Reviews

Grim by Ellen Hopkins, Julie Kagawa, Amanda Hocking

daydreamer0626's review

4.0

The book as a whole probably got an average of 4 stars, but I'm going to go through each short story and give them their own rating :) For each, I did go and read the original versions for comparisons and highly recommend everyone to do the same!

- The Key: retelling of Bluebeard
Rachel is a likable character and the author does a great job of building her in the limited time she has. I did end up calling the ending a little just by knowing the Bluebeard story but there were a few nice twists :) I could see this being a full length novel that I would read. 4 stars

- Figment: retelling of Puss in Boots
Probably my favorite so far :) really cute retelling but of a cat good luck charm. Absolutely loved the ending!! So cute! 4.5/5

- Twelfth Girl: retelling of 12 Dancing Princesses
Interesting retelling. Liked how they combined the story with some mythological aspects. Ending was a nice twist as well :) give it 3.5/5

- The Raven Princess: retelling of The Raven
Interesting story but pretty much is just like the original (almost identical except for a few details and the ending). Kind of disappointed since the point of an anthology is to retell the story a different way. Though I really did enjoy the story so I will give it 4/5 stars because I liked it better than the original.

- Thinner Than Water: retelling of Donkey Skin
Very dark story but I guess the original was pretty dark as well. I did like the adaptation with the gown made of sunlight, moonlight and starlight instead of just the color... Oh and when the daughter got revenge >:) that was something I thought of in the original, like oh your father finds another woman and everything is ok now? But I guess they didn't "consummate" the marriage in the original... As an adaptation 3.5 stars (original gets 2 just because it gives me the heeby jeebeys)

- Before the Rose Bloomed: retelling of Snow Queen
Liked the prequel to the snow queen in the beginning :) interesting take on how she came to be.
The second part kept pretty close to the original with some slight changes. 3.5 because I liked the beginning 

- Beast/Beast: retelling of Beauty and the Beast
Interesting dark twist to Beauty and the Beast. Love how she hates being there because she didn't choose to, liked seeing her slowly start to care, and her slowly start to be a "beast" herself (getting less pretty just from being unkempt). The beast being more plant/rose-like was an interesting twist too.
Best thing was he would ask her every day to marry him but his true sign that he loved her was he gave her the choice to leave or stay (kind of like the Disney movie). So cute!
The ending was a little abrupt, not sure if I like it. If she was just going to stay, why have him put her on the wall? I know that it showed her choosing to stay with him but felt like that could have been done a little better. 3.5/5 stars

- The Brothers Piggett: retelling of Three Little Pigs
Very dark but interesting retelling :) fairly short but really very good. 3.5 stars

- Untethered: retelling of The Shroud
Use of sisters (twins) instead of mother and son was interesting. Love the kind of "The Others" (thriller movie) type ending :) really cool ending! Had to go back and re read some because it didn't fully hit me what was going on. 4.5/5 stars

- Better: retelling The Pied Piper
As a story, it's not bad. A bit dark but good. It really makes you think "what does it mean to be alive". As a sci-fi retelling of the pied piper... It was ok... It got some of the key points, paying someone to rid the town of a disease/infestation and then going back on their word, to have the person steal the children and doom the others for revenge... Though the people did not go back on their word for no reason or out of greed like the original. And the rape scene that occurred I don't think was wholly necessary... There were other ways to tie it back to the pied piper while getting the point across that to many Pip wasn't alive... Example, have the senate go back on their word because they don't count her as alive or something... Idk this gets 2.5/5 I think from me :/

- Lit It Up: retelling of Hansel and Gretel
Kind of modernized version of Hansel and Gretel. Kids are ditched in the woods by their stepmother (instead of their father) and it's a cannibal ranger instead of a witch. Overall really cool, horror movie-like retelling. 4/5 stars

