Poison by Sarah Pinborough

Snow White is the sweet innocent victim.... right? Well.... that remains to be seen in this retelling we get to see through the Queens eyes and get a fresh take on this fairytale.

I personally didn't like this retelling. It starts with showing you the queen's perspective with her dislike of Snow White. Which in this story is just her nickname, and we never actually get her real name. Then approximately halfway through the book it switches perspectives to the huntsman and then again to Dreamy (one of the dwarves) and finally to the prince.

If this gave me an actual reason to dislike Snow I'd be more understanding and more inclined to like the book as it is she is vilified for being a willful human, that's it. The queen's decision to have Snow White murdered also comes out of left field because for most of the first half she just wants her married off and out of her hair.

I did like how the dwarves in this story got fleshed out and got more personality. As well as it alludes to the fact that the race of dwarves are subjugated in some way. I also enjoyed that the classic stays and poison comb were in the book.

Over all I don't recommend reading this book. The world is full of better written fairy-tale retellings. Instead of spending your time on this I recommend Stitching Snow by R. C. Lewis. It keeps the beats of the originally story while being a wholly unique entity. Or if you want a villain take on the story Fairest of All by Serena Valentino seems like a better bet (full disclosure I haven't personally read it but a few of my friends have and liked it quite a bit.)