Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire

Summary and Review:

Gregory Maguire is well known for re-imagining the lives of famous storybook characters--the ugly stepsister from Cinderella and the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz are his two most famous takes. In Mirror Mirror, Maguire reworks the story of Snow White. In Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (inspiration for the Broadway musical that we all know and love), focus is clearly on the traditional antagonists of the original stories. In Mirror Mirror, Maguire's focus seems to be split. Bianca de Nevada, the beautiful child with snow white skin (which is more often compared to that of a corpse in Maguire's version), certainly is less interesting than the wicked Lucrezia Borgia, the historical inspiration for Maguire's evil stepmother, but much of the third-person narration comes through her point of view. Although the storyline is easily recognized as having the same origins as Disney's version, Maguire's take on Snow White is much darker, grittier, and seemingly grounded in history, via the infamous Borgia family of Renaissance Italy.

I loved seeing Lucrezia Borgia as the wicked stepmother. Maguire takes a multitude of literary liberties with her character, but even without Maguire's assistance, she and her family are darkly fascinating characters. Legend (and history) describe Lucrezia as beautiful and intelligent, but also ruthless, decadent, and morally depraved. And, as suits the traditional purveyor of poisoned fruit, Lucrezia and her kin are infamous for their draughts (see also: The Count of Monte Cristo). I thought it was perfect "casting."

I also appreciated the fact that, although standing in for the part, in Maguire's version, Lucrezia wasn't actually the wicked stepmother. There are a number of stories (like The Wild Swans, Cinderella, and Snow White) which feature a wicked stepmother, a persecuted daughter, and a kind and loving father. Here's the thing: if Daddy's so great, why would he bring home a femme fatale and then sit by while his new squeeze tortures his beloved daughter's life out? In Mirror Mirror, Maguire introduces his villainess without implicating Bianca's dad. I liked that.

However, there was a lot about Mirror Mirror that I did not like.

I really didn't like Maguire's writing style in this book. At times it seemed oddly like he was writing in free verse. In other spots, I could have sworn he was writing in riddles. It got to the point where it seemed like nothing was stated directly; everything was oblique and drawn-out, and it became incredibly frustrating and tedious to read.

What was clear though, was how crude it was. There was everything from the nursemaid/cook having sex with a squid (what?!--and it was totally unnecessary and unrelated to the story, by the way), to a repeated mentions of bodily functions and even a description of Bianca's first menstrual period. Maguire succeeded in making the story earthy, gritty, and as un-Disney as possible, but it was just too much for my taste.

Also, I had a hard time relating to the characters or, really, caring what happened to them. I thought they were all very unsympathetic. With the exception of the Borgias, who were completely horrifying, the characters were extremely passive. I think Maguire tried to dredge up some sympathy for Lucrezia, but it wasn't enough to make up for the fact that she was a complete monster. Bianca was too remote and otherworldly to be interesting, and her father was neither heroic or compelling. In fact, much of the action wasn't action at all--events came about and people either gained or lost because of them through no merit or fault of their own.

And actually, one of the things that I liked about the book, which was Maguire grounding the fairy tale in history, messed up the ending (we all know a handsome prince--of sorts--wakes her up, right? So I'm not letting out any spoilers?). I can buy the fact that the kiss of a handsome prince will somehow counteract the effect of deadly poison when it's in a Disney fairy tale. But Maguire made his story too realistic. It's ludicrous to think that a kiss (especially considering the unromantic way that Borgian relationships were thrown around as bargaining tools) would be the antidote to a Borgia's poison in this case. And, as if he realized this but just didn't want to deal with it, Maguire didn't even attempt to explain how the kiss revived Bianca. Her resurrection was just an afterthought. ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (3/10)

Content:

Blood and gore: yes

Sex: Extreme. There are no graphic descriptions, but everything from rape to adultery and incest to beastiality are mentioned.

Language: Very crude in places. Use of the "s-word."

