“You are indeed bound for the glory she foresees, if you choose that path. But isn’t it better not to know? Isn’t it better to wake up each day, living for the present rather than waiting for the future?”
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao is a show stopping retelling of Snow White. The first book in a duology, it follows the story of the soon to be Evil Queen, eighteen-year-old Xifeng. She lives with her cruel aunt, Guma, who beats Xifung where her wounds can be hidden under her clothes and her pretty face be protected. She reads Xifeng’s fate through her tarot cards and teaches Xifeng the intricacies of magic. Guma predicts that Xifeng will one day make her way out of their tiny village and ascend to the role of Empress, but not without sacrifice. After a particularly brutal beating, Xifeng flees her village with her lover, Wei, to travel to the capital and seek out her fortune. Along the way, the two lovers meet a group of soldiers and make it to the palace, where Wei and Xifeng separate to pursue their separate dreams for a happier life together. Xifeng soon lands a job at the royal palace, favoured by the current empress and envied by many of the emperor’s concubines. As Xifeng slowly learns the inner workings of the palace, she unearths truths about her family, her fate, the darkness that resides within her, and whatever she may do to fulfil her destiny and become ruler of the land, an unholy, chillingly beautiful, eternal ruler.
“Being underestimated can be a blessing in disguise. That is to say, it gives us a chance to astonish those who doubt our true worth.”
Dark, twisted, and hopelessly enchanting, Dao brings to life the potential backstory of the Evil Queen from the fairytales, set in a time and land infused with East Asian lore. The poetry of the words is stunning in its beauty, the places visited lifelike in their descriptions. Every character is thoughtfully fleshed out, giving you full understanding of each and every member of the cast’s motivations and reasonings for their actions. Xifeng’s descent into dark magic and subtle cruelty is expected, but still surprising. She starts off as a poor girl in a small village, beaten by her aunt for the smallest mistakes, and forges her own path to power, fuelled by cruel fate, youthful righteousness, and a fury that has slowly been building inside of this young woman, poisoning her heart and soul. Xifeng has cruel intentions from the start, but her humanity is shown through her interactions with the empress and kindness with the less-renowned eunuchs. She is a wonderful villain, spun with threads of compassion, loyalty, ruthlessness, and an unquenchable desire for power. You learn about anger, pain, joy, and the sneaky machivellations of court, and what it means to be so fully consumed by a destiny foretold that you lose sight of who you truly are.
“You will be Empress only if you are willing to take the dark road there. But you are not the only exceptional one, and you are not alone in being favored for greatness. The sooner you understand that, the better your choices will be.”
