Snow by Tracy Lynn

Reading level: Young Adult
Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (October 24, 2006)
4/5 Stars

For my "fairy tale" portion of the Once Upon a Time Reading Quest, I chose Snow by Tracy Lynn, a retelling of the Snow White fairy tale set in Victorian Britain. When I say "set in Victorian Britain", I mean of course, a slightly alternate universe-y Britain, where magic is possible and can combine with science (and an evil mind) to create some rather interesting and cruel events.

The basic plot is the same as the fairy tale: a lovely girl must run away from her witch of a stepmother to keep from having her heart eaten by said stepmum, but she still falls prey to her evil plans and as a result stays in an enchanted sleep until a kiss restores her. But Ms. Lynn uses the framework of this fairy tale to build a nice, well-rounded fantasy with characters that I cared about and was sad to leave. It's a Young Adult book, and as such is light and easy to read, while still being serious enough to keep adult interest. I'm always looking for fairy tale retellings --they are one of my favorite genre's--and I'm delighted to have stumbled on this one.