Lamentation by Ken Scholes

Summary and Review:

Lamentation begins with a holocaust. Windwir was a city of scholar-priests built around the knowledge, amassed for millinnia, of an ancient world. On the day the book begins, it is destroyed, along with the priests of the Androfrancine order who guarded Windwir and its secrets. All that is left of the city is a pile of ash and bones, and a column of dark smoke rising into the sky, a beacon to the surrounding people telling of the horror that has occurred.

The destruction of the city brings together a group of strangers: Neb, an apprentice to the Androfrancine order who witnesses the destruction of Windwir from outside the city walls and, in an instant, loses everything and everyone he has ever known. Sethbert, Overseer of the Entrolusian City States, rules the land bordering Windwir and claims responsibility for its destruction. The Lady Jin Li Tam is his beautiful and cunning consort and a longtime spy for her father in Sethbert's household. Rudolfo, Lord of the Ninefold Forest Houses, seems to lead a foppish, indulgent life, but in reality is a canny military leader with the complete devotion of the men he leads. Petronus is a humble, aging fisherman whose past life weighs heavy upon him, and Vlad Li Tam, father of Lady Jin Li Tam, is a powerful ruler playing a cunning game of statescraft. His machinations into the lives and destinies of others extend deeper than anyone knows.

In the wake of Windwir's destruction, these players will contend for power in a world without the leadership once vested in the Androfrancine brethren. The followers of the light must restore order to the world and salvage the light of knowledge which was once held in Windwir.

There were a few things in the book that bothered me. For instance, one of my least favorite elements of fantasy fiction is the tendency for authors to come up with hard-to-remember and impossible-to-pronounce names for the places and people populating their fantasy worlds. Ken Scholes was no exception to the rule. The names in the first dozen pages of the book nearly convinced me to give it up and move on to something else: P'Andro Whym, Xhum Y'Zir, The Wizard King Aelys, Franci B'Yot, and, my least favorite, Glimmerglam. Why do fantasy novels always have to feature places with names like Glimmerglam? To be fair, Glimmerglam is not impossible to pronounce, but still. Blech. Scholes also had an irritating habit of capitalizing things that didn't need to be capitalized and having his characters mentioning events and people without giving any background to them whatsoever. So annoying. Also, while I was very grateful that there were no explicit descriptions of sexual encounters, some of the references to them were almost worse than hearing the real thing. In describing a couple's first night together, Scholes writes that the male character "had laid his seige, bribed her sentries, eventually, taken the city." Later, when that male character turns out to be infertile or something, Scholes writes, his "soldiers might be swordless, but they needed no marching instructions." Have you ever read anything more cringe-worthy? Oh, that's just bad.

However, I did like Lamentation, much more than I initially expected to. It kept me guessing. The layers of political intrigue were complicated and intense, difficult to follow at times, but always interesting. I enjoyed unwinding the plot and discovering more of the intrigues and manipulations along with the characters. Although most of the characters were relatively standard for a fantasy novel, the elements in the book were surprising--robots, magic, dream prophecy, science, and religion. It's fitting that the weapon which destroyed Windwir was like the 10 plagues of Egypt meet the A-bomb. I thought that the character development was good. You saw the characters learn, develop, face difficult decisions, and challenge many of their fundamental beliefs. This was the case for most of the main characters, Petronus, Rudolfo, Jin Li Tam, and Neb, in particular.

There were also a number of details in the book that were clever. I liked the characters' use of sign language and the complex codes they used in their messages. I really liked many of the secondary characters as well, such as Gregoric, Grymlis, and Oriv (you'll have to read the book to find out who they are). And I liked the way the romance stood at the conclusion of the novel. Without giving too much away, it was dissatisfying in a strangely satisfying way, and seemed true-to-life. ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ (6/10)

Content:

Blood and Gore: It's a war novel brought about by the destruction of an entire city, so, yeah, there's some violence. A lot of people get their throats slit, it seems, and there is also mention of a rather unsavory group of institutionalized experts of torture.

Sex: Mention of prostitution and way too many cheesy references to sexual encounters. No explicit or graphic descriptions, however.

Offensive Language: There are a few "minor" curse words, but not many. The book also uses a number of pejorative terms for women.