Tag Archives: Fairy tales

Princess Princess Ever After by Kay O’Neill

Book Review, , , , ,
Overview
Image result for princess princess ever after book cover

Title: Princess Princess Ever After
Author: Kay O’Neill
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Fairy tales, Feminism, Graphic novels, LGBTQI, Strong women
Dates read: 27th March 2019
Pace: Fast
Format: Graphic novel
Publisher: Oni Press
Year: 2014
5th sentence, 74th page: ‘We must disillusion her.

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Synopsis

“I am no prince!”

When the heroic princess Amira resuces the kind-hearted princess Sadie from her tower prison, neither expects to find a true friend in the bargain. Yet as they adventure across the kingdom, they discover that they bring out the very best in the other person. They’ll need to join forces and use all the know-how, kindness, and bravery they have in order to defeat their greatest foe yet: a jealous sorceress with a dire grudge against Sadie.

Join Sadie and Amira, two very different princesses with very different strengths, on their journey to figure out what “happily ever after” really means – and how they can find it with each other.

Thoughts

This is such a great fairy tale! It’s filled with beautiful pictures, different outlooks (like an ogre dancing) and a great couple at the very centre. The fact that this great couple happens to be a lesbian one just makes this story all the sweeter and greater. It becomes this beautiful, encompassing storyline that makes you swoon again and again and again.

This is my second graphic novel by Katie O’Neill and I have definitely developed an obsession. There are strong messages of equality and independence throughout. And there is this idea that women can be whatever they want to be. Sadie is the perfect example of this – she is a curvy cry-baby, and she completely owns this quality as the story unfolds. Finally finding her own happiness in exactly who she is. There isn’t a need to change who Amira and Sadie are in this story, but an ability to finally accept and embrace who and what they want to be.

 <- Aquicorn Cove ReviewThe Tea Dragon Society Review ->
Image source: Oni Press

A Sound, Like Angels Singing by Leonard Rysdyk

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for snow white, blood red book cover

Title: A Sound, Like Angels Singing
Author: Leonard Rysdyk
In: Snow White, Blood Red (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Fairy tales
Dates read: 21st March 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1993
5th sentence, 74th page: His eyes bulged and he caught his breath.

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Synopsis

Nails and her family just want to eat, sleep and get fat. But the sound of angels singing keeps on drawing them out for the promise of a better future.

Thoughts

The introduction to this short story tells you that you are going to recognise the fairy tale upon which it is based at the end of the tale. And, to be honest, I wasn’t really sure that I was going to recognise it. there just seemed to be nothing recognisable in it. Until the last two pages… then I finally understood exactly which fairy tale this was. And I loved it.

I was expecting this story to be a slightly twisted version of a tale from the villains’ point of view. It had all of the gore and self-centred-ness of this kind of tale. But, at the end, it become clear that it wasn’t really about the villains per se, but rather, a totally different perspective to a story that I don’t often see retellings of. Which also made me kind of love it all the more…

 <- Troll Bridge ReviewPuss Review ->
Image source: Amazon

Troll’s-Eye View edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling

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Overview
Image result for troll's-eye view book cover

Title: Troll’s-Eye View
Author: Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling, Delia Sherman, Garth Nix, Wendy Froud, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Peter S. Beagle, Ellen Kushner, Joseph Stanton, Holly Black, Jane Yolen, Nancy Farmer, Michael Cadnum, Catherynne M. Valente, Midori Snyder, Neil Gaiman & Kelly Link
In: Troll’s-Eye View (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Fairy tales, Retellings, Short story collections, Villains
Dates read: 12th December 2018 – 1st March 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Anthology
Publisher: Firebird Fantasy
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: I could have wept.

Synopsis

Everyone thinks they know the real story behind the villains in fairy tales – evil, no two ways about it. But the villains themselves beg to differ. In this book you’ll hear from:
the Giant’s wife from “Jack and the Beanstalk”
the oldest of the Twelve Dancing Princesses
Rumpelstiltskin
the witch from “Hansel and Gretel”
someone called Evil Cinderella

Just watch these old stories do new tricks!

Thoughts

This is an incredibly easy, fun and engaging short story collection. It takes some brilliant authors who take you on journeys through well known fairy tales. The fact that these retellings all focus on the villains of the stories just made me love it even more. I always love the highlighting of grey areas and alternate tellings.

Troll’s-Eye View is a collection that is written for a very young age group. It’s simple and quaint. Easily accessible and fun. But, that doesn’t mean that as an adult you can’t enjoy it. There was nothing I enjoyed more than sitting down at the end of a long day and reading one of these short stories or poems. It was a great, fun and quick escape from the real world at a time when I’ve been really quite overwhelmed and stressed.

