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geekwayne's review
3.0
In 'Quite Contrary' young streetwise Mary Stuart finds herself in a familiar story, but decides not to play along. In a story that is not about the destination, but the journey, we learn that we don't have to play out the story we've been given.
Mary goes to a party that she probably shouldn't have gone too. After all, she's only 12. She gets dared to go into the scary crawlspace under the house and finds herself in the woods. With a talking rat named Rat. He wants to be Rat-in-boots, but he lacks the boots. She also finds herself wearing a red cape and realizes she's supposed to be Red Riding Hood. She's also supposed to die at the hands of a terrible wolf. She decides differently, so she runs. She finds herself in a series of stories with the wolf pursuing her. Fairies, Norse tales, a boat that is purgatory, a castle with dangerous traps and a modern day horror town are a few of the locations. She meets friends and enemies along the way.
I found Mary a little too worldwise. She's only 12, and backstory is given for her toughness, but it was easy to forget she was 12 a lot of the time. However, I did like her unwillingness to just follow along the path she was on. Her snarky attitude makes her a pretty cool character and I'd like to read more stories starring her.
I was given a review copy of this ebook by Curiosity Quills Press and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
Mary goes to a party that she probably shouldn't have gone too. After all, she's only 12. She gets dared to go into the scary crawlspace under the house and finds herself in the woods. With a talking rat named Rat. He wants to be Rat-in-boots, but he lacks the boots. She also finds herself wearing a red cape and realizes she's supposed to be Red Riding Hood. She's also supposed to die at the hands of a terrible wolf. She decides differently, so she runs. She finds herself in a series of stories with the wolf pursuing her. Fairies, Norse tales, a boat that is purgatory, a castle with dangerous traps and a modern day horror town are a few of the locations. She meets friends and enemies along the way.
I found Mary a little too worldwise. She's only 12, and backstory is given for her toughness, but it was easy to forget she was 12 a lot of the time. However, I did like her unwillingness to just follow along the path she was on. Her snarky attitude makes her a pretty cool character and I'd like to read more stories starring her.
I was given a review copy of this ebook by Curiosity Quills Press and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
dmoony's review against another edition
It was already pretty bland with the hates the world, not-like-the-other-girls protagonist, but I just don't want to keep reading something that treats kicking guys in the balls as a joke (even if those might've deserved it in the future)
lindetiel's review
2.5 star rounded down
It's really hard for me to rate this book. On the one hand I really enjoyed the idea of travelling through the fairy tales/stories worlds as if through dreams. Each world starts suddenly and the more lost you are the further into story you get.
However I had big issues with the heroine of the novel. MarySue Stuart is 12 years old, but apparently the author forgot that tiny little fact. She acts as a typical 16-17 years old, who is rebelious, stuck up, thinks that they know everything best and are hooked on this one serious novel/movie that only proves how much better this generic teenager is than other. Exactly such a person is Mary.
And to make things worse, sometimes she's sexualised by certain events or other characters - here 'relationship' with the Wolf is particularly disturbing on this level.
It's really hard for me to rate this book. On the one hand I really enjoyed the idea of travelling through the fairy tales/stories worlds as if through dreams. Each world starts suddenly and the more lost you are the further into story you get.
However I had big issues with the heroine of the novel. Mary
And to make things worse, sometimes she's sexualised by certain events or other characters - here 'relationship' with the Wolf is particularly disturbing on this level.
snowblu3's review against another edition
1.0
I just want to read a book that doesn't irritate me. Quite Contrary irritates me. That's really all I can say about it.
annfran's review against another edition
2.0
there's a reason this book took me nearly two months to finish, and it's not because i was trying to savor it. bleh.
rach's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
diaryofthebookdragon's review
3.0
One glance at the cover of Quite Contrary is enough to give you a hint that it's somehow related to a fairy tale of Red Riding Hood. I expected a darker retelling and hoped for some unusual twist. Maybe for the Wolf to be a good guy for a change?
But if you start reading Quite Contrary expecting a simply fairy tale retelling you will be very surprised (just like I was), because Richard Roberts did something much better. Richard Roberts merged a lot of known and unknown tales, myths and urban legends into an unique story.
