Rating: 
Summary: Mirror tells its own tale
Review: Readers of "Mirror, Mirror" expecting a regurgitated version of Snow White will be disappointed with this fanciful tale. However, fans of historical fiction, fantasy, political intrigue and Gregory MacGuire will be captivated by this richly-told story of the inhabitants of Montefiore in renaissance Italy. MacGuire weaves tales of the Borgia family (legends in their own right, with a penchant for poison) into the story to lend it credibility - after all, the best fairy tales have their basis in truth. It is fitting that the illegitimate children of a corrupt pope would send an innocent man off to find a relic to further their own interests, and just as logical that they would hold sway over his household and family until his return. Bianca ("Snow White") is not some sugar-coated Disney fabrication, but rather a young girl caught up in the tempest of her times, reacting to situations over which she has no control. Just because MacGuire rewrites traditional stories doesn't mean he has to follow the same worn-out path to the finish. This is a simply excellent novel and quite the page-turner. I would highly recommend this novel to any educated reader who yearns for an adventure.
Rating: 
Summary: Not recommended
Review: This book reads like a PBS biography, complete with the boring narration. It seems that Maguire wanted to tell the story of some actual historical, Spanish and Italian figures, and so looked through a pile of fairy tails to see which one might lend itself best to the task. The Author's ability to tell a story is well documented, however he strikes out with this one. I found the story uninteresting and wrestled with just putting it down and giving up a few times. I felt very little for any of the characters, and even less for Maguire's attempt at forcing me to learn about a few foot notes in history regarding corrupt Popes (big deal), bastard children, and obscure families of the 15th century. I found myself longing to accompany one of the main characters, as she glides into hell on a Venesian gondola, however Maguire fails to even delivery a further look in that direction, but just teases with a glimpse, and left me wondering why I bothered. What I expected in picking up this novel was an experience not unlike the wonderful "Wicked, the life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West." What I got was a hard to follow, bland, "A Brief Moment in History of Itallian Aristocracy- 101."
Rating:
Summary: Wicked fans: don't bother with the brilliant Mirror, Mirror
Review: This novel is far more sophisticated and thoughtful, and a more demanding read than Wicked, with its primitive, politically correct concepts that really amount to nothing new or original. Mirror, Mirror is not a story of Snow White -- we all know by now that Maguire concentrates on peripheral characters, not the traditional heroes -- it focuses on the misery and self-hatred that motivates the Wicked Stepmother -- in this story, Lucrezia Borgia, with whom, of course, the author took liberties, as he would with any historical character. This novel is a complex, intricate portrait of what seems like an unforgivable person, yet she can break your heart without making you want to forgive her. Through the dwarves subplot, Maguire also examines humanity and self-identity that sometimes can be achieved only through the eyes of another. If you *loved* Wicked, just rent the Disney version of Snow White; it'll make you happier. Mirror, Mirror is for well-read grownups with functional attention span.
Rating: 
Summary: Weighed in the balance and found wanting
Review: This overly decadent novel has its good and bad points. It straddles the line between classic snow white fairy tale and historical farce, not quite blending the two but awkwardly searching for something that ultimately wasn't there. Unfortunately after reading "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" I have come to expect more from this author. The novel is interesting and entertaining enough but the reader doesn't develop any empathy for the characters. Bianca (our Italian/Spanish Snow White) never really develops into a woman and is kept a blithering startled child the entire novel. I liked how the Apple was altered to have come from the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden which gave the story more of an epic mythological theme. But to take something sacred like that and then have the infamous murderess Lucrezia Borgia daughter of one of the most corrupt popes (Alexander VI) takes away from the divinity that the author is going for by having a sacred relic in the plot in the first place. The story line didn't flow particularly well, and it did have some interwoven pieces from classic Italian fairy tales but it just didn't satisfy. Also I feel like the dwarfs were particularly dehumanized and he really sucked all the fairy tale charm out of the story line. I'm reading his other book "The Dream Stealer" currently and finding it much more thought provoking and satisfying, as with that novel the characters are not hapless victims and his plot has more integrity.
Rating:
Summary: What a fairy tale should be!
Review: Villains, heroines, mysteries, good vs evil, innocence vs guile. Maguire has taken the building bricks of our childhood tales to re-envision Snow White. And what a vision he creates! I appreciated the complexity of his characters, although...Snow...er...Bianca was probably the least formed. Innocence is just so, so boring. Now Lucretia, that is a character! Maguire delves deeply into her own mind, her motives, conjuring (if you'll forgive the word) a wry sympathy for the "witch." And the dwarves, morphing from mineral to animal to philosopher with each turn of the page. Perfect! I find it difficult to set aside a time to read. But I had no problems finding the time for "Mirror Mirror." It held me rapt until the last horrifying moments of one character's life and the "happily ever after" (maybe...) satisfactions of another's.