Most of my anthologies and collections contain only novellas and short stories. Troll’s-Eye View also has poems. They were enough to break up the flow throughout the story and leave you with a smile on your face.

<- Why Light?Wizard’s Apprentice ->

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Troll Bridge by Neil Gaiman

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for snow white, blood red book cover

Title: Troll Bridge
Author: Neil Gaiman
In: Snow White, Blood Red (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling) & Smoke and Mirrors (Neil Gaiman) & Cursed (Marie O’Regan & Paul Kane)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Fairy tales, Villains
Dates read: 12th March 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1993
5th sentence, 74th page: “She’s an innocent,” it said.

Synopsis

Promise and hope can quickly become lost in life. It might take the troll bridge for a young boy to finally realise this though.

Thoughts

I loved that this was a retelling of The Billy Goats Gruff, but through the lens of loss. Or, more specifically about a lost future and lost chances. It gave a fairy tale that already feels a little eerie a far more haunting appeal. There was something about a broken down village and an abandoned bridge that made you think of people who are broken and unable to fulfil their dreams and potential.

At the beginning of this tale, I kind of felt for the narrative. I thought that his life would be ended prematurely and that he would be sympathetic. And he was, to begin with… and then he quickly became less and less relatable. Less someone that I wanted a happily ever after for. And more someone that I wanted karma to visit… which it did in a round about way. But, that was enough to make me feel a little more comfortable. And to remind me why I love Neil Gaiman’s writings.

<- The Springfield SwansA Sound, Like Angels Singing ->

Image source: Amazon

The Springfield Swans by Caroline Stevermer and Ryan Edmonds

Book Review, , , , ,
Overview
Image result for snow white, blood red book cover

Title: The Springfield Swans
Author: Caroline Stevermer & Ryan Edmonds
In: Snow White, Blood Red (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Easy reading, Fairy tales
Dates read: 5th March 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1993
5th sentence, 74th page: Well, spite of that, things went pretty well there in Springfield for some years.

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Synopsis

An obsession with baseball and an angry stepmother turns seven brothers into swans before they can play on the team and win the season.

Thoughts

This is the first comfortable story that I’ve read in Snow White, Blood Red for a little while. Most of the stories in this collection highlight the sexual component of some very well known fairy tales and make it far more twisted than is necessary. This one on the other hand, gives a modern day retelling to an old classic (I’ve not read the original, but I have read another story based on this fairy tale).

Now, I’m Australian, so I have no idea about baseball. At all. I don’t think I ever even played it in high school PE. Yet, I always love mentions of the sport in stories. Maybe I should add some baseball biographies to my wishlist… which made this retelling of a story tale using this past time kind of fun. And so much more relatable and innocent. After all, there is nothing more fun than playing sport with your family and they do all get a happily ever after…

 <- The Changelings ReviewTroll Bridge Review ->
Image source: Amazon

The Changelings by Melanie Tem

Book Review, ,
Overview
Image result for snow white, blood red book cover

Title: The Changelings
Author: Melanie Tem
In: Snow White, Blood Red (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Fae, Fairy tales
Dates read: 27th February 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1993
5th sentence, 74th page: She ran a hand through her hair so that it fairly sparkled.

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Synopsis

We’ve all heard story about changelings… but what happens when you think you’ve got one and can’t find a way to prove it?

Thoughts

I’ve read a lot of fae stories in my time. And a lot of them have had a changeling as the lead character. There is always a sense of sympathy invoked by their plight too. Often the mother they have been left with doesn’t accept them and leaves them feeling lost and forlorn. This is the first story that I’ve read which focuses on how horrible and terrifying this situation would be for the mother. And now some of my favourite characters have made me feel turned on my head too.

For some ridiculous reason, I was kind of expecting a happy ending to this tale. One for the children, the changelings and one for the mother. It didn’t end like that. And, since this is in a collection of very adult fairy tales, I really, really shouldn’t have been surprised. All of the fairy tales in this collection have made me feel uncomfortable in one way or another. This story was no different, and although I loved it, I still felt that I needed to walk away from the dark fairy tales for a little while.

 <- Little Poucet ReviewThe Springfield Swans Review ->
Image source: Amazon

Molly by Midori Snyder

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for troll's-eye view book cover

Title: Molly
Author: Midori Snyder
In: Troll’s-Eye View (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Fairy tales, Villains
Dates read: 1st March 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Firebird Fantasy
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: He smiled for the first time in weeks.

