Reviews

Snow White, Blood Red by Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling

ssminski's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed the majority of these tales, especially for the darkness. However, some of them were a little too twisted for my liking, or felt as though they strayed from the original spirit of the tale.

Will provide a better review when I get the chance.

livvywrites's review

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

laligin's review

3.0

Always hard to rate short story collections, but this set of grown up gruesome fairy tales was fun and inventive.

mcampany's review

4.0

I skipped three stories, but overall they were really good. I especially liked the two Rapunzel stories.

ssminski's review

3.0

I enjoyed the majority of these tales, especially for the darkness. However, some of them were a little too twisted for my liking, or felt as though they strayed from the original spirit of the tale.

Will provide a better review when I get the chance.

bodagirl's review

3.0

Incredibly dark and disturbing stories, but the introduction and "recommended reading" section were really interesting for someone interested in fairy tales and folk lore.

lizardskin's review

3.0

I don't think I actually finished this-- while I liked some of the stories, by the end of it I was getting really fed up with 'dark' fairy tale meaning 'weird sexual elements.' I'm sure something more interesting can be done with this concept?

chettireads's review

1.0

I really wanted to like this but at some point a little over half-way through, I couldn't stomach it. There's a lot of sexual abuse, implied and/or explicit and it just became uncomfortable. I'm not a squeamish reader; it was more that none of it seemed to have a point aside from an aim to be provocative. But it wasn't, it was just a bit unsettling.

There were a few stories that, at the time I read this, seemed promising but most, I felt were not really that inventive. It's been 2 months since I gave up on this one and the only story I distinctly remember was Tanith Lee's retelling of Snow White, which was actually quite good -- and much more Angela Carter-esque.

Obviously this comes down to personal taste, but I really haven't found a GREAT anthology of reworked fairy tales, with the exception of Angela Carter's work, which I enjoyed overall. There are plenty of novels that work in fairy tale elements that are fantastic, but straight up retellings seem to fall flat for me.

iceangel9's review

2.0

This is a collection of fairy tales re-written for adults. It seems that when the authors, who are fabulous in their own right (i.e. Charles De Lint, Tanith Lee, Patricia McKillip), were asked to do work on this project they were just told to "make them for adults". This book reads like a contest to see how much sex, violence, and gore can be crammed into a beloved fairy tale. While one or two are engaging, most are filled with violence and sexual content. We cannot recommend this collection for anyone under the age of eighteen.

readingatmidnight's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0