Rating: 
Summary: An engrossing read, but did not reach it's full potential
Review: 'White as Snow', despite several flaws, is a standout in the decade-old `Fairy Tale Series'. Tanith Lee successfully translates the elements of the pre-Brothers Grimm versions of the Snow White fable into a wholly unique retelling.
There is an obvious gothic edge to the story - but takes it in a direction that seems neither camp nor overly maudlin.
Lee also comments on the tenuousness of a parent/child dynamic when a child realizes that youth and beauty can often (and unfairly) eclipse maturity and knowledge. Unfortunately, this exploration occurs infrequently throughout the novel.
Lee's writing is the strongest in the middle section of the novel, during Candacis transition from girl to woman and Arpazia's fall into obscurity. Arpazia's resentment, confusion and despair over being viewed as 'old' are strong on both a literal and figurative level. Candacis transformation into a naively cold young woman seems forced at times, but is nonetheless compelling.
Lee's is more focused on crafting a fairy tale for 'adults'. And the themes of neglected childhood, witchcraft, and sexual possession allow Lee to accomplish that. Unfortunately, Lee sometimes loses sight of the characters and is so intent on making people and situations 'moody and atmospheric' that the main characters can come across as unlikable.
The book did not reach its full potential, but it definitely came close in many sections. If you are looking for an atypical telling of the Snow White story, this book is for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Add one part myth, one part fairy tale, mix until smooth...
Review: A maiden is kidnapped...a mother searches for her, disguised as an old beggar woman...a deadly fruit is eaten...the maiden dies but not necessarily for good...Note that I could either be talking about the ancient tale of Demeter and Persephone, or about the fairy tale "Snow White." Tanith Lee weaves the two together masterfully in her novel, "White as Snow." As I read it, I kept reading a scene and then thinking, "Hey, WAIT a minute, that was the part where Demeter tries to make the little kid immortal", and so forth. It just fit incredibly well; the book followed both the myth and the fairy tale, making me realize just how much symbolism the two stories had in common in the first place. It is a testament to Lee's skill that after reading the book, I began to seriously wonder whether the fairy tale truly *is* a corrupted version of the myth, distorted through centuries. Whether there is any real connection, the world may never know--but Lee makes us believe there is. And as I write this, I remember that in ancient times Demeter was associated with the mirror. I deducted one star because I had trouble sympathizing with the characters; they seem emotionally cold throughout much of the book. It makes sense, given their traumatic pasts, but it doesn't make it any easier to relate to them. Still, four solid stars for a richly archetypal neo-myth.
Rating: 
Summary: White as Snow, Black as the Soul...
Review: First, I am happy to see the Faery Tale series by Terri Windling back in publication. I was sad to see it disappear years ago. I hope to see more in the series soon! Like Terri Windling's series, I am always excited when I see a new Tanith Lee novel. I had just finished reading Wolf Tower (which is a wonderful book) and saw White as Snow was due out soon...I waited with much anticipation for the book's arrival and I am happy to say I wan't disappointed by Tanith Lee's retelling of Snow White. This is one of her many reworkings of this particular fairy tale, but what makes this one different is that it is also a powerful and ingenious parallel of the Persephone/Demeter myth. As usual, Lee's prose is gorgeous and the story is challenging and unpredictable. There are a lot of layers to this novel and it deserves to be read and reread so that one can savor the imagery and emotion that this book builds. I particularly liked the dark psychology of the book--the war between mother and daughter, the war fought within oneself, the war between the sexes...everything resonates in this book and scenes continue to echo in my mind. This book belongs on the shelf next to Deerskin,by Robin McKinley and The Armless Maiden, an anthology by Terri Windling, for it is a powerful novel dealing with the more common, darker emotions of humanity.
Rating: 
Summary: Horror, not fantasy
Review: Having loved the previous novels in the fairy tale series, I had great hopes for this novel. I thought that using the Demeter/Persephone myth was a great idea. Unfortunately, the characters were seemed to be empty caricatures and the story much more horror than fantasy - I wish editors would stop linking the two genres.
Rating: 
Summary: Try "Jack of Kinrowan" instead.
Review: I generally really like retellings of fairy tales, but this one fell flat for me. The mixing of the two stories, Snow White and the Persephone & Demeter story of Greek mythology was interesting conceptually, but didn't seem to work well overall. Actually, it seemed more the latter than the former, when it was supposed to be the other way around. I wanted to sympathise with Coria, but she was written so distanced that I just couldn't. Everyone acted crazy and cruel. Maybe that was the point, but it failed to reach me in any meaningful way.
"Jack of Kinrowan", by Charles de Lint is of the same fairy tale rewriting collective as "White as Snow" and was a much more enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: Not Lee's best work, but pretty wonderful nonetheless
Review: I have to admit, I didn't enjoy this book =quite= as much as I'd hoped I would, but I still found it profoundly moving and thought-provoking -- even a work that isn't Lee's best is still pretty darn wonderful. Neither "Snow White" nor her mother are particularly "likable" characters, and yet you do feel for them in your bones even as you question their actions and emotions. The only pitfall is that Arpazia and Coira are so incredibly emotionally detached from the world around them, it creates a sense of detachment in the reader -- but nothing that will really keep you from enjoying this poetic, beautifully written book. Nothing is simple in this tale; it is as twisted and murky as the black wood. The way the classic fairy tale entwines with the Demeter/Persephone myth is novel and well crafted. If you're looking for an offbeat, challenging, emotionally wrenching rendition of the Snow White tale, I definitely recommend this work.
