The ramblings of a bibliophile.
This is a super, super dark retelling of Cinderella. One that made me question my own beautifully well known Disney version (and other happily-ever-after retellings). Not necessarily the version I would be telling my children, but definitely one that I seriously enjoyed and look forward to picking up again and again.
At the beginning of this short story retelling, I thought that it was going to be super dark and twisted. Something that I wouldn’t quite be able to get out of my head. And would certainly make me look at Sleeping Beauty in a whole new light. And in some ways, it really was. It was dark, sad and incredibly bittersweet. But it was nowhere near as twisty as I was expecting it to be.
I love villain retellings of stories. This is one of those perfect ones in which the “good guy” is actually a terrifying villain and the villain is the “right” kind of woman. This short story was a fantastically unique take on Snow White. I’ve read a few retellings of this story. But none have an evil Snow White, they’re just misunderstood queens generally.
The Piper has always kind of freaked me out from fairy tales. No matter how much the tale has been Disney-fied, it’s still kind of dark and twisted. After all, it’s a man that steals an entire town’s children and skips off into the sunset with them. Plus, I find the sound of a flute a little haunting and creepy.
It’s taken me an incredibly long time to get to this book. As soon as I saw that North Child had a sequel, I ordered it and waited eagerly for it to arrive on my doorstep. But, since I get easily distracted, I kind of forgot that I had it, and it got put to the side. I’m kind of regretting that decision now. This was a wonderful sequel, and I loved being swept all the way back into the world of Rose and Charles.
It took me a long, long, long time to read this. But that’s just because it was one of those slowly enjoyed books. Like a really expensive chocolate. It was delicious to just sit there and savour it. closing my eyes with pleasure at the end of each tale. Or sometimes whooping out loud when a story was particularly familiar and I could place my modern day version quickly…
This is my first every Naomi Novik. I know that there’s been a lot of hype around her work, so I was kind of looking forward to seeing what all the fuss was about. And now I understand the fuss. It is well deserved fuss. This book was amazingly written, incredible fun and seriously intense. For some reason I was kind of expecting a young adult, easy read which would sweep me away to a beautiful, magical kingdom. This is not that book. This is a book about three different women and how they become the strong, independent women they need to be to defeat a great evil.
I seriously love Alice in Wonderland. Or anything that uses themes and imagery from this story. And it’s moved beyond the Lewis Carroll original to something more. As time has moved and the many, many, many retellings have weaved their way into pop culture, the story has taken on more and more of a life of its own. Which is also probably why I love it so much. Each person’s take is amazing. Each aspect of the story that is focused on… but I’ve never read a steampunk retelling of this tale. Until now. And wow.
I read the two prequel novellas to this story months and months ago. They were on my kobo and I figured why not. And then I had to wait to read this novel. And boy was it worth the wait. Not quite what I was expecting, and definitely able to twist me into knots far more than I expected, but this was nonetheless amazing. The kind of book that I would have quite happily read in one sitting… if I didn’t have a job and a PhD to take up the majority of my time…
The Princess and the Pea has always been one of those stories that is kind of iconic for me. I’m not sure why, since I don’t often enjoy stories about princessy princesses. But, this version of it using tricksters and the desert is far more to my taste. Actually, I was incredibly disappointed when it was over.
