After a hiatus of some years, the Fairy Tale series of novels by various authors, edited by Terri Windling, has made a welcome return. The first post-hiatus book is fantasist extraordinaire Tanith Lee's White as Snow, a retelling of Snow White darkly intertwined with the myth of Demeter and Persephone. If you're familiar with both Lee, winner of the August Derleth Award and several World Fantasy Awards, and Windling, also winner of several World Fantasy Awards, and the premier fantasy editor of modern times, then you would expect White as Snow to be a terrific novel. And you would be right.

In an alternate-history medieval Europe, the noble maiden Arpazia, raised in an isolated castle, finds herself the captive of the conquering general-king Draco. The only remnant of her former life is an exotic glass mirror possessed of witchy powers. She feels no connection to Coira, daughter of her forced marriage to the brutal Draco. She becomes the lover of a woodsman, Klytemno, who embodies the divine Hunter King in pagan rituals. Then Klytemno requires her to send her black-haired, snow-pale daughter Coira into the woods as a sacrifice.... --Cynthia Ward


From Publishers Weekly
Horror and fantasy veteran Lee, author of such adult fairy tale collections as Red as Blood and Forests of the Night, offers an enticingly dark and seductive reworking of "Snow White" that echoes the macabre ambience of the Brothers Grimm. Drawing on the sex and violence implicit in the original fairy tale, Lee gives a modern, introspective angle to the classic story. The evil queen, Arpazia, first appears as an innocent princess of 14, who is terrified when Draco, a rising new leader, conquers her father's castle and rapes her. Soon after he has her sister, Lilca, hanged because Lilca betrayed the castle. Draco forces Arpazia to travel with him and his barbaric army. She later bears him a girl, Candacis, whom she immediately shuns as an incarnation of evil, mumbling death spells as the infant tries to suckle her. Lee casts the evil queen in a sympathetic light, depicting her as a tortured soul who in later years begins to question her dark fate. With its melancholy shading, Lee's new twist on an old tale is sure to engage fans of dark fantasy. (Dec. 7) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review
“A true masterpiece.”—Interzone

“Particularly fine.” —Locus



Review
“A true masterpiece.”—Interzone

“Particularly fine.” —Locus



Review
“A true masterpiece.”—Interzone

“Particularly fine.” —Locus



Book Description
Once upon a time there was a mirror. . . .

So begins this dark, unusual retelling of the story of Snow White by the writer reviewers have called “the Angela Carter of the fantasy field”—a whole novel based on a beloved story, turning it into a dark and sensual drama full of myth and magic.

Arpazia is the aging queen who paces the halls of a warlord’s palace. Cold as winter, she has only one passion—for the mysterious hunter who courts the outlawed old gods of the woodland. Coira is the princess raised in the shadow of her mother’s hatred. Avoided by both her parents and half forgotten by her father’s court, she grows into womanhood alone . . . until the mirror speaks, and blood is spilled, and the forest claims her.

The tragic myth of the goddess Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, stolen by the king of the underworld, is woven together with the tale of Snow White to create a powerful story of mothers and daughters and the blood that binds them together, for good or ill. Black queen. White maid. Royal huntsman. Seven little folk who live in the forest. Come inside, sit by the fire, and listen to this fairy tale as you’ve never heard it told before.

Once upon a time there was a mirror, and a girl as white as snow. . . .



About the Author
Tanith Lee has published over fifty novels and story collections in the fantasy, science fiction and horror fields. She has won several World Fantasy Awards and the August Derleth Award. She lives near Brighton, England.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Once upon a time there was a mirror...

So begins this dark, unusual retelling of the story of Snow White by the writer reviewers have called "the Angela Carter of the fantasy field." Tanith Lee's collection of fairy stories, Red as Blood: Tales from the Sisters Grimmer, is an acknowledged classic of fairy tale literature for adults. Now this mistress of the fairy-tale form gives readers a whole novel based on a beloved story, turning it into a dark and sensual daram full of myth and magic.

Arpazia is the aging queen who paces the halls of a warlord's palace. Cold as winter, she has only one passion—for the mysterious hunter who courts the outlawed old gods of the woodland. Coira is the princess raised in the shadow of her mother's hatred. Avoided by both her parents and half-forgotten by her father's court, she grows into womanhood alone...until the mirror speaks, and blood is spilled, and the forest claims her.

The tragic myth of the goddess Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, stolen by the king of the underworld, is woven together with the tale of Snow White to create a powerful story of mothers and daughters and the blood that binds them together, for good or ill. Black queen. White maid. Royal huntsman. Seven little folk who live in the forest. Come inside, sit by the fire, and listen to this fairy tale as you've never heard it before. Once upon a time there was a mirror, and a girl as white as snow...

SYNOPSIS

Fairy tales never used to be stories meant for children only—not until the nineteenth century, when Victorian editors turned them into nursery fare. Their older versions were sunsual, violent, and startling. Their heroines weren't passive girls, their princes weren't always noble and charming, and happy endings were never guaranteed in the dark of the forest.