Rating:
Summary: Tanalizing
Review: I love it.Ms.Tanith Lee has entrhalled me by taking me back to my favorite child hood Fairy Tale and entranced it into a much more darker mythological tale.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting story, but Lee won't let her characters speak
Review: I so badly wanted to give "White As Snow" five stars. At first it reminded me somewhat of Gregory Maguire's better novels. Of course, Lee tends to write far darker fiction than Maguire. But both have put their personal spin on fairy tales to create, in many cases, a more interesting story. While "White As Snow" is definitely interesting, it is full of unbelievable characters who tend to fit into only four types: Passive females (Arpazia and Coira), cruel and inhumane males (Draco, Hadz and others), window dressing (old crones, maids, dwarves, etc.) and two unbelievably saintly males who don't exist in the real world (Klymeno and Hephaestion). Both Queen Arpazia and Coira (Snow White) are victims which seems to cause their passivity. On a pyschological level I see what Lee was doing. Their behavior is not that uncommon amongst survivors of abuse. It does not, however, make interesting fiction to read about two women who are so utterly passive or void of personal motive except for, perhaps, jealousy (Arpazia). The strongest characters in the book, the evil men, are easily the most rounded. Lee got that part right. The window dressing characters, for the most part, belong in any story. It's just that here there are so many â€" far too many in fact. Arpazia is helped by the woods people - why? What is their motivation? Because the plot demands it? Coira's nurse maids and servants are flat as a pancake. One maid, Ulvit, goes out her way to help Coira as she matures and grows. We never find out why. In the end Coira distrusts Ulvit, the one who helped her the most, and she is discarded on the heap of multiple other "unimportant" characters. The two positive male characters in the book - Arpazia's Klymeno and Coira's Hephaestion - are characters straight out of a romance novel. When Klymeno first meets Arpazia he sexually pleases her over and over and never receives pleasure in return. When she seeks him out a second time he literally asks permission to pleasure himself. He is so utterly "perfect" that he never protests when she aborts his child. Hephaestion, although more filled out and therefore less saintly, suffers the same result. Even though he _wants_ to be a father he tells Coira, before stating his desires, that she is obviously free to abort her child if that is her wish. It seems obvious that Lee is pro-choice. I don't have a problem with that. What angered me was that Lee seemed so intent on insisting that abortion was so completely a woman's choice that any thoughts or feelings from a man are utterly unimportant. Doesn't a man have a right to say, "I would like to be a father to this child . . . but the choice is ultimately yours?" Lee wouldn't let these two men even this small amount of personal desire. The issue of abortion is certainly not the focus of the story. However, it is a symptom of Lee's weakness in this novel overall. Far too often characters and developments within the story are there because the plot demands it or it appears to be Lee's own personal personal view. The characters themselves seemed to have been squelched by Lee, as if she possibly didn't want to hear what they had to say.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting story, but Lee won't let her characters speak
Review: I so badly wanted to give "White As Snow" five stars. At first it reminded me somewhat of Gregory Maguire's better novels. Of course, Lee tends to write far darker fiction than Maguire. But both have put their personal spin on fairy tales to create, in many cases, a more interesting story. While "White As Snow" is definitely interesting, it is full of unbelievable characters who tend to fit into only four types: Passive females (Arpazia and Coira), cruel and inhumane males (Draco, Hadz and others), window dressing (old crones, maids, dwarves, etc.) and two unbelievably saintly males who don't exist in the real world (Klymeno and Hephaestion). Both Queen Arpazia and Coira (Snow White) are victims which seems to cause their passivity. On a pyschological level I see what Lee was doing. Their behavior is not that uncommon amongst survivors of abuse. It does not, however, make interesting fiction to read about two women who are so utterly passive or void of personal motive except for, perhaps, jealousy (Arpazia). The strongest characters in the book, the evil men, are easily the most rounded. Lee got that part right. The window dressing characters, for the most part, belong in any story. It's just that here there are so many â€" far too many in fact. Arpazia is helped by the woods people - why? What is their motivation? Because the plot demands it? Coira's nurse maids and servants are flat as a pancake. One maid, Ulvit, goes out her way to help Coira as she matures and grows. We never find out why. In the end Coira distrusts Ulvit, the one who helped her the most, and she is discarded on the heap of multiple other "unimportant" characters. The two positive male characters in the book - Arpazia's Klymeno and Coira's Hephaestion - are characters straight out of a romance novel. When Klymeno first meets Arpazia he sexually pleases her over and over and never receives pleasure in return. When she seeks him out a second time he literally asks permission to pleasure himself. He is so utterly "perfect" that he never protests when she aborts his child. Hephaestion, although more filled out and therefore less saintly, suffers the same result. Even though he _wants_ to be a father he tells Coira, before stating his desires, that she is obviously free to abort her child if that is her wish. It seems obvious that Lee is pro-choice. I don't have a problem with that. What angered me was that Lee seemed so intent on insisting that abortion was so completely a woman's choice that any thoughts or feelings from a man are utterly unimportant. Doesn't a man have a right to say, "I would like to be a father to this child . . . but the choice is ultimately yours?" Lee wouldn't let these two men even this small amount of personal desire. The issue of abortion is certainly not the focus of the story. However, it is a symptom of Lee's weakness in this novel overall. Far too often characters and developments within the story are there because the plot demands it or it appears to be Lee's own personal personal view. The characters themselves seemed to have been squelched by Lee, as if she possibly didn't want to hear what they had to say.
Rating:
Summary: Great descriptions but heartless tone
Review: I was left oddly cold by this book. I love that authors can rework fairy tales, but usually there is one character with whom you can sympathize. I had no such feeling here. Tainth Lee is obviously an intelligent author- the idea of combining the Demeter-Persephone myth with that of Snow White is clever but I had no connection to the characters, who mainly seem like ideas, not people.
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