Mary Stuart, our heroine, is quite contrary twelve-year-old girl in other words stubborn, pig-headed and usually does opposite of what is good for her. Quite Contrary starts with Mary going to a Halloween party (although her mother forbid her of course) and then Mary accepts a dare to crawl into a underground tunnel in an old deserted house. This will prove to be just the first in a row of 'brilliant' decisions made by Mary. The rest of the teens maybe planned to scare or trap Mary, but Mary keeps stubbornly crawling forward and soon slips from our reality into another dimension and ends up in a forest.
By changing from her filthy clothes into Red Riding Hood outfit, Mary triggers that fairy tale and attracts attention of big bad Wolf. *cue in Barry White* I am not joking. With his cheesy lines and deep voice that was how I imagined this 'hairy murderous Casanova' sounded.
"That voice wrapped you in honey and velvet, deep and rich and passionate like an old time blues singer's. The body was a wolf's, dirty gray and big. Too big to be a real animal. Dark blue eyes watched me with confident intelligence."
Wolf declares his undying love for Mary and desire to nibble on her young flesh (or take a much bigger bite), but 'not in a way that would offend prudish minds'. While Wolf expects from Mary to run (the thrill is in the chase after all) I bet he didn't expect that Mary will run from that fairy tale into another. And that's how constant switches of ambient, characters and never-dropping tension will begin as Mary runs for her own life.
If you like to read about paranormal creatures, then Quite Contrary will be a treat for you, because we will visit viking myths, fairyland, city or iron and yellow smoke, hitchhiking urban legends, New Orleans and much more. Although this definitely helped build the dynamics of the story, it was also annoying at times because as soon as I liked the current set of characters, Mary would go to the next story and leave them behind, sometimes even in critical moments. And I wanted to know what happened to them, because I liked them all much more then Mary.
Yes you heard me right - I didn't like Mary. I usually do not mind if heroine has issues or if she does not obey the rules, but Mary picked a wrong choice so many times (only because it was contrary to what was told to her to do) that she frustrated and annoyed me from the start. Thankfully, later on, Mary's decision making improves and they shift from unwise to just unconventional.
So, if you don't mind reading about 12-year-old girl who has a dirty mouth and attitude problem, and you like dark, gritty fantasy (with no romance) that merges details from other fairy tales and legends into fantastic and sometimes scary original new story, then I recommend you check out Quite Contrary by Richard Roberts.
My rating: 3.5 stars
Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. This text is also posted on my blog Bookworm Dreams in a little bit more styled edition.
But if you start reading Quite Contrary expecting a simply fairy tale retelling you will be very surprised (just like I was), because Richard Roberts did something much better. Richard Roberts merged a lot of known and unknown tales, myths and urban legends into an unique story.
Mary Stuart, our heroine, is quite contrary twelve-year-old girl in other words stubborn, pig-headed and usually does opposite of what is good for her. Quite Contrary starts with Mary going to a Halloween party (although her mother forbid her of course) and then Mary accepts a dare to crawl into a underground tunnel in an old deserted house. This will prove to be just the first in a row of 'brilliant' decisions made by Mary. The rest of the teens maybe planned to scare or trap Mary, but Mary keeps stubbornly crawling forward and soon slips from our reality into another dimension and ends up in a forest.
By changing from her filthy clothes into Red Riding Hood outfit, Mary triggers that fairy tale and attracts attention of big bad Wolf. *cue in Barry White* I am not joking. With his cheesy lines and deep voice that was how I imagined this 'hairy murderous Casanova' sounded.
"That voice wrapped you in honey and velvet, deep and rich and passionate like an old time blues singer's. The body was a wolf's, dirty gray and big. Too big to be a real animal. Dark blue eyes watched me with confident intelligence."
Wolf declares his undying love for Mary and desire to nibble on her young flesh (or take a much bigger bite), but 'not in a way that would offend prudish minds'. While Wolf expects from Mary to run (the thrill is in the chase after all) I bet he didn't expect that Mary will run from that fairy tale into another. And that's how constant switches of ambient, characters and never-dropping tension will begin as Mary runs for her own life.
