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geekwayne's review against another edition
3.0
'Can't Catch Me: And Other Twice-Told Tales' by Michael Cadnum is a collection of reimagined myths and legends.
Starting with a version of the Three Bears where Goldilocks is tired of the nearby bears and schemes to trap them, you know you are in for some skewed tales. Jack and the Beanstalk is told from the perspective of the giant's wife. The Graeae, who had their eye stolen by Perseus in Greek mythology tell their tale. And there are many more both familiar and less familiar.
I liked these stories that all seemed to feature an interesting twist on the familiar (and unfamiliar). Nothing stood out as either really good or really bad, but I enjoyed reading the collection.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Tachyon Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
Starting with a version of the Three Bears where Goldilocks is tired of the nearby bears and schemes to trap them, you know you are in for some skewed tales. Jack and the Beanstalk is told from the perspective of the giant's wife. The Graeae, who had their eye stolen by Perseus in Greek mythology tell their tale. And there are many more both familiar and less familiar.
I liked these stories that all seemed to feature an interesting twist on the familiar (and unfamiliar). Nothing stood out as either really good or really bad, but I enjoyed reading the collection.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Tachyon Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
annieb123's review against another edition
4.0
Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
Can't Catch Me: And Other Twice-Told Tales is a collection of short fiction by poet and author Michael Cadnum. Originally released in 2006 by Tachyon, it's 181 pages and available in ebook and paperback formats. The book's 18 stories (5 of which are original to this collection, by my count) are retellings/twists on mythology or fairy tales.
I love anthologies and collections because you get a broader sense of an author's style and capabilities, and if a story doesn't appeal for whatever reason, there's another one coming along in a few pages. For this reason, I often skip around when reading anthologies/collections and try to take notes during my reading. Unusually for me, I read this collection straight through, cover to cover.
The basic stories are so well known that to most readers, they'll be almost cultural background noise. Jack and the beanstalk/Jack the giant killer, Humpty Dumpty, Goldilocks, the gingerbread man and the others are instantly recognizable, but many of them are so deftly twisted, they become quite original. I especially liked the ones told from another viewpoint. Mrs. Big (Jack and the Beanstalk) was outstanding and so was Naked Little Men (The Elves and the Shoemaker). I would say all the stories rate 3-5 stars and for me the overall rating is a solid 4 stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes
Can't Catch Me: And Other Twice-Told Tales is a collection of short fiction by poet and author Michael Cadnum. Originally released in 2006 by Tachyon, it's 181 pages and available in ebook and paperback formats. The book's 18 stories (5 of which are original to this collection, by my count) are retellings/twists on mythology or fairy tales.
I love anthologies and collections because you get a broader sense of an author's style and capabilities, and if a story doesn't appeal for whatever reason, there's another one coming along in a few pages. For this reason, I often skip around when reading anthologies/collections and try to take notes during my reading. Unusually for me, I read this collection straight through, cover to cover.
The basic stories are so well known that to most readers, they'll be almost cultural background noise. Jack and the beanstalk/Jack the giant killer, Humpty Dumpty, Goldilocks, the gingerbread man and the others are instantly recognizable, but many of them are so deftly twisted, they become quite original. I especially liked the ones told from another viewpoint. Mrs. Big (Jack and the Beanstalk) was outstanding and so was Naked Little Men (The Elves and the Shoemaker). I would say all the stories rate 3-5 stars and for me the overall rating is a solid 4 stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes
jwood112's review against another edition
3.0
As with any short story collection, some of these tales struck a chord with me and others passed with very little impact on me.
The writing is consistently excellent. At times, the retellings are the exact same story merely from a different perspective. As an avid reader of fanfictions that do exactly this, I am not complaining. However, I think it should be noted because the drawback to this kind of retelling is that if you're not a fan of the original story, you won't be interested at all in the new perspective.
Overall, this is a well-done collection that reaches many readers of fairytale retellings.
Cheers,
J.Wood
The writing is consistently excellent. At times, the retellings are the exact same story merely from a different perspective. As an avid reader of fanfictions that do exactly this, I am not complaining. However, I think it should be noted because the drawback to this kind of retelling is that if you're not a fan of the original story, you won't be interested at all in the new perspective.
Overall, this is a well-done collection that reaches many readers of fairytale retellings.
Cheers,
J.Wood
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