First Bite: The Wicked Queen's Tale

The Dark Woods #1

by Laura Briggs, S.E. Steinbrenner

In the Dark Woods dwells an Evil which no man perceives. In her tower dwells a Dark Queen whose beauty deceives. In the deeds of her Huntsman, revenge was begun. But in the heart of a Maid…it may all be undone. Third in The Dark Woods Series, Snow White’s Wicked Queen and her dark history creates a tale of a cursed princess, a mirror’s prophecy, and a timid young girl’s power to destroy the Fairest…and Foulest…of all. Excerpt from First "Have you ever tended a forest before?" the queen asked. "Never," answered the man across from her. He shuffled his weight slightly, a heavy bow and quiver of arrows weighing his shoulders. A mask cut from fraying sackcloth covered most of his face, except his eyes and mouth. On the other side of the morning chamber, Fortulla caught snatches of their conversation. She crept closer, feeling a strange sense of curiosity in the stranger‘s communication. His appearance had been startling when she admitted him. Cloth face above earth-stained garments, two wild hares dangling from his game bag, lifeless eyes flat against fur. Her eyes drifted to the crack between the wood planks and the frame. It was wide enough to see the rich red of her queen's robes, the stained coat of the young man before her. None of the castle maids would come near him, Fortulla knew well. She was half-afraid herself as she showed him into the main hall, distance falling between her quick steps and his slower tread. "I will see if her Highness will speak to you," she had said. In the shadows beneath the fabric holes, she saw a pair of eyes move, a pale color like the river before a storm. The only acknowledgement she received; although Jean had spoken to the man only moments before herself. Now, before Queen Lillian, he had found his voice. The grating sound of metal on wood, a hoarse cough before he spoke again. "There's where I live. Most days and nights I never leave. No one knows the woods as well as me, no others can find the way there and back as me."

Genres: Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Ebooks

662 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2011

About the author

Laura Briggs is the bestselling author of multiple lighthearted romance books, including the Amazon UK Top 100's LATE TO THE WEDDING and the popular A WEDDING IN CORNWALL series. Since her debut with Pelican Book Group's inspirational novella ONLY IN NOVELS, she has worked both with publishers and as an independent author, as well as partnering with others writers, including working under a pen name in other genres. She loves vintage fashion, classic movies, British melodrama, and spending time with her pets.

Reviews

[Elizabeth(The Book Whisperer) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book, well I didn't! It was poorly written, hard to follow in a lot of places, and was badly in need of a editor!. I was so seduced by the description, I could not wait to read it. Well, I was disappointed. This book was full of incomplete sentences, run on sentences, misuse of words, and misspelled words. The story could have been great, but the sloppy, poorly written format made it hard to read. This book has two more in the series. I have them on my Kindle, but I do not think I will be reading them.

[Rach · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has its gruesome moments and the queen is TRULY EVIL - I kept finding myself saying please there has to be some good somewhere, finally there was. If you enjoy very dark stories then give this series a try. If you are looking for light reading, this isn't it. If you are prone to nightmares, don't read it before bedtime and with your windows open while some old hag is running around the neighborhood.

[Nik · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the cover art and no description I was expecting something silly and fun. I was not expecting the darkness of this tale.
Lilith was the first witch, making a pact with the dark prince for eternal youth and beauty so long as she sacrifices and drinks the heart blood of innocent maidens.
The story is very dark covering Liliths deal with the Prince of Darkness and insights into the mayhem she has reaked over her time, from the begining of time and the story of how she became the Wicked Queen known in the tale of Snow White.
We are given snippets of other novels based on witches which relate to the chapter we are about to read and the author has proper witch folklore to bring her witches to life.
The opening sequence gives us a first glimpse of the Queens current helper, a midwife that brands baby girls at their birth marking them for the Queens sacrifice. This first incident takes us to a dark place and sets the tone for the rest of the story.
We are given a backstory for the Huntsman and see more of him after his infamous scene with Snow White.
We are introduced to the old midwives assistant, a poor malnurished girl who is beaten and tormaented by the hag for as long as she remembers.
We meet Snow White following her story as far as the Queens tale takes us.
If you are looking for a retelling of Snow White than this is not for you, we do not find out Snow Whites full story, we are following the Queen, the Huntsman and the Midwife and her Assistant.
This tale brings the smaller characters to life as the main characters and main characters of the story are set back.
You should like this if you enjoyed the movie Snow White and the Huntsman and wanted to know more about the doomed Wicked Queen.

[Jacqui · Rating 3 out of 5]

GET AN EDITOR!!!

I really enjoyed this book. As somebody who adores fairy tales and particularly loves darker versions, this was good. Interesting to have the story of Snow White featuring the Wicked Queen as the protagonist. BUT...if you are going to call it "The Wicked Queen's Tale", then it should ideally be her voice that speaks to the reader. She was a titular character, true, but I felt at times like Briggs had a great initial idea...but then Snow White is just replaced with the servant girl, Fortulla, so in reality, while there were a whole lot of really good descriptive passages and scene-building, it was yet another rebelling from a damsel-in-distress type character.