If you like to read about paranormal creatures, then Quite Contrary will be a treat for you, because we will visit viking myths, fairyland, city or iron and yellow smoke, hitchhiking urban legends, New Orleans and much more. Although this definitely helped build the dynamics of the story, it was also annoying at times because as soon as I liked the current set of characters, Mary would go to the next story and leave them behind, sometimes even in critical moments. And I wanted to know what happened to them, because I liked them all much more then Mary.
Yes you heard me right - I didn't like Mary. I usually do not mind if heroine has issues or if she does not obey the rules, but Mary picked a wrong choice so many times (only because it was contrary to what was told to her to do) that she frustrated and annoyed me from the start. Thankfully, later on, Mary's decision making improves and they shift from unwise to just unconventional.
So, if you don't mind reading about 12-year-old girl who has a dirty mouth and attitude problem, and you like dark, gritty fantasy (with no romance) that merges details from other fairy tales and legends into fantastic and sometimes scary original new story, then I recommend you check out Quite Contrary by Richard Roberts.
My rating: 3.5 stars
Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. This text is also posted on my blog Bookworm Dreams in a little bit more styled edition.
buer's review
2.0
I picked up Quite Contrary because I had just finished Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain and it was incredible. Despite being by the same author and both featuring compelling, young female leads, I found Quite Contrary to be so dark that it was a little hard to be invested in the story.
The lead character, Mary, had a rough upbringing, which is very clumsily explained on half of one page somewhere near the end of the book. Her past is alluded to from the beginning, but the final explanation is unsatisfying and barely takes up one page. Perhaps Roberts was trying to illustrate the brusqueness of those stories in real life, but it felt clumsy. Mary also constantly swears at and puts her companions into danger, sometimes out of hard-headedness and sometimes out of spite, which makes her difficult to empathize with. There are also a couple characters that she feels the need to take care of, and it is very confusing for the reader to draw the distinction along with her of who counts as friends and who doesn't because the line is so. so. arbitrary. Roberts kind of explains this tendency later in the book, but his explanation doesn't make much sense and further alienates the reader from the character.
The universe Roberts creates is a very interesting one, though. The characters jump from one fantasy world to another and each one is colorful and different and exciting in its own way.
Interestingly, Roberts retells the story in the last chapter as the fairytale it was meant to be and seems to recognize some of the flaws in the elongated version by cutting out one of the stories that took too long and served very little purpose. He also abridges certain things and they make more sense and are more compelling when they are shortened.
I probably wouldn't suggest this book to anyone, especially not young adults, which I think is its target demographic. It is too dark, too sexually violent and a little contrived.
Not my favorite. Not my least favorite.
The lead character, Mary, had a rough upbringing, which is very clumsily explained on half of one page somewhere near the end of the book. Her past is alluded to from the beginning, but the final explanation is unsatisfying and barely takes up one page. Perhaps Roberts was trying to illustrate the brusqueness of those stories in real life, but it felt clumsy. Mary also constantly swears at and puts her companions into danger, sometimes out of hard-headedness and sometimes out of spite, which makes her difficult to empathize with. There are also a couple characters that she feels the need to take care of, and it is very confusing for the reader to draw the distinction along with her of who counts as friends and who doesn't because the line is so. so. arbitrary. Roberts kind of explains this tendency later in the book, but his explanation doesn't make much sense and further alienates the reader from the character.
The universe Roberts creates is a very interesting one, though. The characters jump from one fantasy world to another and each one is colorful and different and exciting in its own way.
Interestingly, Roberts retells the story in the last chapter as the fairytale it was meant to be and seems to recognize some of the flaws in the elongated version by cutting out one of the stories that took too long and served very little purpose. He also abridges certain things and they make more sense and are more compelling when they are shortened.
I probably wouldn't suggest this book to anyone, especially not young adults, which I think is its target demographic. It is too dark, too sexually violent and a little contrived.
Not my favorite. Not my least favorite.
ljrinaldi's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting version of the story of Red Riding hood, with an unwilling victim, who is totally aware of the wolf.