Customer Reviews

Mira, Mirror

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Mira, Mirror is one of those rare things - an imaginative fantasy that is also a deep novel about the human spirit.

Our family read it aloud together on a car trip, and our 24-year-old daughter loved it as much as our ten-year-old. And we parents loved it, if possible, even more.

It's not for the faint of heart - Harrison pulls no punches. People do some bad things. But they also learn hard lessons, and things don't go at all as you might expect.

In fact, even though it's about the magic mirror, it's only slightly about the Snow White story. Its range is far broader than that. This is a classic; you don't want to miss it.

Mira is a witch and so is her adopted sister, an ambitious young woman who steals life from other creatures and uses the magic to make herself more beautiful. Her thirst for more beauty is never quenched, even when she transforms Mira into the magic mirror. Using the mirror to keep herself beautiful and young, the sister becomes the witch queen. But when the queen falls, Mira is stranded in mirror form until a runaway peasant girl saves her. The peasant girl is taken in by a merchant and his daughter. Using her magic, Mira transforms the peasant girl into the merchant's daughter-and vice versa. Each girl assumes the other's role, seeing their lives from a different point of view. In a series of events, the girls and the mirror learn the meaning of trust and friendship. (M/H) Perfect for both young adult and adult readers of fantasy, MIRA, MIRROR is a gripping read with strong characters, the story of a woman who can show everyone a reflection but struggles to see herself for the person she truly is.

This incredibly creative and wonderful book had me hooked from the moment I realized it was told from the mirror's point of view. It's a great imaginitve reinvention of Snow White that explores servitude, friendship and freedom with a dash of good old girl action and adventure. I was continually surprised and delighted by the twists and turns that Ms. Harrison took while reading this book. For any lover of fantasy, fractured fairy tales and great writing, this is a must read! Bravo!

This is the story of the Wicked Queen's magic mirror, from the story of Snow White-from the point of view of the mirror. A young girl, unattractive, unwanted by her father, stepmother, and half-siblings, she's apprenticed to the local witch, and becomes completely enchanted by the witch's other apprentice, and will do anything for her-anything at all.

The other, more talented and more ruthless, apprentice is, of course, the future Wicked Queen, and she enchants Mira into a mirror and gives her just enough magic to be useful in making and keeping her Queen, but not enough ever to escape the trap of the mirror. But Snow White is just one adventure in the long life of the mirror, who has a lot to learn not just about gaining enough magic to free herself from the mirror, but also about the moral lessons her "sister" the Wicked Queen taught her.

Enjoyable.

I wasn't that into this book. The first page or so really grabbed me--I really like the way the author began it: "The bargain was quickly made between my mother and the witch..." But that was the peak of my interest. I am an obsessive fan of fantasy fiction and fairy tales, and the reason why I read this book was because the story topic intrigued me. I have never read or even heard of another book that is written from the point of view of a magic mirror, specifically the one that belonged to Snow White's stepmother. But half way through the book, I was no longer anxious to turn the pages. And I found that the end did not move me very much--or surprise me--but don't get me wrong, it had a good message about love between sisters. Perhaps the reason I was disappointed was that I was expecting a young adult novel (that's the section in which I found it in the library). I think Harrison's writing style is simple and juvenile--good for younger kids (I am 18). And a lot of the ideas in it have been done before, over and over, like the idea of swapping appearances, being victim to an arranged marriage, etc, and was there a hint of Beauty and the Beast in there too, or was that just me? Anyway, this was a rather less satisfying read for me; I probably would have enjoyed it more five years ago. I really do think it would be great for preteens and younger teens. A creative idea for a novel.

This book grabbed me right from page one and didn't let go until the end. I loved the setup. Enjoyed following these girls around and even squirmed at some of the decisions they had to made. But the icing on the cake was how it all turned out for Mira.

Do you remember the magic mirror in the fairy tale, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"? Where you ever curious about where the magic mirror came from, or who was in it? Well, in this truely original fairy tale, you find out how a young witch named Mira was put into the magic mirror, and how she has been trapped there for over a hundred years. This story begins around the time of Snow White, but most of the story takes place a hundred years later, when Mira tries to find a way to escape the mirror and return to human form. This story is not a sanitized "Disney" version of a fairy tale, but a true "dark" adventure like the original fairy tales written by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm. This fairy tale is not for the very young, or faint of heart ... but for those who yearn for unique adventure about a girl who was never shown love in her human life, but learns how to love and be loved while imprisoned in a magic mirror. The recommended age for this book is for grades 7-9, but I really wouldn't recommend this book to anyone under the age of 14, unless they where emotionally mature, because of the "dark" overtone of the story. This story is truely a "work of art" for all fans of the classic fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm.

This was a really great story that almost anyone can learn a good lesson from. I read it in about two days! It puts a new face on the witch queen in Snow White and of course, the magic mirror. It'll make you laugh AND cry!

This book was amazing! It told the story of the relationship between the magic mirror and the wicked queen. About the love and life of sisterhood and new found love. But most of all it told of understanding.

I found the premise of Mira, Mirror to be extremely creative, and I really like the message at the heart of the book (that human love is greater than any magic) and the exploration of the bond between sisters. Unfortunately, there were other things about the book that just kept me from truly liking it. To begin with, I had a hard time finding sympathy for any of the characters for a long while. Mira's sister is, obviously, selfish and cruel, but Mira (though she is acting out of a lack of trust from extensive emotional wounds) is hardly any better as she manipulates those around her for her own gain throughout much of the story. Talia, the merchant's daughter, is also selfish, as well as spoiled, and Ivana, the only considerate character, is rather thick-headed the majority of the time. The face switch can be kind of confusing, as well. Of course, the characters' personalities get better as the tale progresses, as does the discerning of who is who, but it takes a bit too long for my taste.

The redemption qualities of some of the characters, too, didn't really cut it for me. I have a hard time seeing Mira's sister, especially, as anything but cruel. Yes, she had a hard life and has rare moments where she allowes her "love" to show through, but is that really enough? Also, the fact that Mira is a mirror throughout the book tended to bother me, as she is mostly an outsider in all the scenes. Maybe that was the point, but I sometimes had a hard time with her role in the story, which was often that of a bystander.

Finally, this may sound odd, but I don't think the cover art is right for the type of book this is. The artist portrays the girl on the cover (I am assuming she is the queen) as rather quirky and darkly humorous. Overall, the cover has a sort of fanciful feel to it, and Mira, Mirror is not fanciful; it is much darker than that. I'm not saying that dark fantasies are bad at all, just that I think a different kind of cover might have illustrated it better.

Like I said, Mira, Mirror has a lot of good qualities. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a fantasy that also contains a deeper look into the human emotion beneath it, or to those who want to read all the fantasy they can get their hands on, but not to someone who wants to be carried away and gripped by a heroine they can truly relate to.