Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
dark
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
This was the latest book that I read out loud to my husband at bedtime. The length of the stories makes for great bedtime reading. We especially liked reading the un-Disneyfied versions of well-known stories.
However, the book is very repetitive. It appears that, in an attempt to present as many stories as possible, many were included that were variations of previous stories. We ended up skipping quite a few.
However, the book is very repetitive. It appears that, in an attempt to present as many stories as possible, many were included that were variations of previous stories. We ended up skipping quite a few.
Too long, not interested in every story
Not what I was looking for, I think I'm reading the kid's version. There's no content warning for possible death from boredom, so consider this the warning.
This is a great buy to include in your collection. And with so many stories bundled into one you won't have a shortage of stories to read. I love this.
dark
My ratings for these stories spanned everywhere between a 1 star and a 4 star (with mostly 1.5s and 2s) - my favourite being 'The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean'. The stories' average rating turned out to be 1.7 (ouch) but I'm adding some extra points because having extensive literary discussions about the morals of sausages and beans made the experience so much more worthwhile.
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
PLEASE do not read this whole thing start to finish like a novel. Big mistake my friend. It totally ruined it for me. I hated every second of reading this after the first 5 or so stories (there are 55) because if we’re being honest, they are basically all the same. There would probably be hoards of people that would gasp in horror at that opinion but they can suck it. We all know it’s true. To be clear, the stories aren’t bad! I found it really interesting reading the originals of the stories I knew and a handful of the others had me quite intrigued. I just wish that I had left it on my shelf to occasionally peruse instead of having it sit on my bedside table glaring at me to finish it in a linear fashion. So while I had a terrible experience reading most of this, I understand that that is entirely my fault and realistically I know that if I hadn’t been a dumby dumb dumb I would settle at 3 stars. So there you go. Also, is it just me or are the stories nowhere near as gruesome as people make them out to be? Like I still wouldn’t read these to children, but mostly because I wouldn’t want them to think that a man can just point at a woman and have her as his wife like a toddler choosing a carnival prize while she gets no say whatsoever, because goddamn we’re there a lot of stories with that exact situation played off as the happy ending for everyone.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I am honestly stuck on what I want to rate this, obviously there is no half star option but I am torn between giving this 2 stars, and 1.5 stars. Anyway, I wanted to give up by the end of February because I was kind of over this series. Some of the stories are just repetitive. So from March - June I would read a few pages here and there while doing my hair, but by July I wanted to get this book off of my "currently reading" list. Anyway, here is what I took from this series:
- Girls are stupid, girls are vain, girls can walk on a fruit or a vegetable without squishing it thus proving they are girls, and finally girls should marry men old enough to be their parent.
- Incest is okay between a father and daughter.
- A Dwarf is always magical, be nice to them.
- Animals sometimes aren't just animals, they could be magical, or even royalty.
- Witches are always old mean women.
- You must do whatever your parents tell you because they know everything.
- Don't wish for something out loud because there is a 99% chance it will happen.
- Kidnapping a child is okay if a child is bad.
- Oh, and you die in the end... a good portion of the time.
One star taken off for repetitiveness, one star taken off for having women look stupid a majority of the time, and one star taken off for the way they portray incest. I really want to take off .5 stars for just being annoyed with it, but I don’t think that would be fair. But hey, I am just glad I finished reading this.
- Girls are stupid, girls are vain, girls can walk on a fruit or a vegetable without squishing it thus proving they are girls, and finally girls should marry men old enough to be their parent.
- Incest is okay between a father and daughter.
- A Dwarf is always magical, be nice to them.
- Animals sometimes aren't just animals, they could be magical, or even royalty.
- Witches are always old mean women.
- You must do whatever your parents tell you because they know everything.
- Don't wish for something out loud because there is a 99% chance it will happen.
- Kidnapping a child is okay if a child is bad.
- Oh, and you die in the end... a good portion of the time.
One star taken off for repetitiveness, one star taken off for having women look stupid a majority of the time, and one star taken off for the way they portray incest. I really want to take off .5 stars for just being annoyed with it, but I don’t think that would be fair. But hey, I am just glad I finished reading this.