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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
This was really not what I was expecting! I figured this collection would be whimsical and charming bc fairy tale retellings, but these short stories were actually written with a crude and almost bitter tone? Not that these were bad or unenjoyable, but just very different from my expectations. Had a few issues of representations and descriptions of women. I think I liked "steadfast; tin" and "ever/after" the most
I love the idea of retelling fairy tales with a more adult angle. Some of the stories were better than others, but overall, I loved this. Beauty and the Beast... whoa. Creepy. Well worth the reading and I am glad to have this in my permanent collection.
I had high hopes for this but it really just made me kind of sad thinking about fairy tales in this light...
3.5 stars - entertaining twist on fairy tale retellings
Brilliant. Insightful. Reflective. A must read for all.
emotional
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this book. It was so dark and funny and really made my imagination run wild. A brilliant take on the darker side of fairy tales.
An adult fantasy of fractured fairy tales. Various fairy tales are taken and reworked in a dark, twisted, and definitely more adult way.
I really enjoyed this more modern take on fairy tales. He straddles the line of fantasy and reality really well. In a way it feels like the urban fantasy that Charles DeLint was writing in his Newtown books. The mixture old and new, doublets and the internet. To the criticisms that the stories weren't reinvented: I think he uses the already known framework to show you a different angle on the characters. That everything is not as it seems and that 'Happily Ever After' is subjective. The illustrations were gorgeous and I know that this is going to be a book I come back to in the future.
Quite a lot to like in this somewhat uneven but still captivating collection of fractured faerie stories. Cunningham has an abrasive but oddly refreshing writing style that works with the traditional flow of most faerie tales and gives the odd and usually deeply personal knife twist he inserts with each one that much more impact.
If he strays a bit too far into the depressing and dire for my personal taste with the tale of a washed up, one winged prince in the titular "Wild Swans" and a hard living, hard loving "witch" who builds a gingerbread house to lure someone to love her in "Crazy Old Lady" he still maintains a wistful bit of magic in his retelling of old favorites like "Beauty and the Best" and "The Steadfast Tin Soldier." He does his readers the solid of assuming we're all familiar with the traditional moral lessons of each story and doesn't insult readers by trying to reinvent the wheel or completely rewriting tried and true tales that have stood the test of time for a reason.
He also doesn't stick completely to faerie tales. There's a particularly eerie retelling of the already eerie on its own "Monkey's Paw" that Cunningham manages to make icky in entirely new ways with only one minor plot change. The same can be said for "Beast" a retelling that might seem like its going down a road other authors have traveled before only to yank the rug out at the last moment in a deliciously terrifying way.
Cunningham outright says what a lot of us probably think when we read stories like this. Do we want daddy to bring us back a rose because we're sweet and innocent or do we just to make sure everyone else thinks we are? Is it creepy that we kind of like the prince before the curse was broken or the princess before she woke up?
My favorite story is the last, a simple tale of an average prince and a homely princess who marry and then find to their surprise that they love each other. They rule wisely and well and raise princes and princesses who screw stuff up and make horrendously bad decisions sometimes but who find things they're good at and learn to love who they are faults and all. They live a good, gentle, purposeful life and when they die they leave behind a legacy of children and grandchildren destined to live good, gentle, purposeful lives after them. Aptly titled "Ever/After" its a story with a real happy ending that you can picture for yourself. Something to long for but still something attainable.
This is a quick, darkly funny, bitter sweet little collection that will send a little frisson of fear down your spine even while it leaves you smiling.
If he strays a bit too far into the depressing and dire for my personal taste with the tale of a washed up, one winged prince in the titular "Wild Swans" and a hard living, hard loving "witch" who builds a gingerbread house to lure someone to love her in "Crazy Old Lady" he still maintains a wistful bit of magic in his retelling of old favorites like "Beauty and the Best" and "The Steadfast Tin Soldier." He does his readers the solid of assuming we're all familiar with the traditional moral lessons of each story and doesn't insult readers by trying to reinvent the wheel or completely rewriting tried and true tales that have stood the test of time for a reason.
He also doesn't stick completely to faerie tales. There's a particularly eerie retelling of the already eerie on its own "Monkey's Paw" that Cunningham manages to make icky in entirely new ways with only one minor plot change. The same can be said for "Beast" a retelling that might seem like its going down a road other authors have traveled before only to yank the rug out at the last moment in a deliciously terrifying way.
Cunningham outright says what a lot of us probably think when we read stories like this. Do we want daddy to bring us back a rose because we're sweet and innocent or do we just to make sure everyone else thinks we are? Is it creepy that we kind of like the prince before the curse was broken or the princess before she woke up?
My favorite story is the last, a simple tale of an average prince and a homely princess who marry and then find to their surprise that they love each other. They rule wisely and well and raise princes and princesses who screw stuff up and make horrendously bad decisions sometimes but who find things they're good at and learn to love who they are faults and all. They live a good, gentle, purposeful life and when they die they leave behind a legacy of children and grandchildren destined to live good, gentle, purposeful lives after them. Aptly titled "Ever/After" its a story with a real happy ending that you can picture for yourself. Something to long for but still something attainable.
This is a quick, darkly funny, bitter sweet little collection that will send a little frisson of fear down your spine even while it leaves you smiling.