Marissa Meyer's Fairest shows the back story to Queen Levana (otherwise known as the equivalent of Snow White's Evil Queen). Maybe that's why it failed to thrill me. Levana is fifteen when the book opens. Her parents have been assassinated and her ruthless sister is about to be crowned Queen. Levana knows that her sister will make a terrible ruler. Levana wants to rule her people, she wants to marry a member of the guard with whom she's infatuated, and she wants to be beautiful. In some ways Levana sounds like the epitome of the teenage girl. She wants to be in love, she wants to be beautiful, and she wants to be in charge. But I just couldn't get behind the story line because in order to do these things, she becomes progressively more evil. To some extent, I'm hoping that was Meyer's intentions. I don't think she wrote this back story to make Levana an endearing character, but I am a little worried that readers might take it that way. ...