- Sharper Than a Serpents Tongue: retelling of Diamonds and Toads
Cool and modern retelling :) Pretty much just modernized the original but all the aspects of the original were there, with a slight twist. The mother didn't favor one daughter over the other before the spell was put on the girls and the second daughter (cursed with toads) didn't go to try and get the same gift as her sister. I actually like this version better :) even the ending was better. 4/5 stars

- A Real Boy: retelling of Pinocchio
Such an amazingly cute story! My favorite probably out of all the stories here! (But it's Claudia gray so I could have told you that before reading it that it was going to be good) stuck nicely to the story, minus the whole of you are a good boy you will be real thing. Really enjoyed the robot aspect (kind of had an iRobot feel) so cute! 5/5 stars!!

- Skin Trade : retelling of The Robber Bridegroom
Great similarity with a nice twist (robber is a hero now and saved the girl). Even got the severed finger part. The three wines they had were more ritualistic than the original which is cool. Really like how the "robber groomsbride" was actually a good guy :) very sweet 4.5/5 stars

- Beauty and the Chad: retelling of Beauty and the Beast
Really interesting between the surfer lingo and the older proper English. Very funny! Love the dynamics between the two and how apparently the castle gets a new beast every time the old one gets cured. Kind of keeps the cycle going. Also like how Beauty portrays herself as a man to work for the beast and he ends up falling in love with her/him anyway :) really touching! 4.5/5 stars

- The Pink: retelling of The Pink
This really isn't an anthology of the original but pretty much just goes into greater detail of the original story, adding dialogue and more details. I really enjoyed reading it but felt that the original just turned into a quick summary of this story. Still very good though 4/5 stars

- Sell Out: retelling of Snow White
It started out being interesting, with people that could hire "princes" to bring back people who have died.it even had the semblance of an evil step mother who wanted "Snow White" to stay dead. But the ending felt rushed and I don't know why but I just wasn't a big fan of his sudden change of heart. 3/5 stars

ellieanor's review against another edition

2.0

I'm going with about a 2.5 stars. My actual rating was somewhere around 3 but to be honest, this really disappointed me. I just felt that so many of the stories didn't fit with the theme, and weren't the dark, whimsical, magical stories I thought I was going to get from this. Most of them were pretty simplistic, pretty cliché, and pretty unoriginal and not at all creative. I just felt that the authors could have done so much more with this premise that they were given. I like to read anthologies because it can introduce me to knew authors who I will hopefully love, without going through the stress of reading one of their books and then potentially not liking it. However, there were many in here. I haven't really written any full reviews for anthologies before, but here are some basic things I took from this book.

Authors who I would read again:
~ Saundra Mitchell
~ Ellen Hopkins
~ Tessa Gratton (who I have read before)

So now, here are my thoughts on the stories.

The Key by Rachel Hawkins ~ 2.5 stars
- This was okay but quite short. Although the story was kind of interesting it wasn't really that memorable and I couldn't really see which fairy-tale it was inspired by? The writing was pretty...mediocre. I thought it was just....extremely average.

Figment by Jeri Smith-Ready ~ 2 stars
- I think this was my least favourite story in the whole anthology. It was super weird and not really dark at all and didn't have much atmosphere. I didn't really like the plot or the writing in general. Although I can see it was inspired by Puss in Boots, I didn't fit with what I thought this anthology would be.

The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo ~ 2.5 stars
- This was darker and more interesting plot wise, but some parts were kind of petty? Like teenage girls wanting to be popular and party? Plus the writing felt really young - not simplistic, but the way a middle grade book is kind of written.

The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron ~ 3 stars
- This was marginally better than the others but I still had some issues. It finally did feel like a fairy-tale and I loved that element of it! However, the writing was kind of clunky in places and also the dialogue swung between being really old fashioned and almost modern, and I couldn't tell whether it was trying to be funny or if it was just poorly written.

Thinner Than Water by Saundra Mitchell ~ 4 stars
- Things picked up a bit here and I was starting to feel quite hopeful. I really loved this one - and I knew the fairy-tale, even though it is quite an obscure one. The writing was pretty and I really really adored the female empowerment aspects.

