Book Review: Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran

Snow, Glass, Apples written by Neil Gaiman and art by Colleen Doran

In an imaginative reversal, the Snow White story is retold with the step-mother being the hero and the step-daughter the villain. But this isn't some revisionist sympathizing with the evil queen, it's a legitimate re-write of most of the story. The queen recognizes Snow White is a danger when the step-daughter comes to her bedroom, bites her hand, and drinks her blood. The pale white skin and ruby red lips and un-aging appearance of Snow White are there because she is a vampire. The queen doesn't act immediately which turns out to be a mistake. Snow's father is more willing to offer up his blood, resulting in his death. Once her husband dies, the queen sees she has to eliminate the vampire. Her men take Snow off into the forest where they cut out her heart, which remains beating. As the years go by, the forest is depopulated of all the dwarves and nymphs and other fantasy creatures. The queen makes a garlic-enhanced apple to solve the problem. A few years later, Prince Charming comes along, with disasterous results.

The story is an interesting alternate imagining of the Snow White story. I typically have no interest in stories that make the villain the good guy (like the musical Wicked or the Angelina Jolie Maleficent movies), so I was a little worried. This book is very imaginative and surprising. The art is fantastic though far too graphic (both sex and gore) to be a kid's book. In the afterward, the artist writes about how they changed the cover to be more off-putting for children, who are not at all the intended audience. That was a wise decision. This really is a horror story with an unhappy ending.

I admire more than enjoy this book. I'm not sure who I would recommend it to and probably won't read it again, though I did find some satisfaction in it.

Mildly recommended.

Book Review: Troll Bridge by N. Gaiman et al.

Troll Bridge story by Neil Gaiman, art by Colleen Doran, and letters by Todd Klein

Neil Gaiman's short story Troll Bridge is given a graphic novel treatment. I haven't read the story but, as in many of his works, it reads like a familiar bit of mythology given a new twist. A young boy is out exploring the undeveloped countryside outside his English town (maybe it's the 1960s or 1970s?). He comes across a brick bridge under which a troll lives. The boy talks his way out of being eaten: he promises to come back when he is older, bigger, more satisfying to eat, and had a chance to see the world. A few times in his life he comes back to the bridge by accident, showing changes to his life but not much to his character. A fate worse than eating is in store for him.

The story is interesting and the art's spooky watercolor style fits well with the macabre events and tone. The main character is not as sympathetic as I'd like. His ultimate fate didn't resonate with me the way it should. I was fairly ambivalent. The whole thing is fairly short, making it a quick read.