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indecisivesailorscout's review
4.0
A short story collection is always hard to rate, because naturally I find that some stories are better than others, or have a greater impact on me, and I'll turn back to those ones again in the future but leave others behind. This collection of fable & storybook retellings was no different, but those stories I did love truly stood out from the pack. Big shoutout to my therapist Ashley for recommending this to me to get me out of a particularly bad reading slump. I can't wait to check out the rest of this series to find more soul-bearing retellings of classic stories to fall in love with all over again.
bookshy's review
3.0
Not as strong as the other books in the series, but it still had some fascinating stories.
aphelia88's review against another edition
4.0
For any reader interested in the origins of fairy tales, this series of retellings is excellent reading! But be warned - the original tales were often very dark; reading these books is setting off into a dark, menacing wood of ominous twisted trees with only your red cape and wits for company.
Overall, this collection was more uneven than the first book [b:Snow White, Blood Red|141024|Snow White, Blood Red|Ellen Datlow|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387746798l/141024._SY75_.jpg|135922] but there are some good stories that make up for the weaker entries (please see my review of the first book for a list of all the series titles).
After an informative introduction about the origins of fairy tales by Datlow and Windling, there are 18 stories.
Story Breakdown
5 Star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 2
4 Star ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5
3 Star ⭐⭐⭐ 2
2 Star ⭐⭐ 3
1 Star ⭐ 6
Highlights: 5 Star Stories
#2 "Stronger Than Time" Patricia C. Wrede (Based on Sleeping Beauty)
The ghost of the Prince guides an elderly woodcutter to rescue his Princess, at long last.
#18 "The Black Swan" Susan Wade (Based on The Black Swan)
Strongest story in the collection
A young country girl in love with her royal cousin is taught courtly manners by an ambitious footman.
4 Star Stories
#1 "Words Like Pale Stones" Nancy Cress (Based on Rumpelstiltskin)
A Fae helps a peasant woman whose mother has lied and claims she can spin straw into gold - but at a great cost.
#9 "The Brown Bear of Norway" Isobel Cole (Based on Scandinavian folktale of same name)
Hard to understand, but interesting.
#11 "Tattercoats" Midori Synder (Based on tale of same name?)
A woman is desperate to reinvigorate her marriage and seduces her husband in disguise.
#16 "Silver and Gold" (Poem) Ellen Steiber (Based on Red Riding Hood)
"Sometimes, I explain,
it's hard to tell the difference
between the ones who love you
and the ones who will eat you alive." (309)
#17 "Sweet Brusing Skin" Storm Constantine (Based on The Princess and The Pea)
A fallen Queen relates her tale of creating a wife for her son with the aid of an alchemist.
Overall, like the first volume, this book has one story I would advise skipping when reading and that is "Ashputtle" by Peter Straub, which is based on a traditional tale of the same name. Since I haven't read the original, I'm not sure how closely this retelling echoes it but it features a very gross concept.
Less impressive than the first book it is still well worth reading and I'm looking forward to reading further in the series! (A kind and generous friend sent me this one, thank you!)
Ends with a list of Recommended Reading, both Fiction and Non-Fiction; there is a short one sentence description of each fiction story.
Overall, this collection was more uneven than the first book [b:Snow White, Blood Red|141024|Snow White, Blood Red|Ellen Datlow|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387746798l/141024._SY75_.jpg|135922] but there are some good stories that make up for the weaker entries (please see my review of the first book for a list of all the series titles).
After an informative introduction about the origins of fairy tales by Datlow and Windling, there are 18 stories.
Story Breakdown
5 Star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 2
4 Star ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5
3 Star ⭐⭐⭐ 2
2 Star ⭐⭐ 3
1 Star ⭐ 6
Highlights: 5 Star Stories
#2 "Stronger Than Time" Patricia C. Wrede (Based on Sleeping Beauty)
The ghost of the Prince guides an elderly woodcutter to rescue his Princess, at long last.
#18 "The Black Swan" Susan Wade (Based on The Black Swan)
Strongest story in the collection
A young country girl in love with her royal cousin is taught courtly manners by an ambitious footman.
4 Star Stories
#1 "Words Like Pale Stones" Nancy Cress (Based on Rumpelstiltskin)
A Fae helps a peasant woman whose mother has lied and claims she can spin straw into gold - but at a great cost.