Before the Rose Bloomed: A Retelling of the Snow Queen by Ellen Hopkins ~ 4 stars.
- I really loved this one too! It had such beautiful poetry and I thought it was really beautiful. I loved how the verse increased by a line each part. The problem I had with this one though - it wasn't really a 'twisted retelling'? It just was the Snow Queen. With like the exact same story. I wish it had taken a little detour.

Beast/Beast by Tessa Gratton ~ 4.5 stars
- Look, they put all my favourite bunched together in one place. This story was everything I wanted from this whole anthology. It was whimsical and dark and beautiful written and basically had the atmosphere that I expected this whole book to have. THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE IT.

The Brothers Pigett by Julie Kagawa ~ 3.5 stars
- On this one, I have mixed feelings. On some scale, I enjoyed it, and the writing was pretty good quality. However, I wasn't a huge fan of the story itself. It went in a direction that I don't think it perhaps should have, and I really didn't like the way it ended. Again, it was dark, but...argh I didn't like it?

Untethered by Sonia Gensler ~ 2.5 stars
- This one remembered literally zilch about and had to strain my brain cells to even remember what I was talking about in my notes. But basically, I remember this was really really short and that I couldn't find a fairy-tale in my mind that it connected to and it was just kind of pointless.

Better by Shaun David Hutchinson ~ 3 stars
- I've never read anything by Shaun David Hutchinson but I think people say his books are sort of weird? This was. It was an interesting weird, but also - which fairy-tale? And also - how does this fit in the anthology? The concept was interesting, but I didn't really like the writing style.

Light it Up by Kimberly Derting ~ 2.5 stars
- Ahhh help my brain because I remember nothing! What was this even about? Wow, shows how unmemorable it is. I wrote down that it felt more like a fairy-tale but I didn't like the writing and the story did nothing for me? I'm wracking my brains but I remember absolutely nothing about this at all. I guess it really did nothing for me. OHHH wait this was about Hansel and Gretel. Yep, this one was a little weird. Didn't really like it.

Sharper Than A Serpents Tongue by Christine Johnson ~ 2.5 stars
- This had some interesting ideas but the story was kind of uncreative. I saw some modern themes in there that I liked but aside from that, it was basically just the original fairy-tale in a modern setting, and it was just so! un! creative! And the writing was just average.

A Real Boy by Claudia Grey ~ 3 stars
- Okay, but technically Pinocchio isn't a fairy-tale...but its fine. I liked this one. It was more original and had the beginnings of an interesting world. However, I really struggle with the idea of robots having feelings because...??? But it was fun!

Skin Trade by Myra McEntire ~ 3.5 stars
- This was finally dark and creepy again and just great! But it was really short and I just don't feel it was explained enough. I loved the concept but I wish it had been longer. I would love to read a full length book based more around this concept.

Beauty and the Chad by Sarah Rees Brennan ~ 3 stars
- This just totally ruined the atmosphere I was looking for once and for all, but at this point, I had given up. At least it was funny and heart-warming! Just not my kind of thing. More of a me, not you thing this time although why can't it be bloody and dark -

The Pink by Amanda Hocking ~ 4 stars
- This actually surprised me because I have read other books by Amanda Hocking....and hated them. This was magical though and felt more like a fairy-tale than so many of the others and I really liked it. It had a combination of a few fairy-tales which I enjoyed.

Sell Out by Jackson Pearce ~ 2.5 stars
- Again, don't remember. It needed to be longer, apparently I liked the concept (past me says so) but it needed more development. There wasn't enough information. Well, there really wasn't enough information because I REMEMBER NOTHING.



