The tough older sister of Snow White’s purehearted mother Queen Katherine, Ingrid’s jealousy encourages her to seek the advice of the magic mirror, and its malign magic provokes her into destroying the only person that she truly cared about. In 'Mirror, Mirror', the sections focusing on Queen Ingrid end up being the strongest. 'Mirror, Mirror' adopts a structure similar to the 2015 Frozen retelling 'A Frozen Heart', alternating between a straightforward retelling from the POV of the heroine, and chapters which outline the backstory and perspective of the villain. However, this does lead to a sense that she is not being ambitious enough, which is 'Mirror, Mirror’s fatal flaw. Calonita’s three books are the shortest in the series, and her simple approach is pretty refreshing in a medium that often tries to go as big as possible.
Jen Calonita’s first story in the A Twisted Tale collection, 'Mirror, Mirror' expands the tale of Snow White and fleshes out the characters, but never goes to the same level of excess as 'As Old as Time' or 'A Whole New World'. As Snow White’s resistance movement gains popularity, Queen Ingrid comes up with an especially fiendish strategy to lure her enemy into a trap… Coming across seven dwarves, the friendly Prince Henri, and an important figure from her past, Snow White resolves to return to her kingdom and reclaim her throne from Queen Ingrid. Acting on the advice of her terrifying magic mirror, Queen Ingrid decides to have Snow White murdered, but the guard she hired refuses to go through with it, and Snow White escapes into the forest. Plot: Snow White is the orphaned daughter of the late Queen Katherine, trying to make the best of life under her tyrannical aunt, Queen Ingrid. What If: The Evil Queen poisoned the prince? (Note: These mini reviews contain mild spoilers, including revealing a few twists and providing details from the climactic moments of the books.)īased On: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves