A dark and vivid retelling of Snow White transposed to the Italy of the Borgias.Lucrezia is the evil stepmother and five-year-old Bianca de Nevada grows into the role of Snow White.

Vicente, a minor landlord beholden to Lucrezia and her brother/lover Cesare, unwillingly leaves his motherless daughter to go on a seemingly futile errand for Cesare.Journeying to Greece to seek out a branch of the holy Tree of Knowledge, Vicente languishes for years in the dungeon of the very monks who possess the relic.While her father is gone, Bianca develops into a lovely young woman, attracting Cesare's attention.

Seeing this, Lucrezia orders her killed and sends a young hunter into the woods with the familiar instructions.Adding much historical flavor and returning to the edgy eroticism of the fairy tale, Maguire invests the journeys of the Borgias, Bianca, and Vicente with a compelling urgency.Readers will be intrigued by the new story and yet curious as to how the familiar elements are brought in.

Sometimes seven, sometimes eight, the dwarves, slowly awakening to their possibilities, are droll and great fun to listen to.The language has an old-fashioned quality and the point of view shifts frequently, but teens who continue to the end will learn much of medieval Italy and a little of human nature, and have a new respect for the old tale.This is a great addition to the Maguire shelf.