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thingslucyreads's review
5.0
I AM YELLING! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!
It set such a high standard for itself with the Cinderella retelling and then continued to just smash the ball out of the park. Some retellings went exactly the way I expected them to (The Little Mermaid) and others I never could have predicted (The Beauty and the Beast).
Each story was an absolute treat and I’ve said this a lot but this is a fairytale retelling collection that actually DESERVES to be called feminist. And not in the way that “feminist” often means “the female protagonist is sassy.”
Bluebeard is the standout story in this collection and the one that really solidified the above opinion. Feminism isn’t just about women being rightfully treated as humans, it’s also about men having the space to be humans.
Please read this one, it’s so worth it.
Rep, from memory: an autistic side character and a black side character in the Fair, Brown and Trembling retelling, a black main character in the Donkeyskin retelling, an ff relationship in the The Goose Girl retelling.
CW, from memory: animal death, parental death, threat of rape, threat of incest, description of corpses, pretty much all CWs you’d expect from traditional fairytales.
Disclaimer: I read this collection over a fairly long period of time and cannot remember rep and CW details from every story, for which I apologise. When I reread this I will amend this review to include anything I’ve missed.
It set such a high standard for itself with the Cinderella retelling and then continued to just smash the ball out of the park. Some retellings went exactly the way I expected them to (The Little Mermaid) and others I never could have predicted (The Beauty and the Beast).
Each story was an absolute treat and I’ve said this a lot but this is a fairytale retelling collection that actually DESERVES to be called feminist. And not in the way that “feminist” often means “the female protagonist is sassy.”
Bluebeard is the standout story in this collection and the one that really solidified the above opinion. Feminism isn’t just about women being rightfully treated as humans, it’s also about men having the space to be humans.
Please read this one, it’s so worth it.
Rep, from memory: an autistic side character and a black side character in the Fair, Brown and Trembling retelling, a black main character in the Donkeyskin retelling, an ff relationship in the The Goose Girl retelling.
CW, from memory: animal death, parental death, threat of rape, threat of incest, description of corpses, pretty much all CWs you’d expect from traditional fairytales.
Disclaimer: I read this collection over a fairly long period of time and cannot remember rep and CW details from every story, for which I apologise. When I reread this I will amend this review to include anything I’ve missed.
lem119's review
4.0
Individually, each of these stories is bewitching. Reimaginings of classic fairy tales, some align more closely with the original tellings while others you would glimpse only the barest bones of the story on which they're based. As a collection, they sometimes feel slightly repetitive, so this might be a book that's better to read over a period of time, one story every once in a while, rather than all in one go. However, this doesn't take too much away from their individual beauty and compelling nature. Some are bold while others are tragic, with themes of femininity, empowerment, imprisonment, desire, virtue, love... the highlight is the Little Mermaid story, Consume or Be Consumed. I'll be thinking about that one for a long time.
lipsmovetheysay's review
5.0
deirdre’s stories in this form are always somewhere between poetry and prose. i swear there were parts in iambic pentameter. there’s a sweet, lulling pull to the language that runs throughout, like a river. truly i loved this. can’t wait to read more.
bookslucyreads's review
4.0
A collection of fairytales rewritten. I really liked them and found it an enjoyable collection.
moonshinealmanac's review
4.0
Beautifully told stories (including retellings of fairy tales I didn't know, and others I had long forgotten). There is an element of The Bloody Chamber to the storytelling, and sometimes the whole "women in history in stories get a really bad deal" aspect did wear a little thin, but I enjoyed many of the ways these tales were reimagined - particularly Bluebeard and Snow White.
marymollyc's review against another edition
3.0
This is a really difficult book to rate, as it is a collection of short stories. Some of these - Snow White, Bluebeard, Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood - deserve four or five stars. Some - Beauty and the Beast, Rumplestilskin, Hansel and Gretel - deserve less, in my opinion. So I've settled on 3/3.5
My main complaint is that a lot of the stories felt very similar in terms of tone and characterisation of the heroines. I would have liked to have more variety and creativity, as demonstrated in the Snow White, Frog Prince, and Fair Brown and Trembling retellings.
However Sullivan's prose and the beautiful illustrations make up for some of the repetitiveness.
My main complaint is that a lot of the stories felt very similar in terms of tone and characterisation of the heroines. I would have liked to have more variety and creativity, as demonstrated in the Snow White, Frog Prince, and Fair Brown and Trembling retellings.
However Sullivan's prose and the beautiful illustrations make up for some of the repetitiveness.
readsbyhope's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Murder
whatvictoriaread's review
4.0
It took me a while to get into the swing of these, as they have quite a literary fiction feel and several of them use the second person perspective, which I don’t have a lot of experience reading.
However, once I got used to the style, I really enjoyed how darkly feminist they are and the writing is really beautiful.
This is marketed as YA but it would definitely be the top end of that age group, as these are very dark in places and not for the faint hearted!
Content warning for murder, body horror, self harm, suicide and discussions of sexual assault.
However, once I got used to the style, I really enjoyed how darkly feminist they are and the writing is really beautiful.
This is marketed as YA but it would definitely be the top end of that age group, as these are very dark in places and not for the faint hearted!
Content warning for murder, body horror, self harm, suicide and discussions of sexual assault.
caoimhecreed's review against another edition
5.0
There’s usually something comfortable about familiar stories, but the fairytales in this book are not at all comfortable. These are beautifully twisted tales of powerful women, dark and bloody and nothing like the Disney versions I’m familiar with. I’d like to have the exquisite prose on display in my house, along with the lovely illustrations that remind me of a softer Harry Clarke. It’s a keeper.