Sydney White and Gregory Maguire

[meganbmoore]

I didn't really go in for most teenybopper movies even when I was one, but I thought I'd check Sydney White out because I like fairy tale adaptations.  Like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, Snow White isn't  a fairy tale I've ever been particularly fond of, always prefering story like The Snow Queen, East of the Sun West of the Moon, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Seven Swans, and even The Frog Prince.  Like Ever After, though, it seems you can make me like the story if you rewrite it so that the heroine is the heroine of her own story instead of getting rescued by a prince she barely knows because she's pretty and pure and does chores.

This sets the story on a college campus where Sydney, a plumber's daughter, joines the sorority her mother was a member of only to be kicked out by Rachel Witchburn, who rules the campus, for not being "Sorority material."  And because the guy Rachel likes likes Sydney.  I may or may not love Rachel because she tried to run down the marching band.  The seven dwarves are the seven campus dorks who live in a rundown cottage on campus, and who Sydney uses to try to overthrow the absolute rule of the campus sororities and fraternities.

By pur coincidence, I've also started to read Gregory Maquire's Mirror, Mirror, which is a retelling of Snow White set in Itally in the early 1500s, with Lucrezia Borgia as the wicked stepmother.  I should be in love, but am actually a bit bored, I think mainly because there are already I think 4 narrative voices in 50 pages, and none really grab me, though I'm sticking with it, though it's mostly making me want to reread Cantarella.  For fans of Maguire's: does it get more interesting when the lead grows up?  Is this one of his better books?  Well liked?  Etc.

Comments

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

Er, I tried to read Wicked, really, really tried, but I could not get into it. It kinda sounds like maybe all of Maguire's books are like that, but I couldn't say for certain because I found Wicked to be so boring, despite an awesome lead character, that I never tried another one of his novels.

However, I ♥ because you totally reminded me that I own all three of the Twelve Kingdoms novels and that I've never read them. I'm fifty pages away from finishing the first one...and you are right, the story holds up under Tokyopop's treatment...and ....and, how much do I love this series? I'm actually going to have to rewatch the anime, now that I've been reminded how awesome it was. I had forgotten how much I loved Yoko's development as a character.

Also, because I am to lazy to go back and find the post, I love shiny retellings of the Little Mermaid, so obviously I had to go buy Evyione when I saw your post. It was worth the money, so thank you!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Is it bad that in Evyione, at this point, I'd rather she go for her cousin that the merman or angsty guy?

Twelve Kingdoms is great! The Tokyopop translations are lacking in parts (such as terminology) but they did a decent job overall.

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

Lol, I like Evyione very much and I really want her to have a good, stable, nice relationship and I can't see that happening with either the merman (who I'm pretty sure is DOOMED, DOOMED*) or with a dude named Fidelis. However, I wasn't sure about Owain till the scene near then end where he's huddled on the step of Evyione's mum's tomb jumping at shadows and trying hard to be grumpy and not scared. Then I was like, that's the bishie for me.

Yeah, I find parts of the Tokyopop stuff a little strange, but overall it just means there is MOAR to the series than there was before, and so I am happy. I really, really hope they don't cancel. I have money, well not really, but I'd give my food money for more, honest!

*At this point, I'm kinda hoping the Sea Witch and the merman get together...