Rating:
Summary: As good as "Wicked"and "...Stepsister"
Review: What a great year Gregory Maguire must be having. His novel "Wicked" has been adapted into a Broadway musical, and has opened to mostly positive reviews, and his new novel reminds people what he was so good at in the first place. His last book, "Lost" a modern ghost story seemed to be written by a competely different person from the man who reinvented both "The Wizard of Oz" and "Cinderella". He has now returned to his fairy tale roots and concocted his own spin on the Snow White story. Blending the factual Italian Borgia family with a land owner named Don Vincente and his beautiful young daughter named Bianca, Maguire manages to tread very closely to the story many people are familiar with. The one area he diverges from is the dwarves. Gone are Bashful, Sleepy and Doc, and instead are creatures more of the earth than human.I also thought his "apple" was both inventive and clever. A well told retelling.
Rating:
Summary: As good as "Wicked"and "...Stepsister"
Review: What a great year Gregory Maguire must be having. His novel "Wicked" has been adapted into a Broadway musical, and has opened to mostly positive reviews, and his new novel reminds people what he was so good at in the first place. His last book, "Lost" a modern ghost story seemed to be written by a competely different person from the man who reinvented both "The Wizard of Oz" and "Cinderella". He has now returned to his fairy tale roots and concocted his own spin on the Snow White story. Blending the factual Italian Borgia family with a land owner named Don Vincente and his beautiful young daughter named Bianca, Maguire manages to tread very closely to the story many people are familiar with. The one area he diverges from is the dwarves. Gone are Bashful, Sleepy and Doc, and instead are creatures more of the earth than human.I also thought his "apple" was both inventive and clever. A well told retelling.
Rating: 
Summary: Lyrically written with interesting take on Lucrezia Borgia
Review: When Cesar Borgia sends Bianca de Nevada's father on a mission to recover the remaining apples from the tree of knowledge, Lucrezia Borgia agrees to watch over his daughter. But his mission takes Bianca's father away for years and, as she grows older, Bianca attracts the attention of Cesar. Lucrezia's jealousy excited, the Borgia pays a hunter to kill Bianca in the forest--where she is watched over by seven dwarves. Oh, and there's a magical mirror--an artifact that the dwarves badly want returned to them. Author Gregory Maguire has retold the story of sleeping beauty, set in late renassaince Italy. The beautiful and much abused Lucrezia makes an intriguing villain--sympathetic but capable of acts of complete selfishness and cruelty. Maguire's writing adds a lyrical and mystical quality to the story, making the magical appear normal and part of everyday life. Beyond Lucrezia, the dwarves are fascinating constructs. The seven (or eight) dwarves are on a doubtful journey toward humanity but retain much of their mineral past. Through their care of Bianca and her father, the dwarves achieve individual identities, names, and the enfirmities of age and aging. Bianca remains something of a non-character spending most of her time asleep, or trustingly opening the door to another of Lucrezia's attempts to kill her. Maguire's writing is strong enough, and his characterizations of Lucrezia and the dwarves interesting enough to compensate for a story that consists of the primary character sleeping most of the book away.
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining re-telling of a classic fairytale
Review: When Vincente de Bevada requested some land from Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, little did he know the price they would demand of him. When they arrived years later at his home of Montefiore, Cesare demanded an almost impossible task: to retrieve a branch from the Tree of Knowledge that still bears three perfect apples. With threats to his home and family, Vicente reluctanly agreed, leaving his daughter Bianca in the care of Lucrezia. As the years passed, Cesare became enchanted with the young Bianca, much to the dismay of his sister, Lucrezia. In a fit of jealousy, she hired a huntsman to take Bianca into the woods to get rid of her so beginning Gregory Maguire's unique spin on the Snow White story. It's filled with all the things that everyone already knows about Snow White: the magic mirror, a poisoned apple, the seven dwarfs (though they aren't the cute ones from the movie). Yet, Maguire has set them in a real place, 16th century Italy, with real historical figures playing major roles, such as Lucrezia Borgia as the great wicked-stepmother-type. She's perfect inthe part, especially with the notorious background of the Borgias. It reads almost as if it were a real chapter in the Borgia history. I found the story incredibly entertaining and didn't want to put the book down once I began. Taking a well-known story and making it new is a difficult task which Maguire handles with ease, much like in his other works. A fine and entertaining book.
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