With this series, we bring you fairy tales in all their delicious complexity, retold at novel length by modern masters of fantasy literature. "Briar Rose," "Jack the Giant-Killer," "Snow White and Rose Red," "The Nightingale," "The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars," and "Tam Lin" are all classic tales taht have been rewoven into magical new novels by Jane Yolen, Charles de Lint, Patricia C. Wrede, Kara Dalkey, Steven Brust, and Pamela Dean in the pervious books of this acclaimed series, created by the award-winning editor and folklorist Terri Windling. Now Tanith Lee joins this stellar list of authors with a tale as bright as blood on snow.

Welcome back to the dark, wolf-haunted woods, where magic awaits.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Horror and fantasy veteran Lee, author of such adult fairy tale collections as Red as Blood and Forests of the Night, offers an enticingly dark and seductive reworking of "Snow White" that echoes the macabre ambience of the Brothers Grimm. Drawing on the sex and violence implicit in the original fairy tale, Lee gives a modern, introspective angle to the classic story. The evil queen, Arpazia, first appears as an innocent princess of 14, who is terrified when Draco, a rising new leader, conquers her father's castle and rapes her. Soon after he has her sister, Lilca, hanged because Lilca betrayed the castle. Draco forces Arpazia to travel with him and his barbaric army. She later bears him a girl, Candacis, whom she immediately shuns as an incarnation of evil, mumbling death spells as the infant tries to suckle her. Lee casts the evil queen in a sympathetic light, depicting her as a tortured soul who in later years begins to question her dark fate. With its melancholy shading, Lee's new twist on an old tale is sure to engage fans of dark fantasy. (Dec. 7) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

KLIATT

The story of Snow White is told here through the filter of the Demeter/Persephone myth. Arpazia, a pampered princess, is taken as a war prisoner, raped and forced to marry the conqueror. Her daughter Coira grows up with a distant father and a beautiful but ice-cold mother. When Queen Arpazia joins a pagan ceremony and develops a passion for the hunter-god King, she is willing to sacrifice anything, especially her unloved child of rape, to be with him. This dark, haunting rendition of a well-known story will be welcome in most fantasy collections. (The Fairy Tale series) Category: Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2000, Tor, 320p., $14.95. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Deirdre B. Root; Ref. Libn., Middletown P.L., Middletown, OH SOURCE: KLIATT, March 2002 (Vol. 36, No. 2)

Library Journal

Lee's (Saint Fire) erotic fantasy novel reinterprets the traditional "Snow White" story by focusing on the evil queen and providing the logic behind her handing over the deadly apple to her only daughter. Young Arpazia's life changes for the worse when her father's castle is invaded and she is forced to become the wife of her captor, King Draco, as well as the mother of his brutally planted seed. Betrayed and dishonored, Arpazia grows cold and refuses to nurture the child, whom she blames for her loss of innocence, beauty, and capacity to love. The child, Coira, mirrors her mother physically and emotionally, and both women suffer numerous atrocities during their lives that scar them and bring about the tragic ending. Incorporating many traditional fairy-tale elements, Lee's Gothic story is set in a medieval world filled with castles, wars, dwarves, pagan lore, and Christian ritual. The insightful introduction by noted fantasy editor Terry Windling sheds light on the numerous threads of the original tale and describes its connection to the Demeter-Persephone myth. Occasionally, the story is stilted by anachronistic language, but true fans of fantasy will be enchanted.--Jeanne M. Leiboff, New York Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Addition to this publisher's series of rewritten/reinterpreted fairy tales, from British fantasist Lee (Saint Fire, 1999, etc.), with series editor Terri Windling providing a substantial, scholarly introduction. This time, Snow White gets a makeover, as Lee blends elements from the tale's historical variants, mythology, the Brothers Grimm, and Walt Disney. Somewhere in eastern Europe, the barbarian conqueror Draco rapes Princess Arpazia after sacking her city. Later, he repents somewhat and marries her, allowing her to keep her magic mirror. Utterly withdrawn, Arpazia cares nothing save to gaze into the mirror and be reassured of her flawless, unmatched beauty; she has only the vaguest recollection of giving birth to a clone-like daughter, whom Draco names Candacis but everybody knows as Coira. Later, Arpazia, ignored by Draco, emerges from her trance to fall in love with Orion, the old religion's woodland king. But when Arpazia aborts Orion's child, Orion vanishes, and Arpazia embarks on a series of tawdry affairs. In the mirror, though, she discerns a rival, and, not recognizing Coira, arranges for her abduction. Later, Coira becomes the mistress of a band of dwarves toiling in the mines of King Hadz . . . . And so forth. What with the illogical plot and largely unsympathetic characters, even Lee's stylish prose can't breathe new vitality into the familiar old tale.