Disney’s New York Times best-selling Villains series comes to life in this graphic novel adaptation of the book that started it all in this tragic tale of love and loss, the untold story of Snow White’s Wicked Queen.
The tale of the young princess, Snow White, and her evil stepmother, the Wicked Queen, is widely known—the Queen was jealous of the girl’s beauty, and this jealousy culminated in the Queen’s attempt on the sweet, naive girl’s life.
But what caused the Queen to become so, well, wicked ? Perhaps the Queen hated her stepdaughter for her resemblance to the King’s first wife. Perhaps she resented the girl for her beauty. Could the Queen simply have been born that cruel? Or does it have to do with a mysterious mirror, gifted to her upon her wedding and swirling with dark magic?
And who is the man in the mirror? Is he the reason for the Queen’s downfall?
This tragic tale of love and loss is the untold story of the Wicked Queen, a woman who just wanted to be the fairest of all...
It's pretty clear I am trying to wait until I get to the bookstore to pickup my next read instead of starting something I have on hand! Lol. I turned to my shorter reads TBR and decided on the graphic novel version of Fairest of All by Serena Valentino and illustrated by Fiona Marchbank. While it's the first in the Villains series, it's actually the second graphic novel version. I don't know if they'll be doing anymore since this one is now two years old. Oh well. They were fun to read and there were some stories I wouldn't have minded "seeing" as well as reading!
In this one, as you will guess, we get to see how the Evil Queen came to be! I found this to be one of the more tragic stories of the Villains series as the Queen wasn't at all evil to begin with. She was just a girl wanting to be loved and not being able to find it, certainly not with her father who resented her. Then one day she meets the king and love does happen.
Soon she is queen and has a beautiful new stepdaughter and all is happy, until it's not. Among the many wedding presents is one strange and oddly familiar mirror. When the queen looks upon it, she swears she sees a familiar and ghostly face. And soon begins the slow beginning of the Evil Queen.
I truly love these Villains stories as I love seeing how the villain came to be the villain we all know! Most of them started out as happy normal people before the Odd Sisters got involved. And thus begins a Disney legacy.
Marchbank's illustrations were beautiful too! I forget how edgy the style of graphic novels can be. Or at least some of the ones I read! Truly each artist gives a different edge to all these bookish tales I know in a new form! The tri-color points of black, white, and green add a stunning harsh edge to the story! I would've thought purple to be a better choice since the Queen we all know wears this, but perhaps that was being saved for Ursula, should she get a visual story too. But I am not sure if we will get to the point of more graphic novels.
It always amazes me how a decent sized novel can be reduced to a hundred pages or so into a graphic novel. Yes, things have to be cut and it's been so long since I've read the novel already but I feel like this graphic novel does a remarkable job of keeping to Valentino's original story. All is there as it should be and seeing the Odd Sisters again was another trip! I forget what they looked like in Cruella's graphic novel, but alas, that's not on hand at the moment.
Truly a stunning piece of visual work as well as written work! If you're a fan of the Villains series, I highly recommend checking out these graphic novel versions! They are as fun and delightful as their written counterparts!
Overall Rating 5/5 stars
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