This YA fantasy novel revitalizes a classic fairy tale using sophisticated characterization and macabre worldbuilding.
In Andrea Hannah's (Where Darkness Blooms) darkly atmospheric retelling of "Snow White," the princess is awakened not by a kiss, but by the shattering of her glass coffin. Twenty years have passed since Snow bit a poisoned apple, and the kingdom of Roanfrost has been consumed by a Blight, "the soil becoming so toxic that nothing would grow" while "animals mutated beyond recognition." To heal her kingdom, Snow must assume the role of Seasonkeeper and claim the "powerful growth magic" that runs in her family. Standing in her way are "poachers and beasts" and an evil queen who fascinates Snow despite her better judgment.
The Wildest Things is a bewitching and unsettling novel that starts with "Snow White" then adds themes of environmentalism (the Blight, like global warming, causes the Roanfrost to grow "hotter and hotter") and a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance in which the wicked queen, rather than being a one-dimensional antagonist, is a compelling foil and love interest. Hannah's prose delightfully renders gruesome imagery, such as when a rabbit's "fleshy pink lips curled into [an] almost human grin... exposing two rows of jagged yellow teeth" or when vultures attack in a "bloody symphony." Readers who enjoy their fantasy on the darker side will likely be captivated by this eerie and epic fairy tale. --Alanna Felton, freelance reviewer