Also, the author needs to do her research. She sets one scene in Thebes, which is in Ancient Greece, and then in the next sentence, she refers to Anubis, hieroglyphics and the God Horus, all of whom are Egyptian, not Greek. His name is spelt "Horus"not "Horis"!

All in all, quite a good story, but I found it hard to follow because the scenes kept jumping around. Tell your readers who you're referring to. There were too many chapters that began with "He", instead of "The Huntsman" or whoever it is. If you're not specific and you have a lot of characters, when you shift scenes, this can be confusing for your reader. That's even before we address the MULTITUDE of places where there were full stops in the middle of sentences where there should have been commas, missing or misspelt words and other grammatical errors. This breaks your reader's concentration, and is just plain annoying.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a lot. Too much almost. I went into it very interested and "gung ho" loving fairytale retellings and hearing different sides of the story. This version of the wicked queen's story is deep and multilayered with so many elements and characters packed in it becomes a bit overwhelming. It simply went on for too long, and while some parts had me anxiously turning pages, wanting to uncover more of the Queen's secrets, a lot of parts just ran dry and dragged on. This is NOT Snow White 's story for certain, living up to the title. It's a shame I couldn't bring myself to finish this book because the promise is obvious. You can tell the author really delved deep into her Queen's background and story and that's something I usually hold in high esteem. Again, I just think she just gave us too much, if there's such a thing.

I feel like this book is either hit or miss. You can either stick with it or you can't. The material can get a little graphic but again, the only reason I put it down was because I simply kept losing interest too much. If you like lots of description, depth, and a book that makes you dissect and double think things, you'll like this book, but for some it will just be tiring.

[Laksamee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read from the dark perspective of a fairy tale. The reader has no sympathy for the evil queen, she really is evil. I found the interwoven connection to biblical figures interesting. However, the characters lacked depth despite this being an alternative telling. The queen is evil, and there is some history behind that, but instead of filling that background out the reader is given repeated examples of all the evil things the queen has done throughout the history of mankind, with no more motivation than that she made a deal with the devil and is obsessed with staying young/beautiful. The heroine of the story does provide an interesting counterpoint, (the unwilling witch apprentice) however she is more carried along by the inevitable events of the story rather than forging her own path. There were details I enjoyed (the apples) however I never felt drawn into the world. It was disappointing to not see the character grow beyond the horror of their situations, instead sort of coping as best they can and then getting a happy ending out of it.

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Bite: The Wicked Queen's Tale" is a bit like "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead", making minor characters major and major characters minor. There's an interesting take on the origin of the wicked queen, bringing an ancient story into the mix. Some familiar characters are here, such as the Huntsman, and new characters, too, such as Fortulla, the witch's assistant.

This tale was nicely done--in fact, this is too good a story to suffer from mistakes like: "Swiftly, silently, for their was no time to lose." Arrrrrgh! Ok, ok, I'm a grammar/spelling Nazi and the misuse of their-there-they're makes me crazy. As does excessive use. Of incomplete sentences. For emphasis. Clean this stuff up and this story would be 5 stars.

[Lovisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love to read and I love the story of Snow White. This book was well written in the sense of beautiful and colorful language, but it lacked the magic that is supposed to capture the reader. I found that the storyline was difficult to follow and found myself rereading chapters. The characters lacked charisma, although I did think there was an attempt to give the characters a certain sense of appeal. As I read I kept forgetting who this or that character was and which character I was reading about at the moment. I honestly trudged through this book.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

The summary made the book sound interesting. A classic fairy tale from the point of view of the evil Queen. The book is from two view points the evil Queens and a maid. It was really hard to get through the first part of the book. The author has you go back and forth between the two characters. I got through the book. I just did not care for it. I mean you take a minor chacter from the story and a non-existant one and make them appear to be more heros in the book. Plus the author changed some of the story that we know. I don't think I will read any more books in the series.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book is intended for people who like fantasy and twists on fairy tales that don't really relate to the original story. I wouldn't recommend this book, because it wasn't really connecting to the original story. I think the descriptions could be a little better too. The description looks really good, but looks can be Deceiving.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 - 3 stars

This was an ok book. I felt that the beginning was slow and often times confusing because it changed from one character's point of view to another's and it took some time figuring out who was the lead at the moment. However, once it picked up speed, I liked it much more.

[Bex Fahey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a little disappointing with this book. The premise was interesting but the story was really incongruous and hard to follow at several spots. The ending was abrupt and unresolved. I don't feel compelled to read more books in the series.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult to read in places, but still a good read.

[Melissa Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew?

[Ashley Ginder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! I really liked reading from the Step Mother's point of view. Really put a new twist on a classic fairy tale!

[Steph H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Watch the movie - it moves faster