On Apples: A Review of Snow Spell by Sonia Pereira Murphy

Okay folks, I'm just going to do a mini review for this one, as there isn't a lot to say about it. It's not long, and a normal detailed review is going to give too much away, so...

Snow Spell is a modern day(ish?) retelling of Snow White told in poetry and set in Paris. I agreed to read it at the request of the author, because I thought that whole premise sounded really, fantastically different. Whenever someone sends me something that's not just another angsty, vaguely paranormal YA, I'm all over it. Yes, please.

Positive Comments

 

The upside of this version of Snow White is that it is indeed different, and I think readers might even be a tad surprised at points. We have a love interest that actually interacts with Neve (Snow), for example, and the relationship is more layered and complex than you might expect. We also have the addition of magic, where we see that not only the evil stepmother has magic--Neve is a witch as well. Very cool. All of this, combined with the unusual style of writing makes it a winning story. I can tell you that I'm not normally a poetry fan, but I found that it worked well with the tone of this story.

Critical Comments

 

The biggest problem with this story is that it's short. It was only after I finished it that I realized that it actually breaks me rule on the length of stories I'm willing to accept for review--my policy specifically states that I don't accept anything under 100 pages, and Amazon estimates this one at 78. Oops. That policy is in place because I'm not good with short stories, I don't prefer them, and I find that they make for inadequate reviews. But, here we are. The reason that I complain about the length with this one is that I really do feel that there could have been more to this story, both in terms of depth and breadth. I would have liked to see more pages dedicated to character development, particularly with regard to Neve and her love interest. I would have liked to know more about magic and witches and how all of that works. Perhaps we are limited by format here, I can imagine that it's not easy to write a novel in prose poems, but my criticism stands.

Recommendation

 

Yes to this book if you are a fairy tale fan and you don't mind short stories. If your leery of the poetry aspect, I can say as a non-poetry fan that you should try it anyway--you won't really notice it that much. The only reason I would not recommend this is if your a stickler for detail and you like a lot of heavy development. Otherwise, it's a far story to spend an hour or two on. 3.5 stars.