#9 "The Brown Bear of Norway" Isobel Cole (Based on Scandinavian folktale of same name)
Hard to understand, but interesting.
#11 "Tattercoats" Midori Synder (Based on tale of same name?)
A woman is desperate to reinvigorate her marriage and seduces her husband in disguise.
#16 "Silver and Gold" (Poem) Ellen Steiber (Based on Red Riding Hood)
"Sometimes, I explain,
it's hard to tell the difference
between the ones who love you
and the ones who will eat you alive." (309)
#17 "Sweet Brusing Skin" Storm Constantine (Based on The Princess and The Pea)
A fallen Queen relates her tale of creating a wife for her son with the aid of an alchemist.
Overall, like the first volume, this book has one story I would advise skipping when reading and that is "Ashputtle" by Peter Straub, which is based on a traditional tale of the same name. Since I haven't read the original, I'm not sure how closely this retelling echoes it but it features a very gross concept
Spoiler
a scatological "artist" who is a child killerLess impressive than the first book it is still well worth reading and I'm looking forward to reading further in the series! (A kind and generous friend sent me this one, thank you!)
Ends with a list of Recommended Reading, both Fiction and Non-Fiction; there is a short one sentence description of each fiction story.
emmacatereads's review
4.0
At first glance yet another collection of edgy fairy tale retellings, but these were far more unique and consistently high-quality than what I've read in the past. It certainly helps that this version contains works by some true heavyweights in the fantasy genre: Jane Yolen, Patricia C. Wrede, and Peter Straub to name a few. The tales they choose to focus on, while occasionally veering towards the traditional (a startling amount of takes on Sleeping beauty), also spread into unfamiliar territory: forgotten English folklore like Tattercoats, tales from the French Blue Fairy book, and little known Grimm stories such as The Juniper Tree.
My favorites were, in no particular order: The Sawing Boys, a hilarious take on a fairy tale I'd never heard before (The Breman Town Musicians) set in the 1920's American South, Godson by Roger Delaney, a clever take on The Godfather Death fairy tale from the Grimm cannon in which Death really likes chess and football and manipulating people to join the medical field, Tattercoats by Midair Snyder, which turns a Cinderella-like story into a tender second-chance romance between a long-married husband and wife, and Sweet Bruising Skin by Storm Constantine which transforms the Princess and the Pea fairytale into a frighting and fascinating story of dark magic and bonding between powerful, manipulative women.
My favorites were, in no particular order: The Sawing Boys, a hilarious take on a fairy tale I'd never heard before (The Breman Town Musicians) set in the 1920's American South, Godson by Roger Delaney, a clever take on The Godfather Death fairy tale from the Grimm cannon in which Death really likes chess and football and manipulating people to join the medical field, Tattercoats by Midair Snyder, which turns a Cinderella-like story into a tender second-chance romance between a long-married husband and wife, and Sweet Bruising Skin by Storm Constantine which transforms the Princess and the Pea fairytale into a frighting and fascinating story of dark magic and bonding between powerful, manipulative women.
enutzman's review
3.0
I liked several of the stories in this collection, but there were a number of stories I didn't like, too.
aboxthecolourofheartache's review against another edition
3.0
This is more of a 3.98. I liked the overall anthology, but a couple of the included stories were just... definitely written by ~male authors~.
mslaureeslibrary's review
4.0
This was a good collection of stories that were retellings of fairytales or inspired by fairytales. My two favorites were Tattercoats, Granny Rumple and the Black Swan. Some of the stories were less successful for me, but that is to be expected in an anthology.
thejude's review
3.0
It's hard to rate an anthology of short stories, due to the wide range of the quality of the tales. Some contributions, such as those of Patrica Wrede, Jane Yolen, Roger Zelazny, and Susan Wade I enjoyed very much (an indication of my fiction preferences, no doubt) while others read like cheap, gag-worthy romantic trash, and still others, such as Peter Straub's Ashputtle and Storm Constantine's 'Sweeet Bruising Skin', were not what I would choose as my own reading material but which I nevertheless was glad to have read. Of course, the sheer variety was definitely something that made this read more interesting and enjoyable when I discovered gems I hadn't expected.