Reviews tagging 'War'

Fairest of All by Serena Valentino

9 reviews

tiffanne11's review

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is the first book from the Villain series that I've read. I wasn't sure if this was going to be ret-con of the original story, turning the evil queen into the real victim. 
It wasn't. 
This book tells the story of the queens origins, her descent into evil, and what drove her to commit her crimes and ultimately to her death. 
A quick read, great to prepare for spooky season. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and War

ria_carina's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Als Liebhaberin der klassischen Disney-Filme habe ich mir mehr von dem Buch erwartet. Sprachlich hat es mich gar nicht abgeholt (es ist wohl eher für Kinder geschrieben, der Sprachgebrauch ist sehr 'leicht' und wiederholend); der Fortschritt der Geschichte war stolprig — manchmal zu langsam, manchmal viel zu schnell. Die Charaktere fand ich teilweise flach und lieblos hingeklatscht, manchmal aber wieder spannend. Die Grundidee selbst finde ich grandios, aber der Plot wäre eindeutig ausbaufähig gewesen. Schade, vielleicht sind die anderen Bände mehr nach meinem Geschmack.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: War

fiercereadsfiction's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Murder

Minor: War

reading_books_as_escapism_lol's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

shannasbooksnhooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"The Queen opened her arms to the child, and with Verona's gentle encouragement, Snow moved forward to accept the Queen's embrace. Snow was a little bird of a girl, such a lovely creature."
This. Book.
Part of me wants to leave my review at that, but at the same time, I want to leave a more in-depth review. So here we are.
I read one chapter the night of June 27 before going to bed, and the next day, I just devoured it. I loved this book so much. Although I do understand where some of the lesser-star-rating reviews came from. It was a bit hard to decipher her whole villain arc since the book did give the Queen a more sympathetic personality. However, this was something I was okay with and something that worked well within the story - the Queen was pushed to madness and obsession by grief and possible PTSD, but definitely trauma, to the point of being an evil queen and fulfilling the whole "evil stepmother" trope. (Also, there were some reviews that mentioned the Queen not having a name. This didn't bother me because the King didn't have a name either, so...I don't quite understand why people were bent out of shape because of this.)
Part of me also feels hypocritical for enjoying this because when the 2021 Cruella came out, I was not for it, and I couldn't make it past 50% of the way through the movie. And my reasoning for this is that Disney's trying to give a sympathetic backstory to a character (Cruella) who really didn't need it. I could argue the same with this book - an attempt to give a sympathetic backstory to a Disney villain who really didn't need it. However. I feel like it's important to note how the actual stories are handled. On one side, the 2021 Cruella movie: a mess of a story, the cast was meh at best, and Emma Thompson and the costuming were the only saving graces. On the other hand, the 2009 Fairest of All book: story is well put together while harking back to the source material, a more understandable, relatable reason for the villain arc, and overall decent character arcs and stories. I do recommend this book because it's a great take on the Evil Queen's backstory and it's so cohesive, both as its own story and standing with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. If you're a child and/or not comfortable with swearing, read the spoiler at your own risk.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Violence, Abandonment, and War

The King's three distant cousins are major bitches. I hate them so much - first taunting Snow with those stories, then blaming their muddy clothes on her - like, what the fuck?! Also, we learn that the Magic Mirror is the Queen's dead (?) dad and was an asshole in life makes so much sense and just makes me hate the Mirror more. Also, the way I ended up taking the Queen's story reading this was, because of her grief after her husband's death and trauma from verbal abuse from her father in childhood, she descended into this obsession-like madness with the Mirror and being beautiful in her father's eyes. This doesn't make her actions right or forgivable, but it does make her a more sympathetic villain with actions that were understandable. (Take Cruella as a contrast - by her adulthood, she had no real reason to want revenge because her life was good, and her "revenge" could have simply just been to be better at fashion than the Baroness and rise above the Baroness on the fashion social ladder. But no, which made no sense.)

daneyyy's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent and War

z_thatsit's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Gore, Infertility, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

syd991's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I’m not exactly sure what to say about this book. I generally enjoy the idea of twisted fairytales and retellings, but I didn’t love this one.

I didn’t overly enjoy any of the characters or story. I do feel intrigued enough to perhaps pick up another book in the series someday.

I feel like the thing that really turned me off of this book was the style, it’s very straight to the point, and I feel like I would have loved it more if there was a bit more expressiveness in the writing.

So overall, not my personal cup of tea, but I still somewhat enjoyed it, so maybe you will too.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Violence and War

jessicaoreads67's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Wasn’t what I expected. It was good but I wanted a bit more than the story we already know just told slightly different.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Violence, Murder, and War

It has brief possible triggers however nothing goes into much detail.