in the pervious books of this acclaimed series, created by the award-winning editor and folklorist Terri Windling. Now Tanith Lee joins this stellar list of authors with a tale as bright as blood on snow.
Welcome back to the dark, wolf-haunted woods, where magic awaits.
Publishers Weekly
Horror and fantasy veteran Lee, author of such adult fairy tale collections as Red as Blood and Forests of the Night, offers an enticingly dark and seductive reworking of "Snow White" that echoes the macabre ambience of the Brothers Grimm. Drawing on the sex and violence implicit in the original fairy tale, Lee gives a modern, introspective angle to the classic story. The evil queen, Arpazia, first appears as an innocent princess of 14, who is terrified when Draco, a rising new leader, conquers her father's castle and rapes her. Soon after he has her sister, Lilca, hanged because Lilca betrayed the castle. Draco forces Arpazia to travel with him and his barbaric army. She later bears him a girl, Candacis, whom she immediately shuns as an incarnation of evil, mumbling death spells as the infant tries to suckle her. Lee casts the evil queen in a sympathetic light, depicting her as a tortured soul who in later years begins to question her dark fate. With its melancholy shading, Lee's new twist on an old tale is sure to engage fans of dark fantasy. (Dec. 7) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Editorials
From the Publisher
“A true masterpiece.”—Interzone“Particularly fine.” —Locus