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tehani's review
3.0
I'm a fan of fairytale reworkings, especially when they subvert and play with the tropes, and there were quite a few in this collection that I thought were unusual and well done. However, there were also a good portion that felt like retellings rather than reworkings, and a couple that I was actively cross I had wasted my time reading them, which has dropped this book's star rating for me.
Those I particularly enjoyed were "Better" by Shaun David Hutchinson, "Thinner than Water" by Saundra Mitchell (though it's not a pleasant piece!), "Figment" by Jeri Smith-Ready and "Beast/Beast" by Tessa Gratton. I also quite liked "Before the rose bloomed…" by Ellen Hopkins, but my reading was a bit spoiled by the formatting of the verse in my Kindle-purchased version.
I think your mileage may vary on some of these, particularly in terms of how familiar you are with the source material of each work. Some are more obvious than others (and that wasn't necessarily a bad or good thing in different pieces!) and I liked there was some diversity of both authors and characters within the pieces. In all, not my favourite anthology of fairytales but certainly readable, with enough good stories to keep me engaged.
Those I particularly enjoyed were "Better" by Shaun David Hutchinson, "Thinner than Water" by Saundra Mitchell (though it's not a pleasant piece!), "Figment" by Jeri Smith-Ready and "Beast/Beast" by Tessa Gratton. I also quite liked "Before the rose bloomed…" by Ellen Hopkins, but my reading was a bit spoiled by the formatting of the verse in my Kindle-purchased version.
I think your mileage may vary on some of these, particularly in terms of how familiar you are with the source material of each work. Some are more obvious than others (and that wasn't necessarily a bad or good thing in different pieces!) and I liked there was some diversity of both authors and characters within the pieces. In all, not my favourite anthology of fairytales but certainly readable, with enough good stories to keep me engaged.
htb2050's review
5.0
The theme was very unsettling but that was what the book "Grim" was all about. The writing and specially the world building was top notch.
Merged review:
There were a lot of stories in this book but only 2 or 3 were really grim. All other seemed like retellings of other tales but just changing a few characters. Those weren't even interesting.
Merged review:
There were a lot of stories in this book but only 2 or 3 were really grim. All other seemed like retellings of other tales but just changing a few characters. Those weren't even interesting.
ellieroth's review against another edition
3.0
Este libro lo leí hace un buen tiempo, no sé por qué no traje la reseña antes. Creo que es el hecho que sean varias historias cortas muy disparejas lo que me hace difícil darle una valoración y opinión global.
Algunas de las escritoras que aparecen en la lista ya había leído, caso de Julie Kagawa y Rachel Hawkins. Y luego otras que tenía pensado nunca leer como (y únicamente): Amanda Hocking. Ok, no sé por qué nunca me ha caído bien la señora Hocking, y sus libros no me han interesado mucho, se me hacen muy clichés. Y esta antología solo confirmó mis sospechas, la historia corta de Hocking es tan presuntuosa, no, en serio, me imagino al editor leyendo el material de los otros escritores y llegar al de Hocking...
Pero esa solo soy yo siendo un poco hater xD
Grim tiene muy buenas historias cortas. Mis favoritas:
• Beauty and The Chad de Sarah Rees-Brennan: me reí un montón, está sí es un buen retelling de La Bella y la Bestia. Buenísimo.
• Figment de Jeri Smith-Ready: #Crying
• Thinner than water de Saundra Mitchell: Una de las mejores del libro. Oscuro, retorcido. Justo lo que el libro buscaba. Quiero leer más de Saundra.
• The Brothers Piggett de Julie Kagawa: Me gustó mucho la adaptación que se hizo
• Untethered de Sonia Gensler: ♥
Les voy a ser sincera y estos son solo algunos que me acuerdo xD Mi cuaderno me está ayudando, pero fui muy tacaña con los comentarios ahí.
Grim me ha gustado, como les digo tiene algunas historias que no me engancharon a su lectora, otros como el de Sarah Ress supieron darme mucho en pocas páginas. Es una poco complicado reseñar una antología.
Algunas de las escritoras que aparecen en la lista ya había leído, caso de Julie Kagawa y Rachel Hawkins. Y luego otras que tenía pensado nunca leer como (y únicamente): Amanda Hocking. Ok, no sé por qué nunca me ha caído bien la señora Hocking, y sus libros no me han interesado mucho, se me hacen muy clichés. Y esta antología solo confirmó mis sospechas, la historia corta de Hocking es tan presuntuosa, no, en serio, me imagino al editor leyendo el material de los otros escritores y llegar al de Hocking...
Pero esa solo soy yo siendo un poco hater xD
Grim tiene muy buenas historias cortas. Mis favoritas:
• Beauty and The Chad de Sarah Rees-Brennan: me reí un montón, está sí es un buen retelling de La Bella y la Bestia. Buenísimo.
