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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
I decided to up my rating on this from my average rating of the 4 stories because I did enjoy them and I really like fairy tales.
This collection consisted of two original fairy tales and two retellings of popular fairy tales.
The Stolen Princess: 2.75 stars
The Princess and the Frog: 2.5 stars
The Hunting of the Hind: 2 stars
The Twelve Dancing Princesses: 3 stars
Average rating: 2.5 stars
Favorite to Least Favorite
The Stolen Princess
The Frog Princess
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
The Hunting of the Hind
I did like the premises of the stories, but the execution was often lacking. Especially in the first story, the author used really flowery language that detracted from the story and made me extremely confused. This was a trend throughout the stories, and one that I could have done without. Even though they are fairy tales, I think that they could have been fleshed out more, especially with the characters because they fell in love in a short period of time or got married and there was little connection between them, especially in the first story. If the language was simplified and the characters fleshed out more, they would be a lot better. I was disappointed that I didn’t like them more, but they were too often confusing and I didn’t know what was really happening.
I found the prologues in the first and last stories to be unnecessary. Fairy tales, and works as short as these, do not need prologues, and they were sort of boring and made me not want to read the story. The information from the prologue should have just been woven into the story, and really the same thing goes for the epilogues.
One thing that I was not a fan of was the stories still reinforcing gender roles and the idea of women as property, especially in the retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses.
It was sort of a mixed bag because I liked one of the original stories and one of the retellings, which had a different twist on it from other retellings that I have read, but I disliked the other retelling because there was not really anything that different from other versions. In fact, I realized that I think I had heard that sort of spin on The Twelve Dancing Princesses from The book Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George, so if you like this I would recommend trying that one. And I pretty much absolutely hated the other original story, The Hunting of the Hind, because it was confusing a lot of the time.
I was hoping to really love these stories and while I didn’t, I do think I would read them again because I did like them, just not as much as I was expecting, and I still have some mixed feelings about this book.
This collection consisted of two original fairy tales and two retellings of popular fairy tales.
The Stolen Princess: 2.75 stars
The Princess and the Frog: 2.5 stars
The Hunting of the Hind: 2 stars
The Twelve Dancing Princesses: 3 stars
Average rating: 2.5 stars
Favorite to Least Favorite
The Stolen Princess
The Frog Princess
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
The Hunting of the Hind
I did like the premises of the stories, but the execution was often lacking. Especially in the first story, the author used really flowery language that detracted from the story and made me extremely confused. This was a trend throughout the stories, and one that I could have done without. Even though they are fairy tales, I think that they could have been fleshed out more, especially with the characters because they fell in love in a short period of time or got married and there was little connection between them, especially in the first story. If the language was simplified and the characters fleshed out more, they would be a lot better. I was disappointed that I didn’t like them more, but they were too often confusing and I didn’t know what was really happening.
I found the prologues in the first and last stories to be unnecessary. Fairy tales, and works as short as these, do not need prologues, and they were sort of boring and made me not want to read the story. The information from the prologue should have just been woven into the story, and really the same thing goes for the epilogues.
One thing that I was not a fan of was the stories still reinforcing gender roles and the idea of women as property, especially in the retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses.
It was sort of a mixed bag because I liked one of the original stories and one of the retellings, which had a different twist on it from other retellings that I have read, but I disliked the other retelling because there was not really anything that different from other versions. In fact, I realized that I think I had heard that sort of spin on The Twelve Dancing Princesses from The book Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George, so if you like this I would recommend trying that one. And I pretty much absolutely hated the other original story, The Hunting of the Hind, because it was confusing a lot of the time.
I was hoping to really love these stories and while I didn’t, I do think I would read them again because I did like them, just not as much as I was expecting, and I still have some mixed feelings about this book.
To start off, I absolutely love Robin McKinley's books. So, when I saw this, I thought that I would love it. Well, needless to say, I didn't end up loving it. Or liking it for that matter. The book, consisting of four short stories - two original, two redone classics - was awful. More than half of the description of the characters was purple prose. The characters also turned out to be a bunch of Mary Sue's and Gary Stu's. The description of everything else in the story (places and buildings, etc) was very detailed, and not in a good way. McKinley went off topic describing things so many times that I often found myself thinking 'Wait - WHAT?' There is also very little dialogue. I am greatly disappointed with Robin when it comes to this book.
A lovely, haunting collection of traditional and original Fairytales.
Only giving 3 because I don't remember it, but I know I read it a long time ago.
Loved this as a teen when I first read it, and I still love it. I wish that some of the world building could have been a bit stronger now that I have read more re-written fairytales to see these suffer a bit by contrast, but there's still a lot of charm and richness to the stories.
I wanted to like this book much more than I actually did. I've heard good things about Robin McKinley, but this book didn't live up to what I expected.
The Stolen Princess: though the description in this story was beautiful, I felt it dragged on. I wanted something to happen, and the ending felt contrived. There were too many coincidences to be believable. 3 stars.
The Princess and the Frog: the princess and frog were fleshed out and an unexpected villain added. I wish the story had been a bit longer, but I liked the ending. 4 stars.
The Hunting of the Hind: again, this story dragged on a bit, though it had beautiful descriptions again. The ending was a bit anticlimactic, though. I wanted a more exciting confrontation between good and evil. 3 stars
The Twelve Dancing Princesses: this one was long, too, though its pace seemed better than the first or third story in this collection. The middle dragged a bit, and it felt like the ending hinted at something without actually fully explaining. I don't need things spelled out for me, but if you're going to hint at something in a story, at least give me some confirmation that what is being hinted at is, in fact, true. 3 stars.
I might read McKinley again, but it's going to be a while before I do. This was a quick read, but easily forgettable.
The Stolen Princess: though the description in this story was beautiful, I felt it dragged on. I wanted something to happen, and the ending felt contrived. There were too many coincidences to be believable. 3 stars.
The Princess and the Frog: the princess and frog were fleshed out and an unexpected villain added. I wish the story had been a bit longer, but I liked the ending. 4 stars.
The Hunting of the Hind: again, this story dragged on a bit, though it had beautiful descriptions again. The ending was a bit anticlimactic, though. I wanted a more exciting confrontation between good and evil. 3 stars
The Twelve Dancing Princesses: this one was long, too, though its pace seemed better than the first or third story in this collection. The middle dragged a bit, and it felt like the ending hinted at something without actually fully explaining. I don't need things spelled out for me, but if you're going to hint at something in a story, at least give me some confirmation that what is being hinted at is, in fact, true. 3 stars.
I might read McKinley again, but it's going to be a while before I do. This was a quick read, but easily forgettable.
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Four fairy tales: two retellings (The Princess and the Frog and The Twelve Dancing Princesses) and two originals (The Stolen Princess and The Hunting of the Hind). Robin McKinley writes with such beautiful, rich, lyrical language that is so well suited for fairy tales. Her stories are mesmerizing!
Short stories by one of my favorite authors. Yay! I didn’t read the last one because I’m working on a re-telling of the same fairy tale and I knew it would Influence me.