This whole anthology for the most part was a great big pile of ehhh. It was really disappointing and honestly, this book praises these authors as being some of the best YA authors out there. Half of them I've never heard of, half of them I haven't read, and most of their stories were not something that would inspire me to give them that title. My hands hurt from typing all this disappointment. I hope I find a better anthology next time.

myth's review

5.0

I'm going to be honest with you, I bought this (after staring agonizingly at it for a week or so) completely for the Sarah Rees Brennan short story, and that is what I'm basing the rating on. Give me a Beast (sorry, a Chad) with fluid sexuality and a genderfluid (probably) Beauty any day!

abbygrace226's review

4.0

Each story was interesting and unique. I enjoyed every page,and each for different reasons.

stronggirlreads's review

4.0

A couple of stories were kind of confusing or bland but most were rather good and a couple I could definitely reread.

wealhtheow's review

3.0

A collection of retold fairy tales from the Brothers Grim. Some are very faithful retellings, while others are much less obvious and more inspired and imaginative.

"The Key," Rachel Hawkins. Lana is upset when two teens who go to her school come to her mother for a psychic reading. But when she does a little psychic poking herself, she realizes matters are much more dire than being embarrassed in front of a crush. This was short but I felt like I got a really good feel for the main character. I wish I knew what happened next!

"Figment," Jeri Smith-Ready. A would-be musician inherits his father's good luck charm. I like the opacity about what exactly the charm does, and whether keeping it or giving it away was the right move.

"The Twelfth Girl," Malindo Lo. The fairy tale of the twelve dancing princesses, set in a modern girls' boarding school and told by one of the dancers. By turns disquieting, sensual, and magical. I loved the descriptions of the fae club, and Liv's complicated feelings toward Harley felt totally realistic. A very good retelling indeed!

"The Raven Princess," Jon Skovron. A young huntsman with a kind heart tries to break a princess's curse. I like the way his kindness both aids and hinders him throughout the story--it felt like a real component of his nature, not just there to teach the reader a morality lesson. And I liked the way the curse was resolved. One quibble I had was that some of the writing didn't fit the feudal fantasy world, for me. (eg: "A generous gift," said the white-haired giant. "And one which might help us stick to our nonhuman diet.")

"Thinner Than Water," Saundra Mitchell. A retelling of Deerskin. I hate hate hate Deerskin. If I never had to read it again, I would be thrilled. But this is a very good rendition of it, I must admit.

"Before the Rose Bloomed: A retelling of the Snow Queen," Ellen Hopkins. Prose for some reason styled like a poem. There's no rhyme or rhythm to it, so I don't see why it wasn't just kept in paragraph form. But even less impressively, I don't see anything special, interesting, or novel about this version. It seems like a very straightforward rendition to me.

"Beast/Beast," Tessa Gratton. Very cool description of the Beast and his castle trap, I really liked the personalities and choices of Beauty and Beast, and I liked the writing. But then I didn't understand the last few lines, so I don't get what happened.

"The Brothers Pigget," Julie Kagawa. The Three Little Pigs, told through the eyes of one of the "pigs" (really just fat guys who run a bakery). He's in love with a witch's granddaughter, but then she breaks his heart. I didn't like this: it's not written with any real style or feeling, and the twist

that Percival's brothers have been killing his tormentors, and that Percival's crush Maya is the wolf that kills them in revenge

was obvious from a few pages in, so that the ending has no power to it.

"Untethered," Sonia Gensler. Every night, Claire sees the ghost of her twin, Julia. Her boyfriend wants her to accept that she and Julia are separated forever, but Claire can't, not until her mother accepts it too. I like the spookiness in this.

"Better," Shaun David Hutchinson. The Pied Piper of Hamelin, in space. This is fantastic. The children of a colony ship are dying of a wasting syndrome. The lead doctor of the ship creates an artificial intelligence to help him find a cure, but when the AI finds a solution the doctor doesn't like,

they are all face with a choice: kill the AI and let the children continue dying, or put the children in artificial bodies. The humans choose the former; the AI chooses the latter.

There's a dark awareness in this story (and a non-detailed gangrape), but also a sense of transhumanist hope.

