Reviews

Little Mermaid and Other Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen

varsh31's review

5.0

The 5 stars are more for the gorgeous interactive elements in the book. Absolutely stunning.

kberry513's review

4.0

Beautifully illustrations and interactive bits; the stories themselves can be a little...weird. But overall excellent edition of HCA's fairytales.

pawswithabook's review

sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

In this collection of short stories, Hans Christian Andersen vividly creates worlds and characters beyond our imagination. Including The Little Mermaid, The Snow Queen, Thumbelina and The Emperor’s New Clothes and many other stories, this collection is beautifully illustrated by MinaLima.

Whilst the titles were familiar to me, the stories, even those I thought I knew, were not. Far from the Disney version of The Little Mermaid, the original, alongside a lot of the stories in the collection,  is actually pretty depressing.

My favourites were The Ugly Duckling, and Thumbelina…my least favourite was The Tin Soldier.

I can’t fault the storytelling, the writing is stunning, but I must admit I would’ve liked a little more happiness and a little less of the bleakness in stories that are designed for children. 

kilbmc's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

kay919's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful lighthearted sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

It took me 15 years to read. Boring AF!!! Some stories were better than others.

sarahreffstrup's review

5.0

Klassikere, selvom det var spøjst at læse dem på engelsk haha!

oblivien's review

3.0

Beautiful illustrations by MinaLima. Reading Hans Anderson tales as a grown up is so different from how I remember I felt.

the_bookish_scorpio's review against another edition

5.0

Bellissimo

ana_carolina's review

dark mysterious reflective sad

3.5

This edition is easily one of the most beautiful books I own! I have been curious about the fairytales of Hans Christian Andersen for a while, and when I spotted this book during my travels in Denmark, I thought it a perfect souvenir. But I must confess I didn’t like them all that much. They didn’t age that well in my opinion, but I am happy to have read the original tales that inspired so many more. 

filipa_maia's review

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This compilation of some of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales is one of the most beautiful books in my collection and one that I'm definitely proud to own. This is such a beautiful edition. I love all the drawings and the interactive elements.

And the stories... uff... these are the "real" stories, the ones with not so happy endings that Disney brought to us. Some of them are rough. Can't believe that these are stories for little kids.

I want to add more of these special editions to my collection.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Confinement, Death of parent, Sexism, Abandonment, and Classism