This book was long and took a couple of attempts to get through. I'd say pass on it.

Mr. Maguire takes a basic fairytale and turns it into a captivating allegory.
Once upon a time most fairy tales were cautionary tales told to children meant to scare them into obedience. Today, Disney has papered over these so they are, at best, empty tributes to mass marketing.
In Mirror Mirror, the gloves come off. Maguire pulls from both history,biblical myth and biblical reference to give us a story with bite. No punches are spared with the attempts at infanticide, monsters and petty revenge carried to an extreme. The symbolism is artfully used and keeps the reading thinking well after the book is finished.

With the recent re-release of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, now was a great time to read Mcguires' take on the Grimm Brothers tale. Mirror Mirror reflects the well known story through the eyes of all characters. Set in Italy in the 1500's, the novel includes historical figures along with the fictional. Machiavelli, De Medici and De Borgia are among the more well known names used through out.

As we all know, the story revolves around a young girl with pale white skin and dark hair. Bianca is the name of our heroine in Maguires' world. She lives a quiet life with her father, on their farm. When her father is sent on an impossible mission by members of the Borgia Family, Bianca is left in the care of the housekeeper and priest. The affairs of the household are left in the care of Donna Lucrezia De Borgia.

Bianca's father has been absent for years. As she grows into a beautiful young woman, Lucrezia becomes increasingly jealous of the attentions Bianca receives from everyone, including Lucrezias' own brother Cesare. She plots to dispose of the girl and as in the classic tale, a hunter is hired to taker her into the forest to be killed.

Personally I am new to reading Maguires' work, this is only the second of his novels I have read. I thoroughly enjoy his unique writing style. His ability to change styles with each characters viewpoint make following the story very easy. If you are looking for a grown up, darker version than the one Disney offers, I suggest you give Mirror Mirror a read. Decide for yourself which version is the fairest of all.

I started reading books by Gregory Maguire when my book club chose Wicked- The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. This was an absolutely wonderful book - excellent plot and character development and just a great story. As a result I became an avid fan of Gregory Maguire. I have bought each book that he has written since; unfortunately each subsequent book has been quite the disappointment. The quality of his writing has decreased dramatically. The latest book of his, Mirror Mirror: A novel, is a very big disappointmnet. The writing is difficult to read and it is hard to like the characters due to the lack of character development. In general this book is not very interesting and I would not recommend it to anyone.