Neil Gaiman's Snow, Glass, Apples

I’ve started reading some Neil Gaiman stuff recently and thus read the collaboration of Gaiman/Doran in the book Troll Bridge. Colleen Doran is an incredibly talented artist and I checked out her web site and saw she was illustrating another Gaiman story, this one, and her posting of the cover was enough to get me to preorder. I currently have both the physical book and the E-Books edition and recommend both highly as this 5 star review would indicate. Based on a few negative comments I’ve seen here, let me say this: if all you want is the Gaiman story it is easily available elsewhere. It is a short story, included with the aforementioned Troll Bridge and a couple of dozen other short stories in a book titled “Smoke and Mirrors (and available here on Amazon). It has also been released as a “radio play” which you can find on the internet for free. The “radio play” version stars Bebe Neuwirth, the actress who played Lilith, Frazier’s wife on Cheers. It is quite good and I recommend seeking it out. So the reason to purchase this book is Colleen Doran’s art. Ms Doran says her inspiration for the art style in which she illustrated this story is a book illustrator and stained glass artist named Harry Clarke, a man who worked in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. If you Google the name you will see that this is no doubt so, though I have to say that when I first saw her cover for this book my immediate thought was “Kay Nielsen”, another artist of that period who illustrated in (to me) a similar style. (Nielsen also worked for Walt Disney as an inspirational artist and is responsible for much of the look and feel of The Night on Bald Mountain sequence in Fantasia.). In any event, were this another time, I think Ms Doran would easily fit in with Clarke, Nielsen, Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, and the other great “children’s book” illustrators. Note that while Ms Doran was inspired by Clarke the art here is her own, original and superlative in every way. We are warned that this is not a “children’s book”, and indeed this is not something I would want to read to my 6 and 4 year old grandkids. On the other hand, I probably wouldn’t want to read the original version of Snow White to them either. As you might know in that original version the evil Queen eats what she thinks are Snow White’s liver and lungs and in the end of the story she is killed at the the Prince’s orders, by torture. So, while this story isn’t suitable for pre-teens it’s not really so far in spirit from the original. When I was young I loved comic books. As I grew older I found that I still loved the form but I found the content somewhat childish. I longed for illustrated stories that I could read as an adult without feeling like I was reading a story meant for pre-teen boys. In short, I wanted the comics to grow up with me. I must not have been the only one, and during the 80’s there was a revolution in comics. Odd that nowadays it’s difficult to find, except in reprints, comics of the type I remember from my childhood. This is the type of story and art I wished for in those days. Based on this and Troll Bridge I hope there will be other Neil Gaiman stories illustrated by Colleen Doran.

This is Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran's adult (NOT for kids!) take on the 'Snow White' legend, sinisterly retold in a MOST surprising way as only Neil could, and jaw-droppingly illustrated as only Colleen could. Gorgeous hardcover book that is worth every penny, Neil has an amazing talent with the written word and Colleen's many, many illustrations are richly saturated with color and highly detailed. As a bonus there are 5 pages of notes in the back of the book by Colleen with oodles of pencil sketches, detailing her art process. NOW--All that said--BEWARE OF AMAZON'S CRAPTACULAR LACK OF INNER PACKAGING. My 1st edition copy was RUINED in shipping because they simply slid this art book into a too-large flatpack (so if nothing else it could slide around and get bumped corners/cover wear) and shipped it, NO bubble wrap or even some measly paper wrapping to protect it. UPS, as usual, did *their* part by crunching the packaging and badly denting the front & back covers on the bottom (see pictures). Going to try and get another 1st edition in exchange & hope IT survives UPS, but doubt it. Criminal way to ship ANY book, but with art books doubly so. Do better, Amazon! UPDATE: The replacement copy arrived promptly...also damaged! Shipped in a bubble wrap envelope, dented top cover at the bottom and pretty substantial scuffing to the cover front and back, could have happened in warehouse or in shipping. Third time is the charm, let's see if it is possible to just get a copy of a book that isn't beat to death...

I'm a longtime Neil Gaiman fan, and I have loved almost everything he has ever written (the only exceptions being a few of his short stories). This particular story is a clever retelling of the well-known story of Snow White, turning her into the antagonist, and the Queen into the protagonist. There is no happy ending here. The story by itself is worth reading (I read it in one night - it's not very long) and it's hard for me to say this as a huge Gaiman fan, but it's the art that really makes this book. Colleen Doran pays homage to Irish arts and crafts artist Harry Clarke - whom I admit I did not know until reading this book - but a huge amount of painstaking work went into every hand-drawn page, and it really shows. The flow of the illustrations, the decorative details, the colors, the eroticism, the horror - all astonishingly beautiful and worth every penny.

As expected, Gaiman crafts a taut retelling of a familiar fairy tale, but the standout is Doran's art. I was lucky enough to see some of the original pages in person and this book deserves to be printed at a larger format to show her details off. Maybe one day. In the meantime, this hardback is a good deal, and well presented. Every page is gorgeous. The story is great, too, no spoilers.

Beautiful illustrations, interesting re-telling of the story.

For the book itself it has wonderful production value with a very solid hardcover and excellent paper. For the art it is top notch in the style of Harry Clarke and the better manga. For example it reminds me of the netflix anime Castlevania. The story is a take on snow white from the perspective of the Queen. Made me think of a recent Theodora Goss book and an old fantasy anthology from a decade or two ago. The story has adult content so keep that in mind if buying as a gift. Highly recommend if you enjoy mythic stories, wonderful art, and high production value and don't mind paying a premium for it. Ultimately it is something you can read quickly during a lunch break. Highly recommend getting Charles Vess's The Book of Ballads and Sagas for an equally high quality production graphic novel and a similar vein.

This is a very creepy and upsetting little vampire story and fairytale retelling, and it's a beautiful copy with beautiful illustrations that do not shy away from the gross parts. I'm glad(?) to have it!

Art is gorgeous and size of the book is great. No complaints. Actually my friend borrowed it and I think she forgot to return it to me.

Achei muito interessante a ilustração, perfeito o livro, pra quem gosta desse conteúdo super indico.

Amazing illustrations and interesting interpretation of the classic fary tale. I really enjoyed it! But stricktly only for adults I would say, definetly too brutal for kids!

Bir günde geldi. Neil Gaiman’ın çok sevdiğim bir hikayesinin çizgi roman versiyonu. Çizimleri çok güzel, hikayeyi zaten çok seviyordum. Baskı çok iyi renkler parlak. İnce, sonuçta kosa hikaye. Cildi çok iyi durumda.

much better than the initial snow white story + the graphics are great !!