Review - The Girl and the Seven Thieves

Title

The Girl and the Seven Thieves

Author

Olivia Snowe

Illustrator

Michelle Lamoreaux

Content Warning

Attempted murder, non-consensual kiss

Goodreads Synopsis

Eira and her stepmother don't get along, but she never expected to be left in a New York City alley. When seven thieves find her, she'll have to try to trust them. (Goodreads)

Story Review

*** (3 stars out of 5)

This book is a Middle Grade retelling of Snow White. For my taste it's a little formulaic and far too short to really develop any real sense of the characters. I also think it wraps up the evil stepmother much too neatly. I did like the idea of the thieves, since they also have a reason to want to hide away from society. The addition of actual magic kind of took me out of the setting, so I wish that part had been handled differently.

*Spoiler Warning*

Do not read beyond this point if you have not read the book and you care about spoilers.

Retelling

This story is a retelling because it's set in modern day New York City and the "dwarves" are full-sized thieves of varying ages.

Story Motifs

• Queen wishes for a child - Not present
• Three drops of blood - Not present
• White as snow, red as blood, black as ebony - The mother is described as having ruby-red lips, skin like ivory, and hair like ebony and that her daughter looks just like her, it also describes the stepmother as having this same coloring except her lips are red like blood with skin as pale as death
• Snow White - Her name is Eira which is apparently Welsh for "snow"
• Mother dies - The future stepmother killed the mother
• King - The dad is a wealthy business man who travels a lot, no direct mention of king or majesty though
• Stepmother/Evil Queen - The dad remarries and the stepmother gets addressed as Her Majesty by the driver and she also gets called queen a few times
• Magic Mirror - Not present
• Jealousy - Eira's friend Giselle claims the stepmother is jealous of her stepdaughter
• Huntsman to kill Snow White - the chauffeur's name is Hunter and he is tasked with killing Eira by taking her to an alley in the Bronx and strangling her
• Heart and liver as proof of death - Not present
• Huntsman lets Snow White live - Hunter tells Eira to get out of the limo and not come home otherwise they'll both be killed
• Huntsman kills boar for proof - Not present 
• Cottage of the seven dwarves - The seven thieves find Eira on the streets at night and offer to take her back to their loft, many of the men/boys have some play on the Disney version of the seven dwarves: the youngest, Sprite, is described as bashful, there's one called Stupid (play on Dopey), Grumper (Grumpy), and Sneeze (Sneezey). There's also Stogie, Snick, and Bright-Eyes.
• Snow White convinces them to let her stay - They offer her a place to stay and dry off and she accepts, she tells them her story
• Laces - Not present
• Poisoned comb - Not present
• Poisoned apple - The queen changes her appearance to that of an old woman and helps Eira make chili and clean the loft while the thieves are out, she has Eira add a powder to the soup and then watches her eat a bowl full that puts her into a waking paralysis.
• Glass coffin - present in the sense that the loft has a lot of windows that Eira scraped clean
• Prince - Snick, the thief Eira's age, acts as prince and kisses her after confessing his love
• Snow White revives - the curse gets lifted from Eira after Snick kisses her
• Wedding - Snick asks Eira's dad if he can date her
• Evil Queen is punished/killed - the stepmother gets turned into the police for trying to poison Eira and for killing Eira's mother, with the backing of Hunter and the seven thieves, the stepmother initially has the policemen under her thrall, but eventually the spell lifts and the police finally believe them and arrest her
• Glowing hot shoes - Not present

Retelling Review

**** (4 stars out of 5)

Although it feels very formulaic, I did enjoy the modern setting and what the author did with the evil queen and the "dwarves" and with Snow White. However, I wish the author had leaned into the modern retelling more and found a way for the stepmother to poison Snow White without the use of real magic. It really took me out of the modern, real world setting quite a bit. I think using bribes and disguises would have worked just as well. I also was very unsatisfied with how easily they managed to break her spell over the policemen in the end. It didn't feel like a very clear victory.