• Figment de Jeri Smith-Ready: #Crying
• Thinner than water de Saundra Mitchell: Una de las mejores del libro. Oscuro, retorcido. Justo lo que el libro buscaba. Quiero leer más de Saundra.
• The Brothers Piggett de Julie Kagawa: Me gustó mucho la adaptación que se hizo
• Untethered de Sonia Gensler: ♥
Les voy a ser sincera y estos son solo algunos que me acuerdo xD Mi cuaderno me está ayudando, pero fui muy tacaña con los comentarios ahí.
Grim me ha gustado, como les digo tiene algunas historias que no me engancharon a su lectora, otros como el de Sarah Ress supieron darme mucho en pocas páginas. Es una poco complicado reseñar una antología.
misssusan's review against another edition
4.0
really good collection! i rather think it would be faster to talk about the stories that didn't work for me then the ones that did as the latter vastly outweigh the former
ellen hopkins' before the rose bloomed: didn't really add anything new or interesting to the story and i could see no reason for the verse other than that hopkins has made a name for herself as a verse writer and is comfortable sticking with that
myra mcentire's skin trade: couldn't see the point tbh. the love story was too threadbare to do anything for me and the story in general felt like it lacked purpose
amanda hocking's the pink: another story that doesn't do much with its framework, if you've read the original fairytale you may as well pass because it doesn't really add anything new to the story
otherwise i enjoyed myself quite a bit! the other stories all managed to either use their fairytales to say something important -- i really loved how tessa gratton's beast/beast structured itself around the theme of choice -- or played with the tone -- sarah rees brennan's beauty and the chad sort of demonstrates yet again that she has one narrative voice but as it's funny and charming i really don't mind -- or did something cool with the setting -- shaun david hutchinson's better aka the pied paper of hamelin IN SPACE! 14:3 is a really good ratio of solid stories to poor ones, christine johnson ought to be proud. 4 stars
ellen hopkins' before the rose bloomed: didn't really add anything new or interesting to the story and i could see no reason for the verse other than that hopkins has made a name for herself as a verse writer and is comfortable sticking with that
myra mcentire's skin trade: couldn't see the point tbh. the love story was too threadbare to do anything for me and the story in general felt like it lacked purpose
amanda hocking's the pink: another story that doesn't do much with its framework, if you've read the original fairytale you may as well pass because it doesn't really add anything new to the story
otherwise i enjoyed myself quite a bit! the other stories all managed to either use their fairytales to say something important -- i really loved how tessa gratton's beast/beast structured itself around the theme of choice -- or played with the tone -- sarah rees brennan's beauty and the chad sort of demonstrates yet again that she has one narrative voice but as it's funny and charming i really don't mind -- or did something cool with the setting -- shaun david hutchinson's better aka the pied paper of hamelin IN SPACE! 14:3 is a really good ratio of solid stories to poor ones, christine johnson ought to be proud. 4 stars
apes13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
cathiestrover's review against another edition
3.0
A very modern YA take on a selection of well known fairy tales.Very american rather than international in its pitch; I liked some tales more than others but a few of them were very well done ranging from scary to funny. And I do like a modern fairy tale reworked!
emmaghanem's review against another edition
4.0
I thought that this book was a fantastic idea. An anthology of fairy tales with a dark and sinister twist written by famous YA authors? Who could say no? I actually did really enjoy reading this book. It was also slightly disappointing. I've always had a fascination with the Grimm Brothers fairy tales, but this book wasn't really close. A lot of these stories weren't scary at all. I was expecting all of them to be, but only a few were. The scariest story in this anthology was probably Julie Kagawa's story. I love her writing and her stories, so of course this was fantastic. It was a retelling of the three little pigs. My other favourite story was written by Kimberly Derting. All in all, I really did enjoy most of the stories. They were all very enjoyable, and interesting to read.
snowbenton's review against another edition
4.0
A collection of short stories all inspired by fairy tales. Some of the stories fall flat as they were simply retellings, but this book really shines in its twisted fairy tales. My favorites were "A Real Boy" by Claudia Gray, a touching futuristic story about a robot built to be like a human, and "Beauty and the Chad" by Sarah Rees Brennan, a laugh out loud version of Beauty and the Beast where a modern day frat boy is thrown back in time to be the Beast and Beauty has no idea what he is talking about half the time. Would recommend to anyone looking for fun short stories.
readingundertheradar's review against another edition
This was one that was perfect for fall; I was ready to enter the world of fun creepy stories. Unfortunately, I was really underwhelmed by the majority of stories in here. Though there were a few that were somewhat well done, I often found myself bored and wanting to pick up something else instead. This would be one I would skip and choose another story series if you're looking for a fun Halloween read.