"Light It Up," Kimberly Derting. Hansen and Greta are lost in the woods and nearly eaten by a cannibal park ranger. I liked Greta's personality and chutzpah, and this story does a good job updating Hansel and Gretel to the modern day.

"Sharper than a Serpent's Tongue," Christine Johnson. Sweet and submissive, Claire promises not to tell anyone that old Mrs. Swanson's grandson tried to molest her. In thanks, Mrs. Swanson casts a spell so that flowers and gems come out of her mouth whenever she speaks. When Claire tells her family what happened, her avaricious mother is thrilled, but her sister is horrified that Nick is going to get away with hurting her sister. But of course, Mrs. Swanson isn't happy that Dina won't keep quiet. I love how tough and no-nonsense Dina is.

"A Real Boy," Claudia Gray. Blue helps create a super advanced robot...but Rowan turns out to be too advanced, too close to independent intelligence. When someone realizes Rowan can violate his own core protocols (like not lying to humans), he'll be shut down. Blue has to decide whether to downgrade his intelligence, so that he's just a slightly advanced robot, or upgrade it, in hopes that this will give him legal rights. Blue wants to keep him safe, but fears that if she gives him full intelligence his personality will change and he'll fall out of love with her.

Annoying, the writer chose to tell us which she chose, and worse yet, shows us that Rowan's personality and feelings don't change after the upgrade. Too much of a happy ending where I was hoping for something more ambiguous.

"Skin Trade," Myra McEntire. Britt has a crush on a boy in a band, but then it turns out the bandmembers are killing and eating people. I didn't like this much--I wasn't sure what was going on with the wine and the focus on skin, and the set up didn't feel solid. They're a band with piercings and tattoos who frequent night clubs, but there are no worries about law enforcement even though they kill multiple people a day, every day, in the town? They've got a huge old mansion that Britt, who supposedly has an intense interest in the band, doesn't know about? And whatever the relationship between Locke and Britt was supposed to be, I didn't buy it.

"Beauty and the Chad," Sarah Rees Brennan. A witch curses a frat boy to be a Beast, but he's just not into that, you know? In a lesser author's hands this would've been interminable but as it is Chad is a funny character and his modern bro-pov works well as a counterpoint to Beauty's fantasy land pov. I read a lot of Beauty and the Beast stories, and this is one of my favorite types, where they each have identifiable personalities beyond their roles in the story, they each have lessons to teach the other, and we see them interact enough that I believe their affection for each other.

"The Pink," Amanda Hocking. A little prince has the power of wishes, and an evil peasant steals him away from his royal parents. Brenn's only friend is one he wished into being. I didn't find anything interesting about this story. There's no question about whether Dianthus really likes Brenn or is just forced to because he created her, there's no actual feeling of sorrow or danger from Fyren, and even Brenn himself doesn't have a sustained or identifiable personality. This is just a normal fairy tale with nothing memorable about it, to me.

"Sell Out," Jackson Pearce. Emmett can bring people back from the dead with a kiss. It's a rare but not unique talent, one that makes him just enough to keep him and his dad paying the interests on their medical debt. So when his next client's stepmother promises him wealth for life if he botches bringing her back to life, he agrees. Not least because his next client, Elise Snow, bullied him in elementary school.

But when he's confronted with the beautiful paintings and warm artistic lifestyle has created since then, he realizes he can't let her stay dead just so he can be rich.

sugarmountain's review against another edition

3.0

Some of these were so undeniably good, whilst others made me recoil in disgust, whilst a few droned on and on with meaningless fancy talk that bored me half to sleep… I don't think I like anthologies all that much. Regardless, I don't know what I thought of this overall, so below are my individual ratings.

