Reviews

'The Colony of Cats' was among the best. The right length, some humor, and actually interesting enough to work. 'The Cottage and His Cat' was another cat-themed tale, although this one is nonsensical and another twist on get-rich with kings and luck. Animal themes continue with mixed results - The Crab and the Monkey was short and held interest picturing funny monkeys tricking naive crabs, but this one doesn't hold back a dark pinch at the end.

'The Gifts of the Magician' are just odd stories that don't know what they want to be. Of course an unappreciative bastard of a king, but what is with the servant warning of the magician that she then changes her mind about, and what of the horse's real identity? If so evil, why would the magician let him leave and then then grant him request later? Either way the story was strangely interesting.

My favorite may have been the quirky and mean-spirited 'The Hungry Animals - but it was too funny to pass up.

jennoux's review against another edition

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2.0

Pretty much the same from all the others in the series... repetitive, boring and not many great fairy tales.

hazelalaska's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful reflective medium-paced

3.5

As is usual with these sorts of story collections, it was a mixed bag as to ones that I liked versus ones I didn't like. It was essentially split in half for me, with 19 out of the 36 stories being ones I liked, and 17 being ones I wasn't a huge fan of. I've found I can't read straight through these, since I tend to get bored sometimes. The stories can get repetitive if they are very similar, and it does feel like half the stories in these books are variations on the same few tropes. I can't always put my finger on it, but I do end up thinking to myself that I've read a version of that story before. Sometimes there are even variations of the same story within the same book. For example, in this one, The Hairy Man and The Gold-Bearded Man are, from what I recall, pretty much the same story, just with a few different elements. I'm not exactly sure how Lang compiled these and decided which stories to include, but one would think he would try to make it so the stories weren't too similar in order to give some variety.

Favorites:
The Prince Who Would Seek Immortality

Good:
To Your Good Health!
The Boy Who Could Keep a Secret
The Prince and the Dragon
Little Wildrose
Tiidu the Piper
Paperarelloo
The Gifts of the Magician
The Strong Prince
The Treasure Seeker
The Stone-Cutter
The Gold-Bearded Man
The Three Robes
Eisenkopf
The Death of Abu Nowas and of His Wife
Niels and the Giants
The Story of the Sham Prince, or the Ambitious Tailor
The Colony of Cats
How to Find Out a True Friend

Okay:
Lucky Luck
The Hairy Man
The Story of the Seven Simons
The Cottager and His Cat
Tritill, Litill and the Birds
How the Beggar Boy Turned into Count Piro
The Rogue and the Herdsman
Motiratika
Shepherd Paul
The Crab and the Monkey
The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder
Clever Maria
The Magic Kettle

Didn't like:
Lovely Ilonka
The Language of Beasts
The Six Hungry Beasts
How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished

amythebookbat's review against another edition

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3.0

I'm finding that there is a lot of repetition within the collection of books. They are better if they are spread out over a long period of time rather than close together like I have been reading them.

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