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Synopsis

In the stories, the child outwitting the giant is a hero. But what happens when Molly just wants to outwit him out of her own greed?

Thoughts

As a child I always admired the children who could overcome the giants in the fairy tales. After all, they’re triumphing over someone and something far bigger and scarier than they are. But, the older I get, the more I realise that children are not necessarily always in the right. And, sometimes they are actually kind of in the wrong… and apparently Snyder agrees with this sentimentality.

You know that the story is a good one when you feel really sorry for the character who would typically be the villain. You know that it’s even better when you actually think that the cute little kid should be nailed into a big box and thrown down the river. Considering this is in a children’s book and about a not-so-good child, well, it kind of offers the chance to see things from multiple points of view from a young age.

 <- A Delicate Architecture ReviewObserving the Formalities Review ->
Image source: Amazon

Little Poucet by Steve Rasnic Tem

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for snow white, blood red book cover

Title: Little Poucet
Author: Steve Rasnic Tem
In: Snow White, Blood Red (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Fairy tales
Dates read: 19th February 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1993
5th sentence, 74th page: A bit of thick, flour-based sauce had settled into the bottom of each one.

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Synopsis

A retelling of a kind of twisted and weirdly sexualised fairy tale.

Thoughts

This was the least disturbing short story I’ve read in the Snow White, Blood Red collection in a while. Don’t get me wrong, it was still kind of sexualised and disturbing. But a lot less so than the past few stories that I’ve read. They were just downright, destroy my love of fairy tales disturbing. This was just a slightly uncomfortable feeling of disturbing.

Poucet was an engaging and interesting lead. But, I think he was also kind of stupid. He trusted his brothers. When they are clearly morons. And that got them all in a lot more trouble. This is why I often yell at fairy tales to be fair… they always go into the dark forests alone, trust the wrong person, think that their siblings are lovely… all sorts of stupidity that always, always, always leads to way more complications than necessary. So, it kind of worked perfectly as a fairy tale.

I liked that the sexuality in this short story was far more obvious than some stories. But not in a way that made you turn up your nose completely. Just enough to be slightly disturbing. Slightly annoying and make you think that Poucet is stupid. And smart.

 <- Persimmon ReviewThe Changelings Review ->
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A Delicate Architecture by Catherynne M. Valente

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for troll's-eye view book cover

Title: A Delicate Architecture
Author: Catherynne M. Valente
In: Troll’s-Eye View (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Fairy tales, Food, Villains
Dates read: 27th February 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Firebird Fantasy
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: He gave me a slice of honeycomb and shooed me into the garden, where raspberries grew along the white gate.

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Synopsis

Constanze has always wanted to go to Venice with her father, but when opportunity finally knocks, she finds that not everything is as it seems.

Thoughts

I’ve never really questioned why there was a gingerbread house in Hansel and Gretel. Or why it seems to be something that is repeated across fairy tales. After all, it is a really impractical and useless way in which to make a house. And it kind of seems just… sticky to live in.

Valente was able to give a completely plausible reason for the building of a gingerbread house. And a completely understandable way in which the wicked witch from Hansel and Gretel turned out the way that she did… everything about this story just helped to create a reality in which the well-known fairy tale actually makes sense. After it had first poked the holes in it.

As much as I loved this story, it also made me feel kind of sad. The father betrays and then forgets his daughter. She is left unloved, unremembered and just completely stranded. All so he can regain the fame and fortune that he once had.

 <- ‘Skin ReviewMolly Review ->
Image source: Amazon

Persimmon by Harvey Jacobs

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for snow white, blood red book cover

Title: Persimmon
Author: Harvey Jacobs
In: Snow White, Blood Red (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Fairy tales
Dates read: 13th February 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1993
5th sentence, 74th page: Are you some angel?

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Synopsis

Elsie thought she was going to a small town to die quietly and alone. That was until she found Persimmon…

Thoughts

The entire time I was reading this short story, I was remembering watching the movie Thumbelina as a kid. And how much I truly loved it. And then, when the little film reel in my head stopped, I started thinking about the original Hans Christian Andersen tale that I read only a few months ago.

Some short story seem to be quite a long read, and even though they are a small number of pages, there is a lot of complex information squeezed into not much space. This isn’t really like this. Yes, a fair amount happens throughout the story, but it is simple and open. It’s honestly just a cute, modern retelling of an old classic. Not one that is twisted and turned beyond redemption (like many within this collection). There’s still a little adult content in this, but not enough to make it uncomfortable.

 <- The Princess in the Tower ReviewLittle Poucet Review ->
Image source: Amazon