"THE KEY" by RACHEL HAWKINS — ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

"FIGMENT" by JERI SMITH-READY — ✩ ✩ ✩

"THE TWELFTH GIRL" by MALINDA LO — ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

"THE RAVEN PRINCESS" by JON SKOVRON — ✩ ✩

"THINNER THAN WATER" by SAUNDRA MITCHELL — ✩ ✩

"BEFORE THE ROSE BLOOMED: A RETELLING OF THE SNOW QUEEN" by ELLEN HOPKINS — ✩

"BEAST/BEAST" by TESSA GRATTON — ✩ ✩

"THE BROTHERS PIGGETT" by JULIE KAGAWA — ✩

"UNTETHERED" by SONIA GENSLER — ✩ ✩ ✩

"BETTER" by SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON — ✩

"LIGHT IT UP" by KIMBERLY DERTING — ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

"SHARPER THAN A SERPENT'S TONGUE" by CHRISTINE JOHNSON — ✩ ✩

"A REAL BOY" by CLAUDIA GRAY — ✩

"SKIN TRADE" by MYRA McENTIRE — ✩

"BEAUTY AND THE CHAD" by SARAH REES BRENNAN — ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

"SELL OUT" by JACKSON PEARCE — ✩ ✩ ✩

ryuutchi's review

3.0

A book of retold fairy tales by well-known young adult authors (including Jackson Pierce, Malinda Lo, Julie Kagawa, and Tessa Gratton). Honestly, there are only s many ways you can retell fairytales, but enough of them were engaging and fun to make it a worthwhile read: "Figment", a retelling of Puss in Boots, fore-fronted the necessity for humans to make their own way, sometimes to the detriment of their fairytale helpers. Malinda Lo's "The Twelfth Girl", a retelling of the Twleve Dancing Princesses casts one princess in the role of the hero/soldier and tasks her with breaking the spell. "Beauty and The Chad" is about as ridiculous as it sounds, but was a fun story, starry the Beast as a frat boy pulled into a fairytale world without permission.

Most short story collections have a tendency to be a bit uneven, and this one is no different ("Before The Rose Bloomed" by Ellen Hopkins and "The Pink" by Amanda Hocking both stood out as less than stellar submissions), but on the whole it's was a solid offering and most of the authors did well by the book.

beamasalunga's review

3.0

This collection of short stories is narrated by Christine Johnson and I enjoyed her narration. Some stories are good and promising, some are just horrible.

The Key by Rachel Hawkins - The psychic story is a good start but it was cut too short and ended vaguely. [3.5/5 stars]

Figment by Jeri Smith- Ready - A sweet friendship between Eli and Fig. I really like it. [4/5 stars]

The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo - I fell asleep on some parts. So boring. [1/5 stars]

The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron - I like this. [3/5 stars]

Thinner than Water by Saundra Mitchell -The darkness of the story shook me. The king married his daughter but the author's writing style is compelling which is a win for me. Out of the retellings, this one stood out for me. [4.5/5 stars]

Before the Rose Bloomed by Ellen Hopkins - This Snow Queen retelling fell flat. [1/5 stars]

Beast / Beast by Tessa Gratton - A great retelling of Beauty and the Beast [4/5 stars]

The Brothers Piggett by Julie Kagawa - This is an okay story. Kinda weird. [2/5 stars]

Untethered by Sonia Gensler - [3/5 stars] - Good writing style but not a fan of the story.

Better by Shaun David Hutchinson - Better than I expected. Wonderful story indeed! [4/5 stars]

Light It Up by Kimberly Derting - [2 /5 stars] - A "meh" retelling of Hansel and Gretel.

Sharper Than a Serpent's Tongue by Christine Johnson - It's okay and kinda miss. [2/5 stars]

A Real Boy by Claudia Gray - [3/5 stars] - I'm not familiar of this retelling but it's good.

Beauty and the Chad Sarah Rees Brennan - Why are Beauty and the Beast retellings are good? It's so adorable [4/5 stars]

The Pink by Amanda Hocking - Another retelling I'm not familiar with. It's good but the ending was a bit boring. [3/5 stars]

Sell Out by Jackson Pearce - This can be good but the ending just... [3.5/5 stars]

hbmelum's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious fast-paced

4.75

Lots of amazing short